By Tyler Maheu, Staff Sportswriter
Wasps pitcher Riley O’Neal put himself into rarified air last Thursday, as the senior tossed his 100th career strikeout.
According to the 18-year-old senior from Plymouth, baseball has been a core part of his life since the start. “I’ve been playing baseball for as long as I can remember, starting with tee ball,” he said. While he may have started playing early, pitching was not his first position. “In elementary school, I played catcher,” he recalled. “Because of this, the coaches saw I could throw, and I started pitching then.”
O’Neal said he realized he was “decent” at pitching in eighth grade, when he was a pitcher for Woodstock’s junior varsity team despite being in middle school. Woodstock head coach Jason Tarleton credited a lot of his star pitcher’s growth to the team’s offseason pitching program.
Baseball coach Jason Tarleton congratulates Riley O’Neal after O’Neal reached his impressive milestone. Katharine Whalen Photo
“For the last three years, we’ve started a throwing program in January,” he said. “A consistent throwing program and being ready before the season starts has paid off. That’s why you’re seeing a lot of consistent pitching. They’ve put in a lot of work in the offseason, and it’s paying off.”
O’Neal agreed. “The launch of a preseason pitching program at Woodstock has completely upgraded the program, not only for me, but for everyone on the team,” he said. “Rather than jumping in with two weeks until the first scrimmage, myself and the whole team have already been getting loose for months.” He said it’s been a great tool for tweaking pitching mechanics, since in-season bullpen sessions can be hard to come by.
A lifetime of pitching training led to his accomplishment last Thursday, May 7. During a home game against White River Valley, O’Neal took the mound with a chance to create Wasps history. “It hasn’t really happened, not in my 26 years of coaching,” said Tarleton, before commenting that nobody had accomplished the feat of 100 strikeouts during his own playing career in the 1980s, either. “At least in the last 30 years, it hasn’t been done.”
In front of a home crowd ready to celebrate one of their own, the senior rose to the challenge. “Passing this milestone felt amazing,” he said, after leading his team to a 2-1 victory. “It felt so rewarding to achieve this milestone given all the work myself and my coaches have put into my pitching career.” While excited about his personal achievement, O’Neal has his sights set on something bigger. “That said, this is my final year, and I’m pushing for a bigger achievement, a championship.” With his Wasps currently at 5-1, he may be well on his way.
After graduating this spring, the Vermont native will be traveling to New York to continue his education at Clarkson University in Potsdam. There, he hopes to make an impact in the classroom and on the baseball diamond.
“I am still working towards earning the opportunity to be a part of their baseball team,” he said.
