BASES - Baseball And Softball Essential Skills TRAINING FACILITY

Bob Lubaszewski - Owner

Bob, a life-long baseball enthusiast, has been involved in baseball as long as he can remember.  It started with neighborhood Wiffelball in the back yard, continued with organized little league baseball, more pick-up games at the local sandlot and eventually high school baseball.  He has been coaching youth baseball since (1980) his days in college at the University of Maryland at College Park.  It was then that he answered an ad in his apartment complex's newsletter for a little league coach (he recalls that experience in the column to the left).

Over the past 19 years Bob has been a manager and coach of his son's youth baseball teams through the Linthicum-Ferndale Athletic Association (LFYAA).  Most recently Bob has been involved as the Bench Coach/Scorekeeper/Statistician for the CHEN Chargers High School Baseball team for home schooled students and assistant coach of The Sandlot and BASES in-house travel teams.

A local product of the Baltimore area, Bob grew up in Dundalk (and yes, that means he is an avid bowler) where he attended Patapsco Senior High School and played JV Baseball, Varsity Football, and was a member of the Varsity Track team as a shot-putter.  He later graduated from the University of Maryland at College Park with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering.  He has been employed in the nuclear power industry for the past 30 years, the most recent 26 years at Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station. He formed ENFUCO Enterprises, LLC (fka The Anne Arundel Sandlot Academies, LLC) in January 2007 and left his career in nuclear energy in June 2007 (so he thought) to concentrate on the business of baseball at BASES (fka The Sandlot).  Bob still acts as a part-time consultant to his former employer in the area of hazardous (radioactive) waste shipping. 

He has been married to his wife, Pam, for 27 years (1985) and has lived in the same house in Linthicum, MD during that entire time.  He has two sons, Bob Jr., who recently graduated from UMBC and is a social media consultant for adventureweb.com, and Matt, who is a graduate of Penn-Foster High School, a baseball instructor, and most recently, a certified EMT.  Bob is also a member of St. Philip Neri Catholic Church in Linthicum.

Ron Baker - Baseball / Softball Instructor

Coach Baker is another of the original 4 instructors at our facility.  He now 'does it all' covering all aspects of baseball and softball with the exception of windmill pitching.  When it comes to the mechanics of the swing, defense, or baseball pitching, Coach Ron is the guru.

 

Ron Baker is an All-Star player and power hitter. He played and coached little league for over 15yrs. After his 4 years on the baseball team in Cardinal Gibbons High School, he joined the Marine Corp in 1975 and pitched on the All American Baseball Team.  After sustaining a severe foot injury in college, he joined the Coast Guard. He stayed in coaching his son (Ryan who is a former BASES pitching instructor) who has played with the Braves A and Florida Marlins AAA minor organizations.

Coach Ron took over the head coaching job of the JV Girls fastpitch team at North County High School in 2010.  Although losing many of his top pitchers to the varsity team throughout the year, the team went 18-5 under his direction.  He continued in that position during the 2011 season before taking on a position as assistant fastpitch softball hitting coach at Anne Arundel Community College.  There he helped the team to the national finals where they lost 1-0 in the title game.

Today, he still plays the game of slow pitch softball winning batting titles and recently won a national title and voted most valuable player on the all tournament team. In addition, Coach Ron's Over 50 Men's Slowpitch Softball Team won the 2010 Winter Nationals in Fort Myers, FL, in November 2010.

Renee Ferguson - Softball / Pitching Instructor

 

Renee Ferguson was born in Baltimore, MD in 1977. She began playing softball for Brooklyn Park when she was 5 and moved to the Severn Athletic Club (SAC) when she was 8. Around 12 years of age she began windmill pitching under the direction of Jack Crandall, Paul Tewey and Joe Cunnigham and her father, Jim Rhinehart

 

Around the age of 14 she moved up to playing for the Anne Arundel County Blazers a select fastpitch softball team that Renee helped lead to national tournaments all over the United States. During this time, Renee was also a 3 year varsity softball starter for North County High School from 1993-1995. Renee attended Tusculum College in Greeneville, TN from 1996-1998, on a full softball scholarship where she recorded, 82 appearances with 64 complete games 6 shutouts and 457 innings pitched.

 

For 7 years Renee served as an instructor’s helper at many local pitching clinics run by Jack Crandall and her father, Jim Rhinehart. During those years Renee learned how to throw and teach 7 different pitches to include a screwball, a rise ball, a curve ball and a curve drop.

 

While coaching her daughters 10 & under fast pitch softball team, Renee incorporated a voluntary hitting and pitching clinic into the teams practice schedule. The clinic included players of varying levels of ability such as a brand new pitcher learning the motion for the first time, advanced pitchers who were beginning to learn new pitches; and hitters that stood on the plate instead of in the box. By the end of the season Renee’s team outscored their opponents by an average of 5 runs per game and had an arsenal of 5 talented pitchers.

 

Renee and her husband Jack have been married for 15 years and have 3 children, Journey who is 14, Tre’ who is 12, and Brooklyn who is 10. Renee serves as the Operations Manger of Habitat for Humanity of Howard County, MD.  

Joe Pfistner - Baseball / Instructor 

Joe is currently an assistant varsity baseball coach at North County High School, a position which he has maintained over the past five years.  In that position he works primarily as a hitting instructor.  Prior to his current coaching position at North County High School, Joe coached at General McLane High School in Edinboro, Pennsylvania. Joe currently runs the BASES Summer Camps (June through August) program and is also head instructor for the BASES Saturday morning Winter Hitting Camps (January & February).  Recently, he has also given private lessons at the Harford Sandlot Academy in Forrest Hills, Maryland and ran the Sandlot Summer Baseball Camps at that location.

As a player, Joe played middle infield at Palisades High School in eastern Pennsylvania and went on to play college baseball at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.

Joe's day job (when he's not having fun with baseball) is as science/math teacher at North County High School.  Before that he taught 6th grade science at Old Mill Middle School and 5th grade and kindergarten at North Glen Elementary school.

Joe's passion for the game is evidenced by his reputation. He has worked with players of all ages and his coaching philosophy is based on breaking down each aspect of the game and understanding why it is important to do the small things right.  Joe believes it is essential to work from the ground up.  His hitting philosophy is best summarized by the spelling of his last name:

P - Patience
F - Focus
I - Inside (keep hands inside of ball)
S - Stance
T - Timing
N - Never take eyes off of ball
E - Explode
R - Repetition

Coach Joe has recently launched the "On Deck with Coach Pfistner" section of our web-site to help players, parents, and coaches with drills, coaching philosophy, and advanced strategy.

Matt Lubaszewski - Baseball / Instructor

Matt is 23 years old, a graduate of Penn-Foster High School, and was born in Baltimore, Maryland.  He was a home-schooled High School player in three varsity sports: Football for the Central Md. Christian Crusaders; Basketball for the CHEN Chargers; and Baseball for the CHEN Chargers. Matt has spent the past two years as the head baseball coach for the CHEN Chargers High School Varsity Baseball Team in the Old Line Baseball Conference (Avalon, The Heights, Spencerville, St. Maria Goretti, Washington Christian, CHEN). He has also served as head coach to the Sandlot Saints, hitting coach for the 14U Catonsville Cubs, and currently serves as hitting coach for the 15U Spring Grove baseball team. Matt will be acting as head coach for a BASES-sponsored 13U baseball team for the 2013 season.

Although his sports participation is varied, his love lies with baseball.  He has been playing on organized baseball teams since the age of 4.  Four years ago he completed his final year playing first base for the CHEN Chargers Varsity Baseball Team.  As a home-schooled student, being able to participate in organized athletics at the High School level was a blessing.  Matt aspires to continue playing baseball.  He enjoys teaching and instructing younger players in what he has learned over the past 18 years in the sport.

Matt is a certified Emergency Medical Technician. He is currently a Lieutenant at the Arbutus Volunteer Fire Department. Matt aspires to pursue a career as a paramedic.

Matt works closely with the other instructors and assists with Clinics, Camps, and Lessons. He assists Coach Joe Pfistner in running the BASES Summer Camp Program. He has been giving private and semi-private lessons over the past four years.

Carey Jacobson - Softball / Pitching Instructor

Former Old Mill High School assistant varsity softball coach, carey Jacobson has played men's fastpitch or coached girls 12 and under up to women's unlimited teams for 46 years.  His teams have won several A.S.A. state and regional championships, and have qualified for and participated in 14 and under A.S.A. national (1989) and women's unlimited A.S.A. nationals.

The past 17 years coach Jacobson has devoted his time to teaching the proper fundamentals of fastpitch to both beginners and advanced high school and college pitchers.  He has conducted clinics at middle schools, high schools, and colleges.  Carey has, and continues to instruct several collegiate pitchers.  He enjoys spending most of his summer observing pitchers at various tournaments.

Coach jacobson is retired from Northrup Grumman.  He has lived in Glen Burnie with his wife for 45 years.  He has two daughters, 3 granddaughters (all play softball) and one grandson.

He is looking forward to meeting and working with the girls at BASES.

Alan Haddaway - Softball

Coach Al is one of our original 4 instructors here at BASES and is also an Assistant Softball Coach at Anne Arundel Community College with over 20 yrs experience coaching youth athletics at all levels from Rec ball up through college.  The AACC team finished the 2012 season as runner-up in the NJCAA national championship in Minnesota. Coach Al has also taken High School players abroad for both the educational and fastpitch experience to represent the USA by participating in good will games in both Italy and in Curacao. He has developed an outstanding reputation here at BASES teaching both fundamentals and advanced skills by helping young athletes of all ages improve their confidence and self esteem.  Coach Al recently served as both the Head JV coach and Varsity Assistant at North County HS from 2005 -2010 posting an overall winning record of 75-28 including two JV county championships and 2005 Varsity 4A State Championship. 

Coach Al is a Right View Pro Video certified Instructor using the latest advances in visual technology to analyze hitting and pitching mechanics. Always looking to learn the latest training techniques and tools, he attends college and Olympic coaching clinics and passes on this knowledge to more than 100 kids each year through clinics and private instruction.  He also served as an assistant instructor with USA Olympic Gold Medalist “Stacy Nuveman” and “Jessica Mendoza” clinics in 2008.  Just recently at BASES he worked a clinic for the US Department of State’s Cultural Affairs division for a group of visiting Iraqi teenagers.

Coach Al developed a love for baseball as a kid growing up in Southwest Florida and continued playing travel select as a teenager after his family moved to Maryland.  He joined the U.S. Coast Guard in 1980 performing search and rescue, drug interdiction and Haitian immigration operations off the coast of Cuba before transitioning into a Coast Guard civil service career. He continued his love of the game playing men’s travel softball with the Coast Guard for more than 20yrs.  Married with two children he started his coaching interest by coaching his son’s baseball teams and eventually his daughter’s fastpitch teams from rec league through select.

Coach Al's passion and enthusiasm for coaching and instructing is evident from the number of hours he dedicates to the kids year around.  He is determined to help each player become better and his effectiveness and ability to obtain positive results. Coach Al says his core values and his conviction in helping others was instilled in him by his parents and he believes that hard work, dedication and the right sport specific training will help athletes reach their maximum athletic potential.  He is committed to giving back to the community by using girl’s fastpitch softball as a platform to help young athletes further develop good character traits, confidence and life skills that can help them succeed in life. Often coaches are asked how they measure success.  Coach Al believes there are lots of ways to measure success and clearly measuring wins and losses is one that most people focus on.  However he also believes the ability to make a positive impact with a player no matter how big or small is just as important.  If an athlete reflects back years from now and says, “I remember when my Coach helped inspire me to think a little bigger and go a little further in reaching my goals, goals I didn’t think I was willing to work hard enough to obtain but did because my coach believed in me, more importantly he or she helped me believe in myself”. 

 “It has never been about wins or losses for me, although I will admit I don’t like to lose. Coaching for me has always been about making a contribution in helping young student-athletes reach their potential, athletically and in life. For me it has been about building lasting relationships with my softball kids, parents, coaches and administrators”. - Coach Al

 Favorite quote:  “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard”- Tim Notke