Caleb Mann, 6'03" 205 rhp
Class of 2024
Caleb Mann, 6'03" 205 rhp
Class of 2024
9th Region champs!
Ryle 2 / Dixie 1
Champions
33rd District Champions
District Champions 2024 & 2023
Caleb Mann, District Tournament MVP
Ryle v. Conner 05/20/2024 33rd District Championship
Caleb played first base and went 2/2 with a single, base on balls, double, and run scored. He moved to the mound in fifth inning and in three innings of work, struck out four and only allowed one hit and one walk. Pictured above, Caleb comes off the mound after the top half of the 7th with the save and Sam Eppley with the win.
Caleb & Skip
Elijah (Skip) Mann is the varsity baseball team manager and was asked, for the second year in a row, to go out and accept the 33rd District Championship trophy. Pictured with his older brother, Caleb, after he received the MVP and All Tournament Awards.
Caleb & Skip @ GABP
Reds Futures High School Showcase
Ryle uses all 31 Raiders in Reds Futures Showcase win over Campbell Co at Great American Ball Park
May 11th, 2024 · 0 Comment
By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
They call it the Reds Futures High School Showcase with Northern Kentucky teams Campbell County and Ryle meeting Friday in the first of four games over two days at Great American Ball Park.
But it was as much – actually more – a celebration than a baseball contest. “To be honest, I didn’t even know we’d won,” Ryle Coach Joe Aylor was saying of his Raiders’ 4-0 win over a Campbell County team of Scott Schweitzer, who had agreed on the same everybody-in approach.
So in this spectacularly bright afternoon and evening, with the Reds’ ground crew getting the field into the same shape it would be in for a major league game, the numbers on the scoreboard weren’t what Aylor and Schweitzer were looking at.
“We brought 31 players,” Aylor said, “including four managers (all in uniform) and all got into the game. One of those was extra special. The first pitch of the game came from Ryle sophomore manager Skip Mann, whose cerebral palsy didn’t prevent him from left-handing one off the mound to get the game going.
He was the first of eight Raider pitchers – one an inning with two in the first – who combined for a shutout for a 21-9 Ryle team, second only to Covington Catholic in the Ninth Region.
“It was just a great moment,” said Ryle senior Caleb Mann, Skip’s older brother, the top pitcher for the Raiders who just happened to be the pitcher of record in the fourth inning when Ryle broke a scoreless tie on AJ Curry’s sacrifice fly to right while earning the win.
Although Aylor kidded that “Skip wanted me to give the win to him.”
Actually, the best gift on this day, Skip said, was “how happy I was to be on the field with my brother.”
“It was just a great moment,” Caleb said, “that’s the first time we’ve been together in a game . . . I know how much he’d love to play.”
And on this day, with all 30 of his Raider teammates, he did.
“This couldn’t just be about 10 guys,” Aylor said of Ryle’s first chance to play at Great American Ball Park. They’ve got “a big turnaround” as they head to Lexington early tomorrow to play both Madison Central and Frederick Douglass in the Fayette County Invitational and that’s when winning will really matter.
But on this day, in this place, it was about Skip Mann and his guys getting their shot in the sun. “I was nervous a little but,” Skip said of his opening role that had the hundreds of Ryle fans offering him a standing ovation.
“Just being around the game and watching baseball,” that’s his reward, Skip says. “They’re all like family. We’re all in it for each other.”
And on a day like this, the entire Ryle pitching staff – Sam Eppley, Maverick Rabe, Grant Ashcraft, Dylan McIntyre, Andrew Roach, Nathan Muench and Caleb Mann that held Campbell County to two hits according to the GABP scorer – were in it together.
Although the Campbell County scorer had the Camels for four hits and at least two of the hit-or-error calls were really close. The Camels credited Gavin Bell, Will Haigis, Tyler Schumacher and Landon McNabb all with hits.
Following much the same game plan as Ryle, the Camels just didn’t have the same good fortune for pitchers Chris Bramley, Nate Delaney, Sam Adams, Connor Weinel, Bell and Charlie Alford, when errors at the worst possible time hurt them.
And Ryle had AJ Curry, the sophomore leading all Kentucky high school hitters with a .628 average. After grounding out to first to lead off the first, Curry came up for his second at-bat in the fourth with Anthony Coppola on third and one out. On a two-strike pitch, Curry lined out maybe the game’s hardest hit ball on a line to right field for a sacrifice fly and the game’s first run.
That’s all it would take although an opportunistic Raider team would put three more up when given the chance.
Like Ryle, the 15-10 Camels will be heading to Lexington Saturday for two games in the Fayette County Invitational against Henry Clay and Lexington Christian.
SCORING SUMMARY
CAMPBELL CO 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 2 3
RYLE 0 0 0 2 0 2 X – 4 2 3
WP: Mann (6-1) LP: Weinel (0-2)
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.At
Ryle High school season opener
Ryle v Beechwood (W 9-1)
Caleb got the ball in the third inning and blanked the Tigers with three innings of shutout baseball with 8 strikeouts. Jamie Tessoff, KY PBR, tweeted 83-86 fastball with command of the zone. Caleb allowed one hit with two walks and a hit batter in 3 full innings.
About Me
What I'm Looking For
I will graduate in two weeks at the top of my class at Ryle High School with a 4.9 gpa. I have already earned an associate degree of arts from Gateway Community and Technical College. Over the summer I will move to Lexington, KY, to attend an 8-week electrical lineman training program at Somerset Community College where I will complete the lineman training and obtain my CDL. I will continue to train at Pitching Performance Lab in Lexington to increase my velo and complete for better college baseball offers. I am looking for a program where I can grow and continue to develop.
Baseball Now
I am a right-handed pitcher with a fastball sitting 84-85 mph touching 88 mph. I have good rotation and effectively deliver a running two-seam, slider, and change up. I had an 2.4 ERA in 35 IP, 36K, and a 1.3 WHIP during the 2023 high school season . This year, I pitched 34.1 innings (7-1 Record) in the regular season with a 2.2 ERA, 44K's, and a 1.1 WHIP. Last year, I was the winning pitcher in the District Championship game, named to the All 9th Region Tournament Team, 2023 KHSAA Academic All State First Team, and played in the NKCA Junior All-Star Game.
For the 2024 summer season, I'll be playing for Steve Wagner with At The Yard in Pastime Tournaments around Cincinnati.
My Goals
My brother, Zach Mann, played college baseball for Saginaw Valley State University (NCAA Div II), Chattanooga State CC (NJCAA Div I), and Indiana University Southeast (NAIA). He also played two summer seasons with the Newark Pilots (PGCBL). I want to build on the experiences he had and go further. I had the opportunity to grow up in college baseball dugouts and learn from the guys in the bullpen. I owe a great debt to my brother and his friends who invested in me. (The photo is Zach and me at Colburn Park in Newark, NY in 2018)