About Us
Our staff includes the following proffesional individuals:
George Canale - George is Co-owner of The Yard, he played professionally for 14 years, including three years with the Milwalkee Brewers. He is Virginia Tech's all time leader in Home Runs, and is a member of the Salem-Roanoke Baseball Hall of Fame and Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame.
Ricky Gregg - Ricky is Co-owner of The Yard, he has coached youth baseball in the Roanoke Valley for over 25 years, and has worked as an instructor with many players, both past and present from the Roanoke Valley and surrounding areas.
Jon Hartness - Played at Virginia Tech from 1984-87. When he graduated he held the career appearance mark for season and career. Coached at Virginia Tech from 1989 to 2006 mainly as pitching coach, but also worked w/ hitters and outfielders over those 17 years. Worked with many All-Americans and 4 pitchers that were 1st round draft picks in
Major League Baseball. Currently the Athletic Director at Cave Spring H.S.
Andrea Grams - Andrea attended Algonquin Regional High School in Massachusetts where she played softball, field hockey and ran track. For her varsity softball team, she pitched every inning of every game for four years and was league All-Star her junior and senior years with an ERA of 0.85. Andrea then attended Roanoke College where she pitched, played first, third and was a designated hitter for the Maroons. This past spring was her first year as an assistant varsity softball coach at Cave Spring High School.
Mikey OBrien - Mikey a former Hidden Valley Titan star, and 2008 Virginia AA High School Player of the Year in baseball was drafted in the ninth round by the New York Yankees in 2008, and has spent the past two seasons in their farm system, pitching for their Rookie League team in Tampa, Florida
Dale Mollenhauer - Dale is currently in the Chicago White Sox farm system, having played the 2009 season with the Winston Salem Dash.
He was a First Team All State selection in High School in the State of Pennsylvania in 2004. He was an All Conference USA selection in 2007, as a member of the East Carolina baseball team, and was drafted in the 17th round by the Chicago White Sox that same year.
Bob Mollenhauer - Bob was a Topps Baseball High School All American, and was drafted in the 10th Round by the Montreal Expos in 1969. He had a five year professional career in the Oakland A's organization. He has served as a head coach at the collegiate level, and has coached 30 players that have played at the professional level including his son Dale and Major League Shortstop Brian Bocock.
Kevin Griffin - Kevin played at Cave Spring High School where he was Roanoke Valley District Player of the Year and First Team All State in 2000. He played at Ferrum College from 2001-2004 where he was All Conference and Team MVP. He has played professionally for six years, with three United League All Star selections as a catcher. He will be with the Shreveport Captains of the American Association this coming season.
Taryn Pulvermuller - Taryn was a four year starter for Guilford College in Greensboro NC, as a pitcher, infielder, and designated player. She helped lead her team to two consecutive ODAC Division Championship appearances in 2008 and 2009. In 2009 Taryn had her best year as a pitcher with a 1.92 ERA by holding the opposition to a .206 batting average. She had multiple hit and multiple RBI games in 2007 and 2008 which helped her achieve a college career batting average of .303.
Testimonials from our custumers
Ricky: Weekly visits to The Yard dramatically improved Harry's hitting skills
and confidence. This year in Majors, Harry was one of the most consistent
hitters on our team. In fact, it was late in the season before he actually
struck-out. There is no doubt that the instruction and practice he received at
The Yard was largely responsible for his dramatic improvement and his
enjoyment of baseball this year. Thanks to you and your staff for providing
such a fun and instructive environment to help my son improve his baseball
skills.
All the best,
J.C. PREAS
My son went from battling for playing time to batting 5th on a State playoff team. His performance at the plate and his confidence soared when he started working with George Canale.
Thanks George !!
Steve Stillwell
Prior to having The Yard, there wasn't a local, facility for players to train at. Since The Yard opened, my boys have a place to practice year round and get quality instruction through private lessons. We have really seen their games improve since having memberships here. Monthly fees and private lessons are affordable and well worth the money spent!
Deb Butterworth
George and Ricky provide great instruction in a relaxed atmosphere. My son looks forward to his weekly visits to improve his hitting and at the same time hear baseball stories, meet players, and make friends. Since joining, my son's batting average has jumped over 100 percentage points.
Brian Brown
Ricky and George,
First of all I want to thank you for providing a great facility for the local youth baseball players to work on and improve thier games. I for one have seen how your teaching and advice to several players on our 15u travel team have improved their hitting and their confidence at the plate. In our last tournament we scored 61 runs in a weekend and hit for over .400 as a team for the tournament. My son Alex, who has had several private lessons with George, has seen a dramatic improvement in his power and consistency as well as his confidence at the plate. In my opinion any money and or time spent at The Yard with Ricky and George is money and time well spent for your childs future in Baseball/Softball. Thanks again guys for a job well done.
Jay Brown
Mgr/Coach/Parent
15u Virginia Storm
My son, Harry has been going to the Yard since it opened and I can tell you that not only has his hitting improved dramatically, but so has his self-confidence on the ball field. He receives excellent instruction from Ricky and George and often Ricky will get in the cages and hit against them. Add to all this the fact that it's just plain fun to hang out with his friends and hit balls and it's a win/win good time.
Kendall Preas
As manager for a team in the Majors Division of Cave Spring American
Little League, I began the spring 2008 season with a team which had
endured a rough prior year. My primary goal for the team was to advance
the HITTING skills of every player to the maximum extent possible, and
along with improvement in pitching skills, have a successful season.
The first meeting for Little League teams in the spring is usually a
time when uniforms are passed out and paperwork is exchanged. But my
first meeting with this team was held at The Yard, an indoor baseball
training facility. We were able to divide the team into five stations,
and we spent the entire session in The Yard….HITTING.
The players and parents got my message: I wanted this to be a team of
GOOD HITTERS. Of course we worked on other skills, but our primary
mission was HITTING. On cold early spring evenings, we were in The Yard.
Early on Saturday mornings, when we had a game later in the day, we were
in The Yard...HITTING.
In our first game, on the first pitch, we came out HITTING. In a
well-pitched game for both teams, we OUT-HIT our opponent. We ran up a
string of eight wins in eight games, and finished the season with
fifteen wins and five losses. Our team had gone from last place in 2007
to second place in 2008, and it was because of GOOD HITTING.
We began to see differences in games when we had been to The Yard the
day before… we HIT better. Ricky Gregg and George Canale offer a great
facility and great instruction. We were able to get our players
accustomed to higher speed pitches in The Yard than they would see in
games. Coaches Gregg and Canale know baseball and HITTING. They were
able to work with each player, and iron out problems with mechanics. As
a result, our players stepped into the batter’s box with confidence…they
knew they could HIT. They came to games “fired-up” and were anxious to
get some batting practice in before each game. The results showed it;
HITTING at The Yard resulted in HITTING on the field.
Some say that pitching wins ball games. Maybe you can’t do anything
about the other team’s pitching. Maybe you can. Your team can become
better HITTERS. Using The Yard as a training base before and during the
season was a great benefit to our team and it can be for yours, too.
David Robertson
Manager, CSALL Orioles
