By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Pat Roesel, the first and only head coach of the Ryle baseball team, is stepping down after 27 seasons.
Roesel leaves the program he built with a 523-412-10 all-time record. He is tied for 25th on the state’s career wins list and ranks fourth among Northern Kentucky coaches. He guided the Raiders to the 9th Region final four times, winning titles in 2007 and 2013.
Pat Roesel
“I’ve kind of been thinking about it for the last couple years and just figured it was a good time,” Roesel said. “It’s a tough job. There’s a lot of things you have to do as a coach on the varsity level. I just made a decision it was going to be the best for the program and the best for me to step down.”
Roesel, 50, was inducted into the Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2017 and surpassed the 500 mark in career wins last year. In his final season as head coach this spring, Ryle won the 33rd District title to earn a 9th Region tournament berth for the sixth time in the last eight years. The Raiders lost in the regional semifinals and finished with a 17-21 record.
“We’ve struggled the last couple years, everybody knows our record, but its a good program,” Roesel said. “Over the last 27 years, we’ve won against pretty much everybody around here. And it’s not just me, it’s the kids. They work hard.”
Roesel’s varsity assistant for the last 27 years, Jim Demler, has also resigned. Both of the coaching vacancies have already been posted on the Boone County Schools website.
“We’ve been a pretty good team,” Roesel said of coaching with Demler. “He’s a tireless worker and he’s done a great job on the jayvee (junior varsity) level. He’s won 500 games and seven jayvee regional championships, and he started the freshman program when we didn’t have anybody else to do it. He’s done everything I’ve asked him, plus.”
Dayton didn’t have to look far to find new boys basketball coach
Ron Kinmon is the new head coach of the Dayton boys basketball team, but he’s certainly not a newcomer to the school district.
Kinmon has been director of student services for Dayton Independent Schools the last five years. He spent most of his educational career at Grant County Schools, where he was boys head basketball coach from 1999 to 2010.
Kinmon was an assistant coach with the Walton-Verona girls basketball team the last few seasons. He’ll be taking charge of a Dayton boys team that compiled a 27-64 record the last three years under former head coach Brian Volpenhein.
Former Highlands pitcher selected for minor league all-star game
Highlands graduate Drew Rom is one of the pitchers selected to play in the South Atlantic League All-Star Game on June 18 in Charlestown, W.Va.
Rom was named Mr. Kentucky Baseball last year after he won 10 games for the Bluebirds’ state runner-up team. He was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles and assigned to the Delmarva Shorebirds Class A minor league team in Florida.
In his first nine games for the Shorebirds, the 19-year-old left-hander posted a 4-0 record and 1.49 ERA with 55 strikeouts in 42 innings. Rom did not allow a run in 25 consecutive innings earlier this season.
