Tag: ecsu

The Twi’ Welcomes Photographer Nicholas Furino

Recently, a local talent named Nicholas Furino has been selected as GHTBL’s official League Photographer. The Twi-loop looks forward to sharing his candid photos and drone shots of each team amid the 2024 Regular Season and Playoff Tournament.

Hailing from East Haven, Connecticut, Furino is a graduate of East Haven High School and is going into his senior year at Eastern Connecticut State University. In 2023, Furino was a left-handed relief pitcher for the ECSU Warriors and tallied 12 innings and 9 strikeouts on the season. Then Furino decided to lean into media studies, becoming a photographer and videographer for the Warriors Athletic Department. He now works as a freelance photographer. Nick’s parents are Amy and Mario Furino and his siblings are Nathan and Natalie Furino.

Please join the league in welcoming Nicholas Furino to this new role.

See more of Nick’s work on Instagram: @nick.visions.

Celebrating the Life of Ray Gliha, National Champion

Recently on August 14, 2023, a former GHTBL player, Raymond E. Gliha, passed away peacefully at his home in Manchester, Connecticut. He lived a full life that was closely associated with local baseball. Gliha was passionate about the game and he excelled on the diamond for many teams.

Raymond E. Gliha (1959-2023)

Ray Gliha was born December 23, 1959. He was a lifelong Manchester resident who was known to have a witty sense of humor. He would often write a poem or limerick for friends and family on their birthday and anniversary celebrations. People close to Ray knew him as the life of the party, a very loyal friend and an avid Boston Red Sox fan.

1980 Eastern Connecticut State College Baseball Team

Gliha played for Manchester High School and Manchester American Legion Post 102 before going on to Eastern Connecticut State College. In 1979, he batted .375 as a walk-on Freshman under the guidance of Head Coach Bill Holowaty. Throughout his college career, Gliha batted .345 with 212 hits, 20 home runs and 161 RBI in 175 games. He tied a national record with six hits in a single game. He started at all three outfield positions on four straight NCAA Division III postseason teams.

Ray Gliha (left) dives back to second base, Eastern Connecticut, 1982.

During his senior season, Gliha played center field and batted .395 with 7 home runs and 47 RBI. He was tri-captain that year, the team MVP and a 3rd Team All-American. Eastern went on to play in the 1982 Division III World Series in Marietta, Ohio. Gliha scored the go-ahead run in two of the games. Then in a 12-inning thriller, Eastern beat California State Stanislaus, 9-8, thanks to Gliha’s bases loaded single. It was Eastern Connecticut Baseball’s first of five national titles.

Ray Gliha (left) homers for Eastern Connecticut, 1982.

Gliha also competed in the Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League for 17 consecutive seasons. His twi-loop career began in 1979 for Gene Johnson’s Moriarty Brothers and ended in 1995 with the same franchise (changed names to Newman Lincoln-Mercury in 1990). Gliha was named to the GHTBL All-Star team at least three times, and he won the league’s Gold Glove Award in 1989. In total, Gliha earned 4 Season Titles and 6 Playoff Championships as a top outfielder in the Twilight League.

Hartford Courant excerpt, June 10, 1982.

In 2002, Gliha was inducted into the ECSU Athletic Hall of Fame. His game-winning hit in the National Title game was fondly remembered at the induction. His level of play raised the bar for Eastern Connecticut Baseball for years to come. Gliha was said to have enjoyed his years playing baseball, especially because that’s where he accumulated many of his life-long friends.

Gliha helps Moriarty Brothers win GHTBL title, 1984.

Towards the end of his baseball career, Ray Gliha was interviewed by local sportswriter, Ed Yost of the Hartford Courant. When asked about his long association with the game, Gliha said, “Baseball is in my blood.” Then he recalled his favorite season:

The best Twi’ team I played on was in 1980. We had a well-balanced team but when we picked up Bill Masse and Chris Peterson (both out of high school) we were even better. We won both the regular season and playoffs and by big margins. We had a lot of guys who could hit the ball out of here. We just blew the other teams away. We’ve been successful because we have been able to get guys who know how to play. All of our guys have college or pro experience. Gene has been fun to play for. He wants to win and if you give 100% he’s satisfied. His motto has been to play hard and have fun.”

Ray Gliha, 1994.

Ron Pizzanello, A Baseball Life

In 1977, former star catcher at Bulkeley High School and Eastern Connecticut State University, Ron Pizzanello, signed a professional baseball contract. He did so with the Colombo Nettuno team of the Italian Baseball League (now known as Serie A1). At the time of his signing, Pizzanello played for the Vernon Orioles of the Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League managed by Frank McCoy. After playing in Italy, he returned to the Vernon Orioles franchise as the team’s backstop.

Hartford Courant excerpt, 1977.
Ron Pizzanello (#12) and Colombo Nettuno teammates, 1977.
Ron Pizzanello, Catcher, Vernon Orioles, 1985.
Hartford Courant excerpt, June 12, 1987.

After a battle with diabetes that claimed both of his lower legs, Pizzanello has persevered. He was a successful American Legion baseball for South Windsor in the 1990’s and 2000’s. In 2018, Pizzanello came back to the GHTBL as manager of the South Windsor Phillies franchise. Also supporting the team with Pizzanello is Reading Phillies Hall of Fame inductee, Gary Burnham Jr who serves as the team’s General Manager. The team’s sponsor is Tony Desmond of Allstate Insurance – South Windsor.

Diabetes forces Pizzanello to end his playing career, 1990.
2018 South Windsor Phillies

GHTBL Career

  • West Hartford Merchants, 1974
  • Vernon Orioles, 1975
  • East Hartford Merchants, 1976
  • Vernon Orioles, 1978 – 1989
  • South Windsor Phillies (Manager), 2018 – present
Ron Pizzanello, Manager, South Windsor Phillies, 2019.
Ron Pizzanello, Manager, South Windsor Phillies, 2019.

Awards & Accomplishments

  • Little League Connecticut State Champions, Hartford All Stars
  • All City Baseball Catcher, Bulkeley High School, 1971-72
  • All Conference, Bulkeley High School, 1971-72
  • Captain Bulkeley Varsity Baseball
  • All-Conference Wrestler, Second Team
  • Received a degree from Eastern Connecticut State University
  • Starting varsity catcher, ECSU Baseball, 1974-76
  • Elected Captain, ECSU Baseball, 1976
  • All-New England Second Team Catcher, ECSU Baseball, 1976
  • Inducted into the Bulkeley High School Hall of Fame, 2017
  • 2020 GHTBL Regular Season Title
GHTBL meeting with Ron Pizzanello (standing, right), 2018.

Baseball Bloodlines: The Riemer’s

Over the last 50 years, men of the Riemer family have achieved remarkable baseball success…

1974 New Britain High School

The story of a father and two sons began in New Britain, Connecticut, in 1974. Mark Riemer was a fleet-footed junior infielder at New Britain High School with a quick bat. Behind Mark, the Hurricanes won a Class AA State Championship. The following year New Britain won 30 consecutive games but lost 1-0 to North Haven in the state championship. Mark was awarded First Team All-State honors. Later that fall, he also earned All-State honors as a linebacker on the football team.

1974 New Britain High School
1975 New Britain High School

Mark Riemer matriculated to Eastern Connecticut State University where he was a four-year starter on under Head Coach Bill Holowaty. Mark helped the Warriors to their first four NCAA Division-III tournaments. He was the first position player in New England Division-III to earn First Team NCAA All-American honors. As a junior right fielder in 1978, he batted .403 with an .803 slugging percentage, led Division-III in hits (73), RBI (59), total bases (146), was second with 14 home runs, and tied for second in doubles (19). Mark holds the Warriors career record for triples (18), is second in total bases (366) and home runs (34), third in RBI (152) and fourth in slugging (.637).

Mark Riemer, Eastern Connecticut Baseball, 1978.
Mark Riemer, ECSU Hall of Fame

Mark Riemer also starred in the Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League. At 18 years old, he suited up for the Moriarty Brothers of Manchester when they won the 1975 league championship. Then he changed teams in 1977 and joined Manager Tom Abbruzzese’s Society for Savings. After winning a GHTBL batting title and another championship season in 1979, Mark signed as a free agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. As a member of the Carolina League’s Salem Pirates in 1980, he finished second on the team in batting with a .298 average in 416 plate appearances.

Mark served two years in professional ball before returning home to Connecticut. He rejoined Society for Savings with whom he won four league titles. Then Mark jumped to the East Hartford Jets franchise from 1985 to 1992. Late in his career he won several National Senior Baseball World Series men’s league tournaments in Phoenix, Arizona, alongside GHTBL Hall of Fame inductee, Dave Bidwell. Mark continued to make twilight league appearances until around 2011 as a DH for Tom Abbruzzese’s People’s United Bank. Mark, a father of three (Matt, Meagan and Mike), was nicknamed “Trout” because of his love for fishing.

Hartford Courant excerpt, August 19, 1989.
Mark Riemer, East Hartford Jets, GHTBL, 1989.
Mark Riemer breaks up a double play, 1990.

Matt Riemer followed in his father’s footsteps in many respects. After graduating from Ellington High School, Matt took his skills to Eastern Connecticut State University and displayed speed and versatility. He helped Eastern win a Little East Conference championship in 2007. Matt began his GHTBL career in 2004 for People’s Bank. He was an effective leadoff hitter who got on base and collected countless stolen bases. Matt led People’s to a league championship in 2006, as well as regular season titles in 2007, 2008 and 2011. He took the field for the last time in 2013 after eight twilight seasons.

Matt Riemer, People’s United Bank, GHTBL, 2009.
Matt Riemer People’s United Bank GHTBL, 2011.

Mike Riemer, the youngest of the Riemers, graduated from Berkshire School in Sheffield, Massachusetts, in 2008. Like his father and older brother, Mike played under Bill Holowaty at ECSU after transferring to the Warriors from Division-I Central Connecticut State University. Mike was primarily a relief pitcher at CCSU but transformed into a starting center fielder and a heart-of-the-lineup hitter at ECSU. In his final collegiate season, he was one of three players to start all 44 games. Mike batted .329 with three home runs and 30 RBI, while committing just one error.

Mike Riemer, People’s United Bank, 2010.
Mike Riemer, Pitcher/Outfielder, 2011.

During summer months, Mike Riemer was a valuable member of People’s Bank in the GHTBL. The Riemer family also organized an amateur squad that won three straight tournaments in Cooperstown, New York (2010, 2011 and 2013). Men’s league experience helped Mike develop into a more complete player, and in 2014, he signed to play professionally in Germany. The 6-foot-2 and 220 pound, 24 year old joined the Tübingen Hawks of the German Baseball and Softball Association (DBV) after being recruited by Jason Holowaty, Director of Major League Baseball international development operations in Europe and Africa.

Mark and Mike Riemer, ECSU Baseball, 2013.
Mike Riemer with his mother, Ellen, in Germany, 2017.

Jim Schult Named to D3 Team of the Decade

Schult, an Eastern Connecticut Baseball Alum and GHTBL Champion.

WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The No. 5 stitched to Jim Schult’s uniform as a four-year member of the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball program may very well have stood for ‘5-tool’, as in ‘complete’ player.

This past week, Schult — voted the Division III National Player-of-the-Year in 2011 — represents Eastern on D3baseball.com‘s second all-decade team this century, the 2010s All-Decade Team.

An honorable mention selection at the utility position, the Wappingers Falls, NY native was one of 82 players named to the team, which also includes first, second and third teams which were voted upon by D3baseball.com staff and their colleagues at The Podcast About Division III Baseball. Players had to have played at least two seasons to be eligible for consideration in the decade.

“It’s definitely a big honor to be on this (all-decade) team… it’s nice to be thought of,” admitted Schult, when reached by telephone Friday afternoon.

Eastern, a four-time NCAA Division III national champion, was represented on the first all-decade team of the century (released in 2010) by three players: first-teamers Ryan DiPietro, a left-handed pitcher, and utility player Shawn Gilblair and second-teamer Dwight Wildman, an outfielder.

During their careers, all four of Eastern’s all-decade selections were named Player or Pitcher-of-the-Year by either the American Baseball Coaches’ Association (ABCA) or National College Association (NCBWA), or both. Schult was the only one of the four named to both.

Schult (right) in an elimination game of the 2009 NCAA New England Regionals at the Eastern Baseball Stadium, with battery mate Steve Cammuso stifled Husson University to 7 hits and the Warriors advanced to the championship. The pair also combined for 5 hits, 4 runs scored and 3 runs. Schult’s  2-out HR set the tempo for the 18-3 win.

In his four-year career (2008-11) as a right-handed pitcher, outfielder and DH, the six-foot, 200-pound Schult led the Warriors to four straight NCAA tournaments, at least a share of two Little East Conference regular-season championships and one LEC tournament title, and a 72.7 winning percentage. He batted third in the order in each of his final three years — playing primarily right field — until moving to DH as a senior tri-captain.

As a first-team ABCA All-America and National Player-of-the-Year in 2011, Schult set personal career-highs and led his team in most every statistical category. At the plate, he batted .392 with 76 hits (currently tied for tenth all-time in a season) while starting all 47 games for the 34-13 Warriors. He stole 20 of 21 bases that year with 138 total bases (tied for fifth all-time in a season) and 64 RBI (sixth) and his combined total of 120 RBI and runs scored currently equals the sixth-most in a season in program history. On the mound, he was 10-1 with 92 strikeouts in 87 innings with a 3.31 ERA., his only loss coming in one of his two relief appearances.

During that final season, Schult was credited with four of the staff’s five complete games, his final one coming in a five-hitter with 12 strikeouts in a 2-0 win – the only shutout of his career — over the College of Brockport in the NCAA regional tournament opener in the final pitching appearance of his career. It was that game, where he walked five batters and hit one and stranded ten runners – seven in scoring position —  that Schult feels defined his career. “I think if you had to sum me up in a single game, I think that game would probably tell you what you needed to know about me. I didn’t have great stuff that day — I think I threw about 165 pitches — but I was able to get out of (jams nearly every inning).”

A third baseman at John Jay High School in Hopewell Junction, New York, Jim Schult worked hard to make himself a solid right fielder at Eastern, 2017.

In his career, Schult threw complete games in both of his regional tournament starts, also going the distance in an elimination-game win against Husson University in the 2009 regional that moved the Warriors to within a win of advancing into the championship round.

In a 20-13 win over the University of Chicago in Chandler, AZ as a sophomore in 2009, he became the sixth player in program history to hit for the cycle (tripling in the ninth inning to complete the feat), tying program game records in the process with six hits and six runs scored.

A pitcher and third baseman (shortstop was taken by future major league Gold Glover Joe Panik) in high school, Schult was sent to right field on the first day of his first fall season at Eastern to replace a teammate who failed to appear. In that game, hit a home run in his first fall at-bat, and he spent the majority of his career – when not pitching — at that position. After struggling defensively as a freshman, he spent the summer playing center field in a local league at home, honing his craft under the tutelage of Negro League legend Willie Mack. He committed only one outfield error as a sophomore and subsequently led the team in outfield assists each season thereafter.

Schult says that he is most proud of his teams’ three LEC titles and the Warriors’ prodigious power-hitting teams of 2009 and 2010. The 2009 team batted an astounding .355, won its first 13 games, was ranked No. 1 nationally for three consecutive weeks, carried a 14-game hitting streak into the NCAA tournament, and finished as the national leader in doubles and was second in runs and hits. Those two teams set season records in six offensive categories that remain today.

“We stepped on the field with so much confidence, knowing that we were going to do whatever we needed to do to win that game from an offensive standpoint,” Schult recalls of his sophomore and junior seasons.  

A .371 career hitter, Schult today ranks among the program’s all-time career Top Ten in 12 offensive categories, including second in doubles (63), third in total bases (417) and fourth in runs (199) and RBI (189). As a pitcher, he fell one win shy of being one of 13 hurlers in program history with 20 career wins. He finished 19-2 with two saves and a 3.24 ERA in 203.0 innings. Among pitchers with a minimum of ten career decisions, his career winning percentage of 90.5 ranks sixth all-time.

Schult says that he turned down several Division I offers out of high school because Eastern afforded him the opportunity to play every day, as well as pitch.

While freshmen rarely cracked the starting lineup on veteran teams stocked with All-America players under Hall of Fame coach Bill Holowaty, Schult was an exception. Appearing in 40 of 49 games in 2008, he batted .301 with 23 RBI and 30 runs scored, then blossomed as a sophomore by batting .388 with 122 total bases and 58 runs score. “I always thought of  myself as a competitor and  somebody who would rise to that level of competition,” says Schult of his fast start.

Schult believes that a series of adjustments throughout his career were the keys to his success, from learning the nuances of the outfield and being able to hit a curveball after his freshman year, to mastering the art of opposite-field hitting and to learning to ‘pull the trigger’ early in the count as his career progressed. “Every time something got exposed with me, I spent the summer and the winter working on that weakness,” he recalls. “I think, really what it was, was just being willing to learn.”

Over his final three seasons, Jim Schult stole 35 of 37 bases, 20 coming in 21 tries in 2011.

In addition to his baseball accomplishments, Schult was a two-time CoSIDA Academic District I selection and Eastern Outstanding Scholar-Athlete qualifier in both years of eligibility and LEC All-Academic qualifier in all three seasons of eligibility.

Schult grew up in a baseball family, with his grandfather, Art (Dutch) Schult, enjoying a five-year MLB playing career with four organizations in the 1950s and 60s as a 1949 New York Yankees signee, and his father, Jim, being a 33rd-round MLB draft pick of the Texas Rangers as a power-hitting outfielder in 1981. Schult’s younger brother, Jeff, played four seasons at Western New England University as a centerfielder and DH, earning all-region and all-conference honors before graduating in 2014. Like Jim, he was also a CoSIDA academic all-district selection.

After earning his B.S. Degree in Business Administration from Eastern in 2011, Schult spent three summers playing in independent leagues and a winter season as one of the top pitchers in the Australian Baseball League with the Brisbane Bandits before retiring after tearing his UCL and undergoing Tommy John surgery.  In the summer of 2019, he came out of retirement at the request of Holowaty – the current president of the Greater Hartford Twilight League–  to resuscitate a struggling East Hartford franchise. As a player-coach, he helped lead the Jets to the GHTL championship this past summer.

In 2018, Schult earned a B.S. Degree in Accounting from Marist College and is employed at Blum Shapiro as a senior consultant, and resides in Simsbury.

Jim Schult (center) and his teammates had plenty to celebrate after he scored the winning run when the East Hartford Jets won the GHTBL title this past summer.

ARTICLE FROM GOWARRIORSATHLETICS.COM

Holowaty Named GHTBL President

“Attitude and effort are the keys to a successful life.”

Bill Holowaty

The Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League is proud to announce the appointment of former Eastern Connecticut State University Head Baseball Coach, and 2015 National College Baseball Hall of Fame Inductee, Bill Holowaty of Columbia, Connecticut, to role of League President. Holowaty, a resident of Columbia, Connecticut, is a baseball luminary and a veteran educator of the game.

As the winningest coach in the history of New England athletics, Holowaty earned the 11th most wins by a college baseball coach. In 45 years at ECSU, he compiled a 1404-525-7 record. He led Eastern to four NCAA Division III National Championships and was honored four times as the National Coach of the Year.  In addition to winning four national championships, ECSU posted 11 straight 30-win seasons from 2001 to 2011. He took the Warriors to the postseason 39 out of 45 seasons which amounted to 14 Division III College World Series appearances.

Bill Holowaty, former Eastern Connecticut State University Head Baseball Coach, 1986.

Holowaty created a new standard for college programs. He was an advocate in establishing the NCAA Division III Baseball College World Series in the mid-1970s. He coached in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Chatham Anglers in 1973. He’s a past president of the American Baseball Coaches’ Association (ABCA), and a longtime member of the ABCA All-America committee. Holowaty was a founder of the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) and of the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA). He is a member of both the NEIBA Hall of Fame and the ABCA Hall of Fame.

Though he retired from coaching in 2013, he has continued to teach baseball fundamentals at Holowaty Baseball Camp for 5-12 year old boys and girls in the spring and summer. His values are that of pure brand of baseball. He believes in hard work, hustle and a no-nonsense approach to the game; traits that translate into success on the field, in school, and in life.

Bill Holowaty, National College Baseball Hall of Fame, 2015.

The GHTBL is grateful to the Holowaty family for stepping up to the plate and taking on this leadership role. Over the years, Bill has been involved with the league in various capacities. In 1966 and 1967, a young Bill Holowaty played basketball for the Connecticut Huskies and then suited up in the Hartford Twilight during the summer. He was a first baseman for the Hamilton Standard team under player-manager Wally Widholm – a Former minor leaguer and GHTBL Hall of Fame Inductee. Holowaty attributes much of his success to what he learned from his two summers in the GHTBL with mentors like Widholm.

GHTBL Meeting at the Holowaty residence, 2017.

Holowaty would go on to a historic coaching career, but he continued to recruit from and send players to the GHTBL for more than 45 years. He coached several current GHTBL players at ESCU and in his baseball camps. As the new League President, Bill Holowaty brings invaluable connections, experience, new ideas, tradition, organization, a highly motivating spirit as we enter our 88th season in May of 2017.