Royals
President Andy
Bisceglia
18U Head Coach
Phone:
224-353-6153
Email:
fvroyals@comcast.net
 Former collegiate
pitcher/outfielder with over 20 years coaching experience at both the professional and collegiate level.
Currently, Andy
is beginning his 10th season as an Associate Scout for the 2001
World Champion Arizona Diamondbacks.
Andy
has
assisted Division I teams with their
pitching programs and camps.
Most of Andy's players from the Royals have gone on to compete at the
highest level of collegiate play including Arizona State, Wake Forest and
the University of Illinois.
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Ben Erickson
Program Instructor
 Coach
Erickson is a former scholarship collegiate pitcher and outfielder.
He was Judson College’s
(Judson University) first Chicagoland Collegiate All-Conference Player in 1999 and was also an
NAIA All-Region selection the same year. Ben has spent time both as a high
school coach as well as a volunteer assistant coach at the college level.
From 2005-2009,
Coach Erickson was the Director of Baseball Operations at Fox Valley
Sports Academy (Elgin, IL) and since 2005, he has also been the assistant varsity
coach at South Elgin High School. Coach Erickson has served on the Board of
Directors for the Elgin Sports Hall of Fame Foundation since 2009
and in 2010 Ben became an Associate Scout for the Baltimore Orioles.
email: ben3477@aol.com
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Royals
Vice President John Hillsman
Phone:
847-942-2969
Email:
johnhillsman@yahoo.com
John
handles many of the administrative functions for the organization
under the guidance of its President. He has served in previous
administrative and coaching roles with local and travel baseball
organizations in the Chicagoland and Fox Valley areas.
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Justin Kees
Program Instructor
Coach Kees is formerly the
Associate Head Coach at Elgin Community College. During his tenure
at the college, the Spartans have averaged 44 wins a season and
Coach Kees has produced three All-American pitchers.
Prior to coaching, Coach
Kees played professionally in the Arizona Diamondbacks' organization
and posted a .625 winning percentage in back-to-back seasons with
Lethbridge, a Rookie-Class team where he went 5-3, and High Desert,
a Class-A team where he went 6-2. Coach Kees played locally with the
Schaumburg Flyers. His career professional record, which spanned
over four seasons, was 20-13.
In January 2002, Coach
Kees was named pitching coach of the Rockford RiverHawks, an
independent team in the Frontier League. Under Coach Kees,
Rockford's pitching staff ranked second in the league with a 3.88
ERA. In the 2001 season, he was varsity pitching coach at Barrington
High School, where he helped the staff post a 23-10 record.
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Les Callas
Program Instructor
Coach Callas
is starting his 42nd season coaching high school baseball. He spent
31 years (1969 -1999) as head baseball coach at Prosser Vocational
HS Chicago and 2 years yrs (2000-2001) at Jones Academy HS,
starting the athletic program along with coaching the baseball team.
Has been an assistant baseball coach at Barrington HS since 2002,
helping the Broncos win 5 regional, 3 sectionals, 1 super sectional,
and a 3rd place finish in the 2005 state tournament. Les has a head
coaching career record of 588 -354 and was voted into the Illinois
Baseball Hall Of Fame in 1989.
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Anthony Hernandez
18U American Coach
Coach Hernandez is
originally from the east coast. He played 2nd base at St. John's Prep in
Massachusetts. The team was nationally ranked his senior year. Anthony went on
to play at Roanoke College where he started 30 games as a freshman and holds the
school record for most at bats in a season. He captained the team his senior
year. Upon graduating in 2008, Anthony became a teacher and started coaching
high school and travel baseball in Massachusetts. Just this year, he moved to
Illinois after a year of teaching and coaching in Florida.
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Mike Hlavacek
18U National Assistant Coach
 Mike
started his career at Elgin Community College where he was selected
as an All-American pitcher (11-0 record) in 2005. Mike went on to play
for the Illinois State Redbirds in 2006-07 and led the team in saves
with 6 in 2006 and had 11 starts in 2007. Mike is a welcome addition
to the Royals coaching staff.
email:
mhlavacek@d155.org
phone #: 847-909-7731 |
Jim Pyfer
12U Head Coach
 Jim
is a four year Letter winner as an outfielder for the Illinois State
University Redbirds from 1994-97. He is a recipient of the Duffy
Bass Endowed Scholarship awarded for the Redbirds player who
demonstrates the spirit of coach Base for hardnosed work ethic,
desire to win and care for his teammates.
Jim was a
member of the 1994 Missouri Valley Championship team. In 1997 he led
the Redbirds in stolen bases while setting the ISU single season
record for hit by pitches (21). He was also MVC All-Conference
Honorable Mention.
Jim is in the MVC
Top Ten Single Season Hit By Pitches. He is among the Top Ten ISU
Redbirds in Career On Base Percentage.
Jim was also a
member of the 1995 CICL Twin City Stars Championship team where he
led the CICL in stolen bases.
In 1996, Jim
played for the Northwoods League Waterloo Bucks Championship team
where he was among the top three league leaders in stolen bases.
Jim has
assisted multiple Division I and Division lll college teams in base
running, fielding, and hitting camps.
email:
jim.pyfer@gmail.com
phone #:
630-432-9192 |
Bryan Spies
15U Head Coach
Bio coming soon!
email:
phone #: |
Heath Groves
Program Instructor
Heath was a four -year varsity player at North Central High
School in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was named to the MIC
All-Conference Team in 2006 as well as being named to the All
Marion county and Star North Team. Groves went on to play two
years at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois
before finishing his final two collegiate years at Judson
University, being named First Team All-Conference in 2009 after
finishing with a 6-2 record.
email:
hegroves@yahoo.com
phone #:
317-407-9926
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Bobby Roan
Program Instructor
Experience:
30 Year professional trainer for baseball and softball
Member of 1986 NCAA National Champion University of Arizona
baseball coaching staff
Inducted into Arizona Sports Hall of Fame 1987
2002 American Baseball Coaches Association Merit Award
Arrowhead conference baseball Coach of the Year 1995
Kishwaukee College head baseball coach 1992-1995
Associate scout for Diamondbacks and Rangers 1992-2003
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Jeff Bernau
Program Instructor
Jeff has been coaching youth and scholastic baseball since 2000.
He served as Coaching Coordinator and Vice President of a local
baseball organization. In 2008 he started his own business
offering individual instruction and small group baseball
clinics. He works with players ranging in age from high school
to 7 years old. He is an IHSA certified coach and is also
certified through the American Sports Education Program.
email:
cornhuskerfootbal@yahoo.com
phone #:
847-922-4507
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Romey Bracey
16U Head Coach
Romey served a s volunteer coach for D1 - Southern
University A&M College in Baton Rouge, LA in 2010-11. He also served
as the Assistant Head Coach at Harlan community high School in
Chicago where they won the 2011 City Championship. He recently
coached in the Chicago White Sox Ace Program and served as their
Manager of 16U Operations from 2010-2012. He is a graduate of the
Scout Development Program.
As a player Romey
excelled as a two-time first team all conference selection and a
member of the 2009 Conference Championship team at Division 1
Southern University A&M College.
email:
romeybracey24@gmail.com
phone #: 773-412-3642 |
Mike Maniscalco
13U Head Coach
Bio coming soon!
email:
maniscalco03@gmail.com
phone #: 331-642-3698 |
Mike Wood
Program Instructor
 Mike
is a former baseball and basketball player at the collegiate level
for College of Du Page and Judson University. Mike's leadership
qualities were recognized in college when captured team leader
awards twice. His baseball abilities were also recognized by his
coaches and fellow players two more times when he won
Players/Coaches awards. He also served as the Judson University
assistant men's basketball coach in 2010-11. Currently Mike is the the Sophomore
baseball coach at Saint Francis HS.
email:
1mwood@student.judsonu.edu
phone #:
630-445-9655 |
Jerry Donahue
Program Instructor
Coach Donahue is a former minor league
pitcher with the Detroit Tigers organization (AAA). Jerry recorded
an impressive 32-9 lifetime record coupled with a career 2.81 ERA
during his professional career. Jerry's career also included two
minor league all-star appearances with the Tiger's organization.
Jerry was inducted into the St. Viator's Sports Hall Of Fame in 2001
for his professional baseball achievements.
Jerry Donahue has been offering private
and group pitching instruction in the Chicago area for over 20
years. Many of his students have continued their careers at the
collegiate and professional levels.
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Buzz Capra
Program Instructor
Buzz is a
former Major League pitcher with the New York Mets and Atlanta
Braves. Following a sparkling minor league career, which included 44
wins to 18 losses and a career 2.86 ERA, Capra pitched his way into
national prominence in 1974, while with the Atlanta Braves.
Capra
posted a 16-8 record and was named to the National League's All-Star
team by Yogi Berra. Buzz led the Major Leagues with a 2.28 ERA and
finished within the top ten for Cy Young voting in 1974 as well as
receiving votes for NL MVP the same year.
Coach Capra
spent over 20 years as a professional pitching coach in several
minor league systems, most recently with the Philadelphia Phillies
and New York Mets.
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Randy Kaczmarski
Program Instructor
 Coach
Kaz is a former minor league infielder, having played for both the
San Diego Padres and Chicago Cub farm systems. In addition to his
professional playing career, Randy has also worked as a professional
scout in recent years with several organizations.
Coach "Kaz" has been instructing & coaching for over twenty years
and has been a lead instructor for many for many area camps &
clinics. |
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Jim Keating
Program Instructor
Coach Kating
is a former two-time minor league all-star from the Los Angeles
Dodgers organization. Playing primarily as a catcher, Jim was
also played in the Oakland Athletics system.Previous to his
professional career, Coach Kating enjoyed a successful high
school and junior college career, earning All-State honors at
Fremd High School and All-American honors while at Triton
College. Coach Kating still holds records at Triton College,
including a staggering single season homerun total of 25 HRs in
1986.
Coach Jim is currently the Head Varsity Baseball Coach at
South Elgin High School; and also a football coach during the
fall.
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