Former high school rivals now teammates at Rider (By JENNIFER WIELGUS)
Former high school rivals now teammates at Rider
By JENNIFER WIELGUS
Bucks County Courier Times
ATHLETE UPDATE - LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. — Call it selective memory. But when Jimmer Kennedy thinks back to the first time he shared a baseball field with Mike Dyszel, he sees himself, a sophomore at Holy Ghost Prep, knocking a hit off the feared Bristol senior.
Dyszel's mental picture looks a little different.
“I remember beating him twice that year,” Dyszel says with a laugh.
Kennedy and Dyszel have cast aside their old high school rivalry and joined forces this season, helping to shore up Rider University's pitching staff.
The two former Courier Times Players of the Year (Kennedy in 2005; Dyszel in 2003) have earned starting roles for the Broncs and played a role in the team's steady improvement.
Kennedy, a 6-foot-1 freshman right-hander from Levittown, took advantage of a fellow pitcher's season-ending injury to move out of the bullpen after two appearances. In his third start on March 21, he picked up his first collegiate win against Saint Joseph's. He followed that five days later with another win against defending MAAC champion Marist.
In both starts, Kennedy lasted eight innings. His efforts made him the conference's Rookie of the Week.
Kennedy had to abandon his bat — which he used to hit .600 last year at HGP — at the college level. He says he misses hitting. But his arm is much more valuable to the Broncs.
“We thought he was going to be a good pitcher,” says Barry Davis, Rider's second-year head coach, who recruited Kennedy out of HGP.
Dyszel, a junior, was recruited by Davis' predecessor, Sonny Pittaro.
“He's still got a little ways to go,” Davis says of Kennedy, “but he's a hard worker. He's athletic. He's done everything I've asked him to do. He's got an opportunity to start, and he's going to continue to get it, because that's the situation we're in.”
Dyszel's situation has changed over the course of his Rider career.
As a freshman in 2004, he started 12 games and ranked second on the team in wins (four) and strikeouts (54). He moved into the bullpen midway through last season and pitched well down the stretch, finishing 2005 with a team-high 46 strikeouts.
Dyszel struggled in the closer's role early in 2006, and Davis decided to start him in mid-week, non-conference games.
He earned his first win of the season last Wednesday against Seton Hall. It was the second straight win for Rider (8-19, 3-3 MAAC), which is smack dab in the middle of the conference standings with 21 league games left.
“It's good to be back starting,” says Dyszel, who led Bristol High to the District One Class A title in 2003. “It's what I've done my whole life. I had no problem with closing, but it just didn't work out this year. I don't know what happened between last year and this year. But I feel like I'm getting back on track now.”
Prior to arriving at Rider, Kennedy and Dyszel knew each other only as, “that guy from” Holy Ghost or Bristol, as the case may be.
“The Brisol-Holy Ghost thing — you don't really get to know guys,” Dyszel says. “The rivalry is really deep, in every sport. It's not just on the field.”
But the two star pitchers represented the Bicentennial Athletic League together in the 2003 Carpenter Cup. When Dyszel learned last year that Rider was recruiting Kennedy, he reached out to his prospective teammate. They talked about the school, the new coach and college life.
Kennedy hasn't needed much help adjusting to any of it.
“He's doing well,” Dyszel says. “All the freshmen are coming in, fitting in and doing their thing. That's encouraging.”
