The Beltway Blue Caps are back for their second season in 2008. The inaugural campaign was marred by key injuries and some bad breaks at the wrong time. The Blue Caps posted a 9-35 overall record in 2007 and finished last in the Clark Griffith League. There were some outstanding individual performances and on the whole the summer was a learning experience for all involved.

This year’s roster is highlighted by a handful outstanding returning players from the 2007 squad: Mike Sweeney (Gettysburg), Brendan DiBari (Virginia-Wesleyan), Ross Sweeney (MC-Germantown), Danny White (Kenyon), and Max Eckert (Stevenson).

The Blue Caps have continued to stick with their goal of providing a place to play for local players by bringing in Brett Hammann (Palm Beach Atlantic), Ryan Baione (Stevenson), Sam Bender (UMBC), Mike Lenox (Bridgewater), and Austin Booker (Cal). We have also are giving some of the area’s top college-bound seniors the opportunity to compete in the Clark Griffith League this summer. This group of elite rising freshmen includes Matt Kaler (UMass), Max Langford (Dartmouth), Johan Knee (Kutztown), and Alex Eliopoulos (John’s Hopkins).

A change from last year to this year is the influx of players from outside of the Metropolitan area. This year the Blue Caps roster features players from Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, and New Hampshire. These new additions are highlighted by Shane Brown (UCF), Jay Joines (Richmond), Derek Kline (Millersville), Taylor Land (St. Edward’s), Chris Duffy (UCF), Daren McLean (George Mason), and Robert Hays (St. Edward's).

The Blue Caps are the top level of a program that features three other teams. Bethesda Legion is the top level of the high school side of the program and is fed by players from the Bethesda Greys and the Bethesda Lookouts. These teams pull players from the Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Whitman, and Walter Johnson High School districts which make up Bethesda Legion’s boundaries.

The Blue Caps program is led by Jonas Singer, the head varsity baseball coach at Bethesda-Chevy Chase high school and a former assistant at Catholic University. Singer directly manages the Bethesda Legion team and serves as the program director. He also works for the D.C. office of Major League Baseball’s Reviving Baseball in Inner-cities (RBI) program and is the deputy director of the BATTER-UP Foundation. Singer is a B-CC and Bethesda Legion alum himself who played his college ball at Washington University in St. Louis.

Singer will serve as the General Manager for the Blue Caps this year, stepping out of the manager’s seat to take a more active role in the high school programs. John Nolan will take over as manager for the 2008 season. Nolan has been the pitching coach at Catholic University for the last two seasons and was an assistant coach for the Blue Caps last summer. He played his college ball at St. Bonaventure University and graduated from Chantilly High School in Northern Virginia. Nolan will be assisted by Dan Sullivan and Chris Nolan. Sullivan played his college ball at George Washington University and graduated in 2005 and is originally from Stony Point, New York. The Greys are being coached by Sam Loesche and Kevin Dimanna and the Lookouts are being coached by Ben Fax and Trey Cole.