Since Rad Smith led the first Wildcats’ varsity team onto the field for the 1990 season, the Centreville baseball program has quickly become one of the most respected in the Northern Region. The Wildcats have yet to win a championship of any sort, falling short in four Concorde District championship games and three Northern Region finals, but in just 20 years the program has made its presence felt while playing in one of the state’s top baseball districts, advancing to four district championship games, three regional finals and earning three state playoff berths.
Under Smith, Centreville didn’t produce its first winning season until 1995, winning just two postseason games in the program’s first six seasons. The inaugural season produced a 2-17 overall record and a winless run through the 12-game Northern District schedule as the Wildcats struggled at the plate, hitting just .151 as a team and had just two regulars hit about .200. The 1991 team was improved, however finished just 3-16 after dropping 10 one-run games.
Following a 4-14 campaign in 1992, the ’93 Wildcats looked poised to make a run at the program’s first regional berth, winning the district’s play-in game before running into a buzz saw in the form of Robinson’s Shawn Camp – currently a reliever for the Toronto Blue Jays – who threw a complete-game shutout in a 4-0 win in the quarterfinals. The team finished its season at 9-10. After going 6-12 in 1994, the ’95 team got hot at the end of the season, winning it’s last four games to clinch the program’s first winning season. But the Wildcats’ bid for a regional berth again came up short after a loss to eventual region champion Herndon in the district quarterfinals, and Centreville finished the season 11-8.
It wouldn’t be until 1998, under coach Hap Pruitt – who guided the team to an 11-7 record in his first season in 1997 – that the Wildcats would advance to their first region tournament. That year, behind pitchers Adam Wynegar and Paul Abraham, Centreville went 16-7 and advanced to the region final before falling to West Springfield, 13-0.
Wynegar, who would later star at James Madison University and would be drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the sixth round of the 2001 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, led the Wildcats to that game by tossing a complete-game 3-hitter and striking out 13 batters in an 8-3 win over Hayfield in the semifinals, clinching the program’s first Group AAA state tournament berth. The following week, Centreville fell in the state quarterfinals to George Washington-Danville. Abraham, who took the loss in that game, would later go on to star at Shippensburg State University and was taken in the 12th round by the Texas Rangers in the 2001 MLB Draft.
Two years later, former Washington Redskins tight end Don Warren – who had helped the Wildcats’ junior varsity team to a 35-7 record as an assistant under Jonathan Frohm from 1997-99 – took the reigns of the program. A year later, in 2001, a young Centreville team made another deep postseason run behind the pitching battery of Dan and Chuck Mellies, pitcher Eric Fox and shortstop Chris Stanton.
That year, the Wildcats slipped into the region final after defeating Langley, 3-2, in the semifinals when Stanton plated Dan Mellies, who had led off the inning with a double, with a game winning ground out. Two days later, Centreville gave defending state champion Oakton all they could handle before falling, 3-1, in the final.
In the state tournament, Chuck Mellies threw a complete game and had eight strikeouts in a 6-1 win at Northwest Region champion Hylton before the Wildcats’ season ended with a 1-0 loss to Eastern Region champion Ocean Lakes. The game’s lone run was plated on a first-inning wild pitch by Fox, who would go the distance, allowing just three hits while striking out seven. The winning pitcher was Bill Bray, who would be the 14th overall selection in the 2004 MLB Draft and is now with the Cincinnati Reds. Centreville finished the season 18-11.
The following year, in 2002, saw the Wildcats avenge their region final loss to district rival Oakton when Fox scored Brandon Balue on a bases-loaded squeeze bunt in the eighth inning for a 6-5 win over the Cougars in the region semifinals. Centreville would fall to eventual state champion Madison, 11-3, in the final.
In the state playoffs, the Wildcats fell, 2-0, in the quarterfinals to a Kellam team that featured current Washington Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman and Justin Jones, who earlier that day had been drafted in the second round by the Chicago Cubs and tossed a three-hit shutout. Centreville would finish the season 14-11-1.
In Warren’s final season at the helm, in 2003, the Wildcats again advanced to the region tournament and finished 17-6
Jonathan Frohm, an assistant for six seasons under Pruitt and Warren, took over in 2004 and led the team to a regional playoff berth in his first year, but the team finished with a 7-15 mark that year and then went 5-15 in ‘05 and 10-10 in ‘06.
In 2007, Morgan Spencer, an assistant and junior varsity coach at Madison, became the fifth head coach in the program’s history.
Program’s Yearly Records:
YEAR RECORD PCT. HEAD COACH
1990 2-17 .105 Rad Smith
1991 3-16 .158 Rad Smith
1992 4-14 .222 Rad Smith
1993 9-10 .474 Rad Smith
1994 6-12 .333 Rad Smith
1995 11-8 .579 Rad Smith
1996 6-12 .333 Rad Smith
1997 11-7 .611 Hap Pruitt
1998 16-7 .696 Hap Pruitt *#
1999 10-10 .500 Hap Pruitt
2000 10-9 .526 Don Warren
2001 17-11 .607 Don Warren *#
2002 14-11-1 .538 Don Warren *#
2003 17-6 .739 Don Warren *
2004 8-14 .364 Jonathan Frohm*
2005 5-15 .250 Jonathan Frohm
2006 10-10 .500 Jonathan Frohm
2007 9-12 .429 Morgan Spencer
2008 4-17 .190 Morgan Spencer
2009 10-13 .435 Morgan Spencer *
* Northern Region Tournament berth
# Virginia Group AAA State Tournament berth
Coaching Records:
HEAD COACH TENURE RECORD PCT.
Rad Smith 1990-1996 41-89 .315
Hap Pruitt 1997-1999 37-24 .607
Don Warren 2000-2003 58-37-1 .604
Jonathan Frohm 2004-2006 23-39 .371
Morgan Spencer 2007-2009 23-42 .354
Overall 1990-2009 182-230-1 .440
