Riverdale Baptist Coach Will Be Honored by Baysox

The Riverdale Baptist baseball team returned to Prince George's County this past weekend from Vero Beach, Fla., the former spring training home of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It was fitting that the Crusaders got to play at the one-time home of a Major League team, since head coach Terry Terrill has helped Riverdale Baptist to become a big-time program which has sent several players to the pro ranks in the more than three decades he has been at the helm.

The Crusaders won four of five games during their Florida trip and that just added to the impressive career total of Terrill, who has been coaching the team since 1977.

A 1976 college graduate of High Point in North Carolina, Terrill recorded his 900th win at Riverdale Baptist in late March. A graduate of Bowie High, he is slated to throw out the first pitch on April 20 at Prince George's County Stadium prior to the Bowie Baysox game against Akron.

Phil Wrye, the assistant general manager for Bowie, told Patch on Tuesday that Terrill is one of five people slated to throw out the first pitch at around 6:45 p.m. April 20.

"Anytime you coach in one place it is a good situation. The wins add up, but I guess the losses do too. I am fortunate to do something I enjoy," Terrill told Patch on Monday, before his team lost, 10-1, to DeMatha at the University of Maryland in College Park. "I count my blessings. I try to motivate the kids and have a positive influence in their lives."

He has sent players to the college and pro ranks, including former minor league pitcher Kenny Nelson and infielder Jackie Rexrode, who reached the Class AA level in the Chicago White Sox system.

Nelson was a second-round pick of the Atlanta Braves in 2000. Justin McClanahan, a 2003 graduate, played in college at Louisville and last year hit .261 in the Toronto Blue Jay farm system with Dundein in the high Class A Florida State League.

Former Riverdale Baptist players now with college teams include Carl Travers, a junior catcher for Division I Radford in Virginia, sophomore catcher C.J. Poad of Division III Roanoke (VA) College and Tommy Winegardner, a former player at Coastal Carolina who is now with NAIA Cumberland in Tennessee.

In games through Saturday senior Winegardner led the team in hitting at .364, and Terrill feels he has a shot to play pro ball. Donte' Cotten, a former player at Riverdale Baptist, is a freshman on the roster at North Carolina Central.

Terrill became the athletic director in the 1990s at the Upper Marlboro school, which has fielded top-ranked girls and boys basketball squads in recent years. Olandis Gary, who graduated from Riverdale Baptist in 1994, played in the NFL for Denver.

The associate head coach for the Crusaders is Ryan Terrill, a former player under his father at the school. Ryan Terrill played in college at Liberty University.

"He has that passion and that youthful enthusiasm he brings to the table," Terry Terrill said of his son.

Another former player under Terrill to play at Liberty was George Baker, who went on to play in the minor leagues for the Orioles nearly 20 years ago. Dan Brockunier, a senior on the team this year, plans to play for Division II Tampa in Florida next season.

So how long does Terrill plan to be the head coach? "I still enjoy it. It has been quite a storybook experience to do something you enjoy. At this point I take it a year at a time. I am not looking to stop," he said.