Bellwood-Antis head baseball coach Dave Brisbin has handed in his resignation after two seasons as the head coach for the Blue Devils at the monthly Bellwood-Antis School Board meeting, effective immediately.
Brisbin took over for Jim Rice in 2001 and guided B-A to their second straight Blair County League Northern Division championship. Bellwood-Antis went 14-5 during the regular season, then defeated Blairsville and Central Cambria both on the road, before falling to Central in the District 6 AA semi-finals.
In 2002, despite losing six starters from the 2001 squad, Brisbin led the 2002 Blue Devils to a 13-6 record during the regular season before falling to Bedford in the first round of playoffs. Bellwood-Antis was in the thick of the Blair County race until the last week of the season. Three-fourths of the Bellwood-Antis infield was selected to the BCL All-Star First Team along with the designated hitter and an outfielder.
Brisbin does not exactly leave the cupboard bare for his replacement, with the entire starting pitching staff in Zach Stere, Adam Plummer and Nate Carlson returning as well as several other starters or part-time starters.
Dave Brisbin is a 1976 graduate of Tyrone Area High School. Brisbin was an assistant baseball coach at Tyrone from 1987 to 1994. From 1995 to 1998, Dave was the head baseball coach at Tyrone. He also served for five years as an assistant baseball coach at the Penn State Altoona campus. Taking over for Jim Rice, Brisbin was the head Bellwood-Antis baseball coach in 2001 and 2002. Presently Brisbin is again an assistant at Penn State Altoona.
“I found the kids at Bellwood to be very good students of the game, very good sportsmen,” said coach Brisbin. “They were outstanding to work with. That is the part I will miss the most. I am very proud that close to 50 percent of our high school seniors have gone on to play baseball at the college level.
Some of the decisions that were being made seemed to me to hinder my ability to get the kids to reach their full potential. These decisions helped me make my choice to go back to the college level at Penn State Altoona. I just love that these kids want all the information they can get.”
Currently Dave Brisbin is also doing hitting lessons for all area players at Altoona, State College and Philipsburg facilities.
