Coach Morgan Singletary

Hopewell Scores Season High Runs in 17-3 Pasting of Shenango. vikingssportsnow.com/hopewell-score… @BenMcDonal40082 @CharlieSmetana

Hopewell HS Baseball Wins 6th in Row, 7-2 Win Over Shaler. vikingssportsnow.com/hopewell-hs-ba… @BenMcDonal40082

Hopewell Wins 5th Consecutive Game Behind Strong Outing from McDonald and Donovan. vikingssportsnow.com/hopewell-wins-… @drew_donovan_3 @BenMcDonal40082 @CoachGrant16

Total Team Effort Leads Hopewell HS Baseball to 15-9 Win Over North Catholic. vikingssportsnow.com/total-team-eff… @Jamesgill_22 @LoganTriscila

Senior Payton Korker Pitches Hopewell Past Avonworth, 11-1. vikingssportsnow.com/senior-payton-… @paytonkorker15 @Jamesgill_22 @CharlieSmetana

Kingston Krotec (Again) Comes Up Clutch for Hopewell in 5-2 Win Over Ambridge. vikingssportsnow.com/kingston-krote… @KrotecKingston @PghDawgs

Kingston Krotec Pitches Masterpiece Leading Hopewell to 7-0 Shutout of Beaver. vikingssportsnow.com/kingston-krote… @mvukovcan

5 Positive Takes from Hopewell’s Scrimmage Against Riverside. vikingssportsnow.com/5-positive-tak… @USCSumterBSE @CharlieSmetana @drew_donovan_3

👀 Two seniors leveling up this off season! Drew Donovan joined the 300 hour club and @CharlieSmetana joined the 400 hour club! They have logged over 300 and 400 hours of off-season lifts, conditioning, practices, and community service! Keep it up guys! #NoDepositNoReturn

🧵 The Number 1 mistake parents make Your kid isn’t “ahead”.. he’s early ©️Post from founder @KingFish626 For years we have advised parents to be judicious with Game play at the youth level. (All Sports) Winning travel / rec games can give a false sense of accomplishment to parents. On occasion, youth dominance is because of God-given ability. Most often, however, youth dominance is a result of early physical maturation or another person in the young athlete’s life who pushes them to do things /Play at a rate that their peers are not close to. They just have alot more experience. Early advantages disappear. This is hard to recognize because few Coaches see or will be honest with a parent while they are winning. Winning keeps parents happy. There’s a lot of rec ball champions who played at PNC Park last summer that will never play meaningful college baseball. Youth athletes play too many games. And they do not train enough individually or in a group setting that pushes that kid beyond what they are capable of alone. Many great early maturing players disappear in middle school and high school. The Facebook post from parents stop …and it’s always someone else’s fault. Politics, Daddy Ball/ whatever. They’re simply never around people who push them by example. I’m not talking about a coach. I’m talking about walking into a place and seeing somebody two years older than you / 4 years older than you/ 10 years older than / shit even 2 years younger than you -working his/ her ass off for something that is not guaranteed. Development is a learned behavior. And in our experience- best learned in a group. So the dominant 12 U player who’s probably in seventh grade wins 10 trophies at Ripken & the Akron Applebee’s hoedown throwdown…. And you’re thinking everything is good. But puberty shows up for everybody eventually. The gap closes and you find out that no NCAA coach coach cares about how good a player was when they were 12. Youth dominance means nothing later. NCAA Coaches care about movement, speed, strength, power, coachability, attitude. It’s the very first thing @SangilloJohn told our players this weekend. He didn’t care one iota whether you were a division 1 player or a 10 year old…he wanted to watch you move. Most parents understand this too late . The physical advantage is the one thing that cannot be caught quickly. Parents should know this because many of them have under-sized kids….and they know it’s gonna take time to “catch up.” But those parents of average to larger kids they don’t learn that lesson until it’s too late. Confidence drops, the bad habits that were covered up by the previous “early” advantage- becomes disadvantages. The across the body swing cannot catch up to the new Velocity and Movement. The 73 mph fastball that dominated at 12U no longer blows by anyone. The gap has become a deficit and a 15 or 16 you almost impossible to have the honesty to recognize that and change it. I have a gym full of kids home from college right now. Not one of them says they wish they would’ve played more games when they were younger. All of them in chorus sing 🎶 “wish I had done more of what I’m doing now. I have two youth groups that sometimes play games. The death ☠️ squad and the Raiders. Since September- they haven’t had one organized baseball- only practice where we are trying to field ground balls or hit 100% of the time. We have done some of that but every single practice has involved >70% weightlifting / power / speed / mobility= MOVEMENT!!!! all specific to being better at baseball in three - 5 years. Habits and skills that will scale & are designed to eventually push them past their peers I still get questions. “When are we going to do this? When are we gonna do that?” Some of them sort of in/ some of them with one foot in on middle school open gyms and Rec Ball pony league games. @BluebookBeede @devenmorgan @jaegersports

@CharlieSmetana is the first player to join the 300-Hour Club for the 2026 baseball season! Since July, Charlie has logged over 300 hours of off-season work on the field and in the weight room. This kid is crushing it getting ready for his senior season! #NoDepositNoReturn

Blessed to commit to USC-Sumter!!! @USCSumterBSE @LeeCurtis__ @wthomps643 @Coach_MorganS @CoachGrant16 @bvbaseball20 @CoachHoth

Knocking off some rust 2027 C/OF 5’11”, 155lbs +4.00 GPA #uncommitted @UncommittedUTR @uncommittedBB8 @BUncommitted @UncommittedUsa @PB_Uncommitted @PG_Uncommitted @UncommittedStud @uncommittedBBs @FlatgroundBats @Coach_MorganS @CoachGrant16

Hit the cages to do a few different swings tonight 2028 3B/RHP 5’11”, 175lbs +4.00 GPA #uncommitted @UncommittedUTR @uncommittedBB8 @BUncommitted @UncommittedUsa @PB_Uncommitted @PG_Uncommitted @UncommittedStud @uncommittedBBs @FlatgroundBats @Coach_MorganS @CoachGrant16

@MLB @budweiserusa #hitthebuds

If someone homers to this location during the #WorldSeries, you could win a season's worth of @BudweiserUSA! Reply with #HitTheBuds for your chance to win.

Free Advice I talk to players and parents every day from all over the country at all different levels. I find myself saying the same things over and over and over again, because so many just don't know. They don't know what it really takes to be great at baseball and how many different levels are extraordinarily imperative. I want to take a few minutes and share some things with you that you may want to share with your son. -The most important thing to athletes is their bodies. Strength and athleticism are the prerequisite to success at a high level. Coaches are not recruiting weak and or out of shape kids. If your kid is genuinely chasing athletic greatness he should be on a "year-round" strength and conditioning program. Doing it for a few months at a time and then stopping because of a season is a waste of time. Strength and speed diminish very quickly when a kid stops working out. @strengthdebates on twitter is a great follow for strength and conditioning advice. weak and or out of shape is average or below average regardless of skill set. 1. It's not supposed to be easy. Competitive athletics are designed to be hard, uncomfortable at times and rewarding to the highest achievers. Comfort and ease are awarded to players that are physical, strong, athletic and highly skilled because of their intense work ethic over long periods of time. 2. When you think you're good enough, you're really not. Being one of the best in your town, city or your high school-travel team isn't enough. It's a big world and a lot of players are genuinely hungry for greatness. The minute you think you're good enough, you're beat. Players should always be striving to get stronger, more physical (faster, more athletic), more skilled and better at playing the actual game. 3. When you think you're working hard enough, somebody is outworking you. Some players (worldwide) are "all in" on being the best and they're your competition if you want to play at the highest level. Every player with high aspirations should be keeping a time spent log-diary. If players aren't spending a couple hours a day getting better, for approximately 300 of the 365 days per year, they aren't genuinely chasing athletic (baseball) greatness. There is no easy way to get or be great. It takes an incredible amount of time, effort, energy, sacrifice and desire. It's the lifestyle of the best of the best and they embrace and love it. 4. How long and far are you willing to go? The daily workouts, long tossing, cage sessions, defensive work, speed work, etc. must be very important to the player. They have to sacrifice a tremendous amount and be driven to the point of being considered weird or an outcast to others at times. 5. What are you doing that separates you from the competition? Players must continually evaluate themselves and their performances. The majority of players nationwide are incredibly average or grossly below average because they're doing nothing to separate themselves from the competition. What are you doing to separate yourself? Are you getting stronger daily, in better shape daily, arm strength improving daily with long toss, hitting velocity and taking swings daily, defensive work daily? When evaluating performances, it all comes back to what you're doing leading up to the competition. Some players get exactly what they've worked for, pitiful performances. Others get what they've worked for, great performances. 6. How much does it really mean to you? It's OK to simply want to be an average or good high player. It's OK to simply want to be part of a college team. Being a good high school player takes very little work. Playing low level college baseball can also be done at times with subpar work ethic, desire, sacrifice. But if you're legitimately chasing greatness, you must understand exactly how much it means to you. It has to mean so much to you that you're once again considered weird or an outcast at times. Players genuinely chasing greatness are different. -They consistently do the following 1. Get Stronger. Players should be on a year-round strength and conditioning program You don't need a personal trainer. You do need the willingness to work out every day on your own. 2. Get Faster and More Physical. You get faster by getting stronger, in better shape and sprinting on a regular basis. 3. Skill Work. Cage Work-Great hitters miraculously take hundreds of thousands more swings than their competition in their careers. You don't need lessons; you need more cage and machine reps (velocity-breaking balls) than your competition and remember your competition is worldwide. Defensive Work-ground balls/fly balls/angles/etc. Long Tossing-Year-Round Long Tossing-Throwing Program-Buy the Jaeger Sports Year-Round Throwing manual and follow it exactly. 4. Undersized No More. If you need to gain weight. Do it and stop making excuses. Caloric intake and pounding the weights is how you gain weight. Thinking a young athlete is going to gain weight eating 2500-3000 calories per day is fooling yourself. The goal should be 6000 calories per day. Simply stated, if the game means enough to you, you will get your body where it needs to be very quickly (year). Understanding the journey of professional athletes is something that is in my arena. I've signed and coached MLB players and spent decades educating myself on what it "really takes". The one thing I've realized is it takes a lot more than what the overwhelming majority of people want to believe it takes. Searching for shortcuts or the easy way always leads to short careers and disappointment. The kids that played at an incredibly high level were different. They thought differently. They acted differently. They were willing to sacrifice more, and they loved the process. They bought into the hard work part of the equation and had an incredible willingness to do the hard things that required effort and sacrifice. They knew they wanted it and refused to listen to bad advice. They looked at shortcuts as the enemy. Parents If you embrace your son chasing athletic greatness, I highly recommend you take some time and read a few books. 1. Outliers 2. Talent Code 3. Tipping Point

@CharlieSmetana @PghSportsNow @CoachGrant16 @bvbaseball20 @CoachDiMatteo

Updated metrics after recent showcases: -Catcher Velo: 80 -Pop Time: 1.95 -Exit Velo: 99.6 Hungry & won't be outworked! -2025 Beaver County Times Player of the Year -2025 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette All-Section @Coach_MorganS @PghSportsNow @CoachGrant16 @bvbaseball20

Congratulations to Hopewell Senior Drew Donovan! vikingssportsnow.com/congratulation…

Congrats to 2026 MIF/P @drew_donovan_3 on his commitment to @WCTitanBaseball