JUGGERNAUTS
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA
2019 Mid Atlantic Regular Season Champions
TOURNAMENT ROSTER
Chris Sarnowski (c) - RHP/RHB - Age 26 - Pennsylvania
2018 MAW champion
Gino Joseph - RHP/LHB - Age 21 - Pennsylvania
Ryan McElrath - RHP/RHB - Age 25 - New York
2017 & 2018 Palisades WBL Champion
Tim McElrath - RHP/RHB - Age 25 - New York
2017 & 2018 Palisades WBL Champion
Ben Stant - RHP/LHB - Age 21 - Delaware
TEAM OVERVIEW
In the offseason between the 2018 and 2019 MAW seasons, Chris Sarnowski set out to construct a team that could make it through the rigors of a full tournament season and had the potential to win a Mid Atlantic title. The team that resulted – the Juggernauts – was inconsistent through the early part of the MAW tournament calendar before finding its stride in July and August and ultimately ended the regular tournament season atop the Mid Atlantic standings. Although they came up just short to ERL in the semi-final series of the Mid Atlantic Championship, the Juggernauts gelled by season’s end. In addition to pursuing a Mid Atlantic title once again in 2020, the team will try to bring home a national one as well.
For Ryan and Tim McElrath, this Juggernauts team should provide more protection – both offensively and defensively – than they have previously experienced in national tournaments. The hard-nosed twins from Kingston, New York are battlers who always play as if they are have something to prove. They have proved plenty in the last few years alone, capturing the Palisades WBL championship in both 2017 and 2018, defying the prognosticators’ predictions by reaching the final four at the 2018 Fast Plastic NCT, and consistently winning everywhere they go. Ben Stant has developed into one of the sport’s most consistent – and often spectacular – all-around hitters. Arm troubles have limited Stant to one game at best per fast pitch tournament and there are also potential health concerns with Tim’s arm, which has cemented Sarnowski as the Juggernauts number two pitcher. Recognizing pitching depth as a weakness, the Juggernauts have added Gino Joseph from the Stompers for the tournament to take on some of the pitching workload.