Published: 11:53 PM, Sun Jul 11, 2010
Ex-Britt pitcher McKague makes stop in Fayetteville as his Patriots face SwampDogs
By Kevin Minogue
Staff writer
Kevin McKague's start Saturday night against the SwampDogs didn't turn out the way he would have liked.
On the mound, McKague retired just three of the 10 batters he faced, allowing four runs on five hits in his first action as a starter since high school. After hitting a man and sandwiching a walk between a pair of doubles in the second inning, he was yanked without getting a single out in the frame.
McKague wasn't much better at the plate, going 0-for-3 with a strikeout and reaching base only by way of an error and a hit by pitch.
And on the base paths, McKague was erased in the sixth inning on a routine pick-off move.
But the Army junior had no complaints about the welcome he received from the 2,584 fans at J.P. Riddle Stadium.
Despite an underwhelming performance on the field and a sky blue Pilots' logo running across his chest, the Peninsula pitcher and designated hitter drew a gentle roar from the Fayetteville faithful each time the stadium's public address announcer noted McKague's hometown as he stepped to the plate.
An all-state selection at Jack Britt High School whose parents served at Fort Bragg, McKague is the only Fayetteville native among the more than 350 players on Coastal Plain League rosters this season, a fact that earned him extra points with the hometown crowd, which included more than 10 of his friends and family members.
Rising star at Army
McKague hit .263 in 14 appearances with the SwampDogs two years ago, showing well for Darrell Handelsman's club after a Freshman All-America season for Army.
Since then, McKague has emerged has Army's top two-way player. During a game against archrival Navy during his sophomore year, McKague crushed a 500-foot, two-run home run, placing it atop a six-story building that is rooted about 50 feet beyond the left-center field wall of West Point's Doubleday Field.
Having provided his own insurance runs, McKague then put the Midshipmen down in order three innings later in the ninth to earn the save on Army's 9-6 victory.
As a junior in 2010, McKague led the Black Knights in home runs and RBI at first base and shut the door on opponents with a team-best 13 saves in the closer role.
With hometown roots and big-time talent, one burning question lingered in the air on Saturday evening, even after Fayetteville had sealed a dramatic 5-4 victory against the Pilots:
Why isn't McKague in SwampDog pinstripes this season?
Fayetteville manager Darrell Handelsman raved about McKague, who he has known since McKague's sophomore season at Jack Britt, but noted that his obligations as a student at West Point made it difficult for the SwampDogs to offer McKague a full contract this summer.
McKague's mandatory summer training gives him a narrow window in which to play summer ball, permitting him to join the Pilots only a few weeks ago.
Handelsman said the SwampDogs looked into adding McKague to the roster when trying to bolster their pitching staff recently, but discovered that Peninsula had snatched him up days before.
Aside from his tools on the diamond, McKague could have added some more regional interest to the SwampDogs, whose roster contains just five players from North Carolina and only two players - Angier native Jay Cannon and Mount Olive College pitcher Carter Capps - who hail from local cities or colleges.
Thanks to Handelsman's contacts from his previous coaching stops, a large portion of the SwampDogs' players each season hail from California and the Midwest.
But Handelsman indicated that the SwampDogs continue to make it a priority to add local talent to the club every year.
"When we first came here, we planned to bring in 15, 16, 17 guys from around the county each season, but it doesn't always work out that way," Handelsman said.
"We want to have some local flavor, but we also want to be competitive at the same time."