USUAL
SUSPECTS
New York
2010 Goldenstick Wiffle®Ball League National Champions | 2011 Goldenstick Wiffle®Ball League national runners up
TOURNAMENT ROSTER
Dan Lanigan (c) – RHP/RHB – Age 36 – New York
2007 Fast Plastic national championship runner up; 2013 Goldenstick Wiffle®Ball League fast pitch national runner up
Scott Alford – RHB – Age 35 – New Jersey
Johnny Costa – RHP/RHB – Age 24 – New Jersey
2015 Palisades WBL Champion; 2020 Mid Atlantic Winter Classic MVP
Joe Evanish - LHP/LHB - Age 35 - New York
Ryan Wood – RHP/RHB – Age 35 – New York
2003, 2005, 2006 & 2007 Wiffle Up! World Series champion; 2007 Fast Plastic national championship runner up
TEAM OVERVIEW
At the 2011 Goldenstick Wiffle®Ball fast pitch national championship in Boston, the Usual Suspects found themselves on the brink of a possible dynasty. Had they managed to push a run across the plate before Doom’s Brian DiNapoli ended the tournament with an 8th inning walk-off home run, the Usual Suspects would have joined the exclusive club of back-to-back fast pitch national champions. With all members of the team still well within the prime age range for wifflers and with one of the sport’s top players over the prior decade - Ryan Wood - in tow, a third straight championship the following year was not out the question. It was not to be however, and shortly thereafter, the Usual Suspects were done as a going concern in fast pitch Wiffle®Ball for several years. The 2010 champs re-emerged in the fast pitch scene in 2018, playing in the Fast Plastic national championship in each of the last two years.
A decade after their first national title, the Usual Suspects will look for that elusive second title this October in Pennsylvania. Three members of the Usual Suspects 2020 roster – Scott Alford, Dan Lanigan, and Ryan Wood – were on that 2010 championship team and form the core of this year’s club. Lanigan is a national championship tournament veteran and has played in the national fast pitch championship every year since 2004, with his teams reaching the finals on four separate occasions. Wood was one of the sport’s best two-way players during the first decade of this century and is still very much a force on both sides of the ball. Alford is a veteran hitter with a lot of big game experience. Alford, Lanigan, and Wood – along with teammate Mike Sciame - finished 2nd at last year’s Goldenstick Wiffle®Ball League Yard Open. Evanish has more than a decade of experience – mostly in Goldenstick – and won the 2019 Fast Plastic tournament home run derby. The difference maker for the Usual Suspects this year might be the junior member of the team, Johnny Costa. Costa himself has over a half-decade of high-level fast pitch experience under his belt and will likely be leaned on heavily to provide quality innings if the Usual Suspects are to make run a run at a second national title.
