On Wednesday, Nov. 10, Upper Moreland senior Dave McInerney signed a letter of intent to accept a baseball scholarship to the University of Cincinnati. To view photos of the signing, visit the Photo Gallery.
Dave McInerney – University of Cincinnati (Baseball)Major: Sports Management
Final list of colleges: Cincinnati, Kennesaw State University, Arkansas, Penn State, VCU
Reasons for choosing Cincinnati: “Cincinnati had my major, and also being in the Big East – I get to come home and play in front of my friends and family a lot. That had a big say in why I picked Cincinnati.
“I also loved the school – it’s in the suburbs, right outside the city, and academically, it was right for me. They gave me a good offer, and I felt comfortable on my visit.”
What was the progression that led to your scholarship at Cincinnati? “After my freshman year, I started playing summer baseball. I started off with Big League Academy, and this year I played with the Philly Bandits.
“The summer after my sophomore year the assistant coach at Cincinnati – who was the head coach at West Chester – saw me play. In the beginning of this year, he e-mailed me, and then when I was at a tournament in Georgia, they saw me again and liked me. They came to see me one more time in Delaware, and that weekend they gave me the offer. I accepted it the next day.”
How exciting is it to have this decision behind you as you enter your senior year? “It’s great. Now I can play without pressure and have fun again and just try and win games – hopefully go far in the high school playoffs.”
Coach Ernie Rehr says: “Dave is never satisfied with what he’s done – he just continues to work every single day to get better. When he came up as a freshman, we knew we were dealing with a special player. The difference between a lot of kids and Dave is he never stopped getting better. He’s always pushing himself to get better. That’s why when next June comes around it’s not out of the realm of possibility to see him get picked up by a professional team.
“Dave is probably the best hitter in the league. He’s so dangerous that teams really don’t pitch to him, which makes it difficult for him. When they pitch to him, he hurts the ball. He also has a fantastic arm behind the plate, so it’s good for our pitchers because they don’t have a lot of guys trying to steal on them. He rarely gets to throw guys out because they’re afraid to run on his arm, and we benefit from that.
“He’s extremely physical. He’s big, and a lot of times that holds you back from being quick, but he is able to get the ball from home to second in a very short time. His times are sub two, which is really good for a catcher. He’s deceivingly quick on the base paths, and he hits to all fields with power.
“His understanding of the game and to performing at his best is fantastic. There’s never an excuse. There’s always a result. It’s seldom in a high school athlete where you see a player that will commit themselves to getting better at all cost, and that’s exactly what Dave does.
“In six years of coaching high school baseball, he is the second player I’ve coached to reach the Division One level. That’s pretty special because it doesn’t come around very often. Going to a team like the University of Cincinnati is fantastic. This isn’t someone who is going to walk on. This is someone who’s been recruited, and the school liked him so much they said, ‘We’re going to give you money to play baseball,’ and that’s something special.
“For the most part, this falls right in Dave’s lap. I can’t take much credit at all. This is Dave working hard and doing what he needed to do to get noticed – going to the camps, going to the clinics, going around the country to play in tournaments to get noticed. Dave and his family have done a great job to put him in the position he’s in today.”
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