Mark Wardzinski - Varsity Assistant Coach      

Mark Wardzinski has coached the Junior High team the past three seasons at Gateway.  He played for Gateway Baseball from 1994 to 1998.  He was named team captain in 1998.  He also played for Pitcairn Baseball and Monroeville Legion.  Mark also helped coach Pitcairn Pony League Baseball the past 7 years.

Mark attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania for his degree in Health and Physical Education.  He also received his Masters degree from Gannon University .

Mark currently resides in Monroeville with his wife Elizabeth and daughter, Diem.

Tom Keane - Varsity Assistant Coach

Mr. Keane lettered in baseball, football and soccer for Taylor Allderdice High School .  In 1970, Mr. Keane led the Dragons in hitting with a .450 average and pitching with an earned run average of 1.12.  He walked only 3 batters in 37 2/3 innings.

Coach Keane received seventeen letters of interest from colleges.  He narrowed his choices to Duke, The Air Force Academy, Slippery Rock University and the University of Pittsburgh .  The University of Pittsburgh became his school of choice. Coach Keane was the Captain and Most Valuable Player of the 14^th Ward Connie Mack Team that was the Western Pennsylvania Champions.

 Mr. Keane began coaching colt baseball in the 14^th Ward in the mid-1970’s and won numerous tournaments and league championships and was twice named coach of the year.  He later became the 14^th Ward American Legion Manager and President of the 14^th Ward Athletic Association.

Coach Keane was a volunteer assistant at Taylor Allderdice, where he helped the Dragons to two City Championships and three WPIAL play-off appearances.  He served briefly as the pitching coach for Point Park University .  Mr. Keane has had many of his pitchers play past the high school level including Mark Saunders, who was drafted by the Boston Red Sox.  Two of his pitchers are currently throwing for college teams.

 Mr. Keane resides in Monroeville with his wife and two children,  Mr. Keane is an engineer and President of Keane Construction Company of Monroeville , which specializes in hospital construction.  Coach Keane is past president of the Monroeville Baseball Association and has coached at every level of baseball from T-ball through Legion Baseball.  He is currently an Assistant Coach with the Monroeville American Legion.

Joe Risacher - Varsity Assistant Volunteer

Coach Risacher enters his first season with the Gateway baseball team as an assistant coach after five years at Taylor Allderdice High School as an assistant under Coach Nania.  Joe will be working primarily with the infielder's along with having some input to defensive strategies and scouting.

Risacher is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and 3-time letterman from 1980-83 as a Panthers third baseman.  After graduation, Joe coached at Gulf Coast Community College in Panama City , FL from 1984-88 as both an assistant and interim head coach where the Commodores posted a 176 wins during those 4 seasons.  In 1988, Coach Risacher got the chance to come back home as an assistant under Bobby Lewis at Pitt where he worked with the infielders for 3 seasons.

Joe has remained involved with baseball & softball in the Pittsburgh area and also his own community of McCandless Township .

He and his wife Wendi have three children.  Jenna, Maggie and Alex.

Tim Conroy - Player Development

Timothy James Conroy was a pitcher for the Oakland Athletics (1978 and 1982-85) and St. Louis Cardinals (1986-87).  

Conroy was the Oakland Athletics' first round draft pick after graduating from Gateway Senior High School in 1978. He was immediately called up by the A's that June with no minor league pitching experience.

Jon Hurey is beginning his second stint with the Gateway Baseball organization. He coached from 1994 to 1998. During that time, he coached the ninth grade team, and after a year he was promoted to the Junior Varsity position.

Mr. Hurey was a three time letterman in both baseball and basketball at Chartiers Valley High School in Bridgeville , PA.  As a player he was named to the All Pittsburgh Team for baseball in both his junior and senior years, and he also shared the team captain role his senior year.  Beginning in his sophomore year, interested colleges began to notice Mr. Hurey’s talent and pursued him to play for their respective schools.  Coach Hurey decided to attend the home of the defending Division III National Champions, Marietta College where he played for legendary Coach Don Schaly.

During the summer, Hurey continued playing his favorite past time, playing in both American Legion and Federation league. While playing his eight years, in the Federation league, he split his time with both Robinson Township and Mt Lebanon .

In the spring of 1995, Hurey was offered an opportunity to travel the country playing professional softball for Marodi Transfer.  During his seven year career in softball, Hurey played with and against many former professional baseball players and professional athletes from other sports. One highlight was playing on ESPN while at the “PIF” in Sherbrooke , Canada in front of thousands of spectators.  Hurey finished his traveling softball career playing his final two years for Joe Black’s based out of Chicago , Illinois .

Since then he has worked at some of the local baseball/softball facilities as an instructor.   Mr. Hurey stays active by helping coach his daughter’s softball and his son’s baseball teams. He still plays softball locally.   He presently resides in Murrysville with his wife Ann, daughter Kay and son Alexei.

Domenic Pugliano - Jr. Varsity Head Coach

Coach Pugliano returns for his fourth season as Jr. Varsity Head Coach, during which time the squad has amassed a 33-21 record. Domenic is a 1991 graduate of Gateway, where he played varsity baseball and football. After high school, he continued his baseball career with the Monroeville  American Legion and at Penn State - McKeesport. During his stay at Penn State - McKeesport, Domenic saw action as the starting 3rd baseman on the 1991/1992 Commonwealth Campus Conference Champions.  Along with his involvement with the baseball program, Domenic also serves as the running backs coach and special teams coordinator for the Gateway varsity football team. Coach Pugliano works as an Electrician for Gateway School District Maintenance Department. He currently resides in Pitcairn.

Patrick Murtha Junior High Head

Coach Murtha graduated and played baseball at Norwin High School.  During his senior year, he served as the team’s co-captain.  He served as a pitcher and outfielder for his high school team.

Coach Murtha graduated with a degree in Health and Physical Education from Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania where he also played for the Lacrosse team.  He received his Masters Degree from Gannon University.

Currently, Coach Murtha serves as a Health and Physical Education teacher at Gateway High School.  He taught previously at Hampton School District and at Evergreen Elementary in the Gateway School District.

He presently resides in Murrysville with his wife. 

Paul Kochka, Jr. - Junior High Assistant Coach

Coach Kochka graduated from South Side High School in 1975 where he lettered in baseball, basketball football and track.  He served as a pitcher/outfielder of the
baseball team, co-captain of the basketball team and was the starting quarterback on the football team.

In 1980, Coach Kochka graduated from the University of Pittsburgh where he lettered
in both basketball and baseball.  He played basketball for Tim Grgurich for three years before a knee injury and also played his junior and senior years on Bobby Lewis’ baseball team.

For ten years, Coach Kochka played for Pittsburgh’s semi-pro Federation League as a pitcher, outfielder and first baseman.  He has coached for the Serbian National Federation Tournaments in the United States for boys and girls ages 8 through 17.
For the past ten years, he has coached youth baseball and basketball teams in the Monroeville area.

Coach Kochka currently works for Philips-Respironics in Murrysville, and lives in Monroeville with his wife, Melissa, and two children, Luke and Danielle.