Brownsville grad Conte a baseball lifer
Mike Conte is a baseball lifer. From winning the Brownsville Little League championship in 1979 to a successful high school and college career, followed by a stint in the minor leagues and now his current position as head baseball coach at California University of Pennsylvania. Conte has never been far away from the game he loves.
Conte was a three-year baseball letterman at Brownsville High school. He played for head coach Albert Komacik.
鈥淲e were competitive,鈥� Conte recalled. 鈥淚n high school I played a little bit of infield and a little bit of outfield. I had a nice high school career, but I was relatively young. I graduated high school at 16, so body wise I really hadn鈥檛 matured.鈥�
Conte attended Fork Union Military Academy graduating from Brownsville in 1984.
鈥溾�滻 think Fork Union did me a world of good,鈥� Conte offered. 鈥淚 was able to go there and grow not only mentally through a very good academic curriculum, but athletically and physically just in the maturation process.鈥�
After graduating from Fork Union, he was courted by such schools as The Citadel, VMI and Ohio State before accepting a full baseball scholarship to Virginia Tech.
鈥淚 think I really liked the Virginia area when I spent the time down there at Fork Union,鈥� Conte said. 鈥淚 thought Virginia Tech was a beautiful school and it had a very successful baseball program with Coach Chuck Hartman and they real went over and above to show interest, and I thought have a chance to play there early on. As it turned out I did play and all the pieces fell into place.鈥�
With the Hokies, Conte overcame a serious shoulder injury his sophomore year.
鈥淚 had a devastating injury on a attempted diving catch right into the pole near the center-field fence,鈥� Conte recalled. 鈥淚 kind of beat myself up pretty badly and I think I missed about a fifth of the season, maybe a fourth of the season.鈥�
Conte rebounded from the injury to post some outstanding numbers for the Hokies. In 1987-88 the Hokies were 40-20. In that junior season, Conte batted .352 with 19 home runs and 59 RBIs. In 1988-89 the Hokies posted a record of 35-22 and OF Conte had a banner senior campaign hitting .348 with 14 home runs and 60 RBIs.
He was named Division I Player of the Year in the state of Virginia his senior season. Conte is number five on the Virginia Tech career home run list with 43. He was named to the Virginia Tech All-Star team of the decade for the 1980鈥檚.
The Oakland A鈥檚 selected Conte in the 19th round of the June 1989 draft.
鈥淚 think I was up and down with consistency throughout the minor leagues,鈥� Conte said. 鈥淏ut there were some true blessings that I was fortunate enough to be around at that time,鈥� Conte said. 鈥淏eing in that organization at the time it was probably one of the top organizations in the game. They had the 鈥淏ash Brothers鈥� Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco, the success of Dave Stewart and Bob Welch on the mound. Just the names that organization brought forth. I was a part of their middle of the World Series practices when the earthquake hit California. The A鈥檚 came down to Arizona when I was there for Instructional League and I got to play in a squad scrimmage game and it was very surreal and it was an honor, a humbling honor to be a part of that.鈥�
Conte鈥檚 minor league numbers as a hitter in five seasons were a .244 batting average with 21 home runs and 144 RBI.
The A鈥檚 tried to turn him into of all things a knuckle ball pitcher. In three seasons he posted these pitching stats. He had a 3-5 record with an 8.65 ERA.
Conte decided that pitching wasn鈥檛 going to get him to the big leagues.
鈥淚 went down to Arizona and told the A鈥檚 I wasn鈥檛 going to pitch anymore,鈥� Conte said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have time for two or three more years in the minors wondering will it ever happen? It was time to move on at the end of that year.鈥�
Conte came back to Western Pennsylvania and went to school at Cal. U.
鈥淚 decided to move on and come back and get my masters,鈥� Conte said. 鈥淚 stayed in the area and my brother Christian was playing some baseball in the County League and it was fun to finally get to play on the same team with him.鈥�
Conte got his master鈥檚 degree in Geography and Regional Planning and took his first stab at coaching serving as an assistant baseball coach at Cal. U under Chuck Gismondi, starting in 1994. Conte took over as head coach when Gismondi retired from coaching after the 1996 season.
Cal U baseball has flourished under Conte. He has guided the Vulcans to seven PSAC Western Division titles and 13 PSAC Tournament appearances with conference crowns in 2004 and 2010. Conte is one of three active head coaches in the PSAC, and 42 active head coaches in NCAA Division II, to reach the 500-win plateau. Already the all-time winningest coach in program history, he is the first Cal U head coach of a men鈥檚 sport to total at least 500 career victories.
鈥淭hat number and I know our society likes round numbers, but that number is because of the work ethic of the players and the hard work they put in and the talent that they brought to the table and I was blessed and honored to be a part of what they achieved,鈥� Conte stated.
Conte, 47, resides in California with his wife Jamie and their four children, Louden, Payton, Jessie and Nina.
George Von Benko鈥檚 鈥淢emory Lane鈥� column appears in the Monday editions of the 缅北禁地. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.