HISTORY OF THE PROGRAM
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t. John’s has a long and storied baseball tradition. Founded in 1907, the baseball program was originally known as the St. John’s Preps. Sometime between 1909 and 1947, the program was disbanded and then revived as the Cadets by Gene Augusterfer and Joe Gallagher. The Cadets won three conference championships during the 1950s and nine conference championships from 1960-1978. When Ed Gibbs took over in 1993, however, the once proud program was in a state of total disrepair. The Cadets had not captured a championship for more than 15 years and had not been ranked in The Washington Post’s Top 10 in more than a decade. The Cadets had won only nine games in the previous two seasons combined and played in a poor facility that was in need of substantial upgrades. Gibbs resurrected St. John’s program and constructed a baseball powerhouse that became synonymous with excellence. Gibbs’ first team went 13-12. His second team went 26-4, won the WCAC regular season title and began a remarkable run of 13 straight 20-win seasons. Gibbs won 318 games, two conference tournament titles, eight regular season titles and saw his team ranked in the top 10 by The Washington Post in 12 of his 13 years. He was selected as Coach of the Year by The Washington Post in 2005 and on three different occasions was named WCAC Coach of the Year. Gibbs was inducted into the St. John’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008. The 2020 season was Mark Gibbs’ 17th year in the St. John’s program and his 14th as head coach. During his tenure, the baseball team has grown from an area powerhouse to an elite program recognized throughout the country. St. John’s has been nationally ranked in nine of the last 17 years by the most influential high school baseball publications in the United States, including Baseball America, USA Today and Collegiate Baseball. St. John’s ascent into the national spotlight reached a fever pitch in 2008, when Baseball America ranked the Cadets as the eighth-best team in the country and featured the Cadets as its spotlight program in its national high school baseball preview issue. At the same time, Collegiate Baseball named the Cadets as the second-best high school team in the nation. The Cadets proved worthy of the preseason acclaim by placing fourth in the Anderson Bat National Classic in Southern California, the nation’s top high school baseball tournament. During the event, St. John’s defeated two teams ranked among the
1907 ST. JOHN’S BASEBALL TEAM
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2011 WCAC CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
top 25 in the country, both from Southern California, before succumbing to the eventual tournament champions in the winner’s bracket championship game. This marked the second straight year St. John’s had defeated two nationally ranked teams from California at the Anderson Bat National Classic. This success on the national level is unprecedented for a program from the mid-Atlantic region
ST. JOHN’S BASEBALL 2021
and validated the program’s standing among the nation’s best. During Mark Gibbs’ 14 years as head coach, the Cadets have sent 110 players on to play college baseball, had 17 players drafted by or signed to free agent contracts with professional baseball teams and saw St. John’s players move on to some of the most prestigious baseball programs in the nation,
