Footballs may be flying, but the Arcadia Baseball Club continues to work on developing the area’s best baseball players.

Established in 2005 by Matt Ingram and Steve Jackson, the club’s first team included 11 players who now attend Arcadia High School or Brophy Prep: Gary Cornish, Preston McLain, Andrew Naderer, Brendan Satran and Michael Scannell at Arcadia and Chris Beall, Drew Butler, David Graybill,Michael Roberts, Austin Scmidt and Jack Stamets at Brophy. Subsequent ABC players include John Rapasarda (Brophy), Zach Gibbons (Saguaro), Joe Curletta (Mountain Pointe), Jose Pereyda (North) and Ryan Tomita (Horizon).

Ingram, who has worked in the Arcadia neighborhood since 2003, is the assistant varsity baseball coach at Arcadia. The ABC goal, he said, is preparing young players for high school baseball.

To date, ABC is achieving its goal.

On that first ABC team 14 of 16 players currently play high school baseball. Three players (Gibbons, Satran and Pereyda) were full-time varsity starters as freshmen. Eleven players earned varsity letters last season as sophomores. In addition, Beall, Gibbons, Graybill, Naderer, Satran, and Scannell received all region honors, and Gibbons was named to the Class 4A Division I All-State team.

“ABC taught me work ethic and how to expect more out of myself,” Gibbons said, “along with staying consistent with my mind-set regardless of the results that day.”

Satran simply added, “Matt Ingram made me a baseball player”. ABC has expanded to include 10u, 11u and 14u teams. The current 14u team has 13 neighborhood kids on the roster and is entering its second season, developing into a solid team, according to Ingram.

“Moving forward in baseball is a process,” he said. “It takes time to develop skills and a mind-set that will allow a young player to learn how to motivate themselves and compete at a high level.

“ABC is about teaching players how to adapt and get the most out of their ability.”

The club is also joining with Arcadia Little League to offer fall workout sessions, as well as summer camps, coach’s clinics and holiday sessions in baseball and softball. For more information, click here to email Ingram.