Two-Sport Schedule Keeps Kerdock Busy

Raiders Star Thrives on Fluids, Sleep

Eleanor Roosevelt's Mike Kerdock shakes hands with Laurel players after the Raiders' 11-1 victory last week. Below, Kerdock singles to right during the game. Kerdock is juggling two sports, baseball at Roosevelt and hockey for a club team in Laurel. "He's a pretty mature kid for his age," Raiders baseball coach Andrew Capece said. (Photos By Jonathan Newton -- The Washington Post)

Michael Kerdock singled and scored a run as the Eleanor Roosevelt baseball team won its season opener over Laurel 11-1 last week. The game was called after five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule, so Roosevelt Coach Andrew Capece decided to hold an intrasquad scrimmage to give his players a little more preparation as they began the season.

Such extra work is not unusual for Roosevelt, which along with Bowie has dominated the Prince George's 4A league in baseball. Nor was it unusual, Capece said, for him to allow a player -- the team's second baseman, Kerdock, in this case -- to leave early.

"We've always had kids who do a lot of things, guys who have to go to band, guys that are in ROTC. A couple guys last year were on the robotics team," Capece said. "With [Kerdock], he gets so much done when he's there, everybody on the team understands. I let everybody know early on, 'Hey, Mikey is a real good hockey player and we want to give him a chance to explore that and take advantage of the chance he has in hockey, too.' And at the same time, he's going to be a big contributor to our baseball team."

So after helping Roosevelt's baseball team to a victory, it was time for Kerdock to hustle to hockey practice for the Tri-City Red Wings 18-and-under club team in Laurel. Kerdock plays center for the Red Wings, who began play yesterday at the USA Hockey Tier II national tournament in Pittsburgh.

Making all the practices and games can be a demanding schedule, but it is one that Kerdock enjoys.

"I like both [sports] the same," Kerdock said. "When I'm playing baseball, it helps me rest from hockey, and when I'm playing hockey, it helps me rest from baseball, so I don't get tired of the sports. It makes me want to play more. If you play [a sport] too much, some people get tired of it and don't feel like playing anymore."

That is far from the case for Kerdock. He says he has two keys to maintaining his energy level: drinking enough fluids and getting enough sleep. While many of his classmates stay up until 11, midnight or even later, Kerdock said he tries to be asleep by 10 p.m. each night.

The club hockey season ends this weekend, though Kerdock said he plans to attend some informal practices and showcase events. Baseball, however, is just getting started. Although Bowie repeated as Maryland 4A South Region champion last season -- beating Roosevelt in the regional final -- the Raiders finished 23-1 and are considered the league and regional favorite this season.

Roosevelt will be led by junior righthander Sean Swetnam, who was 8-1 with a 1.48 ERA and 65 strikeouts in 54 innings last season. Senior righty James Teehan and junior righty Chris McCaslin also are back.

Offensively, Kerdock led the Raiders in batting last season as a freshman, with a .451 average and .647 slugging percentage; he drove in 23 runs and scored 21 runs. This season, he will be counted on to play a larger role, batting third in the lineup.

"Last year, he was a plus to have a new bat in the lineup. We didn't count on him as much, although he came up big for us," Capece said.

While Capece put the rest of his team through some extra work after the season-opening victory, he had no problem allowing Kerdock to leave early. Not only is Kerdock already in excellent condition as a result of playing hockey all winter, the coach said that Kerdock's attitude makes things easy.

"He's a pretty mature kid for his age," Capece said. "He's not a kid who wastes a lot of time. When he's at baseball, he's all business -- not a lot of talking, not a lot of wasted energy. He gets things done. And he's one of the hardest-working kids we have in the classroom. And he's juggling hockey, too. He's able to fit everything in and get everything done. When he's on the baseball field, you wouldn't know if we were up 10 runs or down two in the seventh inning -- his approach is consistent. He knows what his job is and he just does it."