Front Royal Cardinals
| Front Royal Cardinals | |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Field | Bing Crosby Stadium |
| Team History | Front Royal Cardinals (1984–present) |
| Colors | red, white, and gray |
| Division | Northern |
| Championships | 1 (1986) |
| Runner-Up | 1 (1997) |
| Owner | |
| Head Coach | Clayton Kuklick |
The Front Royal Cardinals are a collegiate summer baseball team in Front Royal, Virginia. They play in the northern division of the Valley Baseball League. Although they won a championship in 1986, success has been relatively rare for the Cardinals.
The story of their 1997 runner-up finish is one of baseball's stranger tales. They played well, finishing second in the regular season. However, a tie for fourth place (and what was then the final playoff spot) meant an unusual playoff scheme was devised: the six teams in the league then would be split into two pools (1st, 4th, 6th and 2nd, 3rd, 5th) of three teams, who would then play a round-robin. The winners of each pool would then play in a five-game series to determine the season champion.
Front Royal won its pool, going 2-0, but the three teams in the other pool each finished 1-1. The League decided to have a second round robin in the other pool, which the Winchester Royals won.
However, this made the season drag on for so long that many Cardinal players simply decided to go back home (all VBL players are in college.) While most who left waited until July 31 (the end of their commitment at the time), several players simply left the team before then, breaking the letter of their agreement with the Cardinals and the League.
By the time the final series could be played, only ten Cardinals remained, four of them pitchers. With the team melted away, the Cardinals had no choice but to forfeit all matches to the Winchester Royals.
The 2006 season was skewed as the Cardinals were forced to play several "home" games on the road due to renovations at Bing Crosby Stadium, the team's home field (they were delayed due to heavy rains in the spring and early summer of 2006.) However, with the renovations complete, the Cardinals have one of the premier facilities in the League.
- In the 2007 Valley League Baseball Playoffs, the Cards received the Number 6 seed, but lost to the Luray Wranglers in the first round.
2009 New Coach Selected - Joe Scarano, University of Tennessee at Martin
Joe Scarano is in his second year as graduate assistant baseball coach for the University of Tennessee at Martin for the 2008- 2009 season. Scarano comes to UT Martin from Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., where he was the head baseball coach for three years, from 2005-2007. While at Gordon, Scarano led the Fighting Scots to two postseason playoff appearances in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. Scarano also coached in the New York Collegiate Baseball league in the summer of 2007, as an assistant with the Niagara Power, a Fellowship of Christian Athletes affiliate. A native of Lynnfield Mass., Scarano graduated from Salem State College in 2002 with a bachelor's degree in educational studies and psychology. He was a four-year starter in the outfield for the Salem State Vikings and helped lead his team to the Massachusetts State College Conference Championship in 1999. For the Skyhawks, Scarano assists with hitters and the offense, directs the outfielders on defense and is responsible for summer collegiate player placement. In addition to his baseball duties at UT Martin, Scarano is pursuing his master's degree in education; area of concentration, Human Health and Performance. Scarano is married to the former Heather Medcalf of Fairfax, Va. They are the parents of two sons, two-year-old Christian and three-month-old Henry. The family resides in Martin.