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BJ Rankin

Hopewell JH Baseball Coach B.J. Rankin Previews Upcoming Season

by Mike Vukovcan Published: March 6, 2026

written by Mike Vukovcan 5 minutes read

With the weather SLOWLY warming up and improving that can only mean one thing, baseball season is right around the corner.

In fact, the Hopewell HS and JV programs are scheduled to start play this coming Tuesday with the varsity having a scrimmage at Peters Township HS while the JV team will host Peters Township. Of course, whether those games will be able to be played will be dictated by Mother Nature and if the fields are playable.

Later on, this month, the Hopewell Junior High baseball program will also officially start play with B.J. Rankin returning as head coach for his second season.

Because of roster size, the junior high will field two teams a Blue and a Gold team. The Blue team, which Rankin will coach, will be taking on predominantly other 9th grade programs from across WPIAL, while the Gold team will be playing more middle school teams.

One thing to keep in mind is that these two teams will have a mix of both 7th and 8th grade players on it. The Blue team won’t just be filled with 8th grade players; 7th graders will have the opportunity to earn a spot on this team. That will all be determined by Rankin and his coaching staff following player evaluation.

As we being to ramp up our coverage of Hopewell baseball, Vikings Sports Now had the chance to speak with Coach Rankin about this year’s team and also about how he feels entering his 2nd season in charge of Hopewell’s junior high baseball program.

After years of being a part of Hopewell’s youth baseball program, Rankin accepted the offer from HS coach Morgan Singletary to be head coach of the junior high program.

As I stated last year, this was a grand slam hire for a number of reasons: 1) Rankin’s knowledge of the game 2) his coaching style and ability to get his message across 3) the type of person Rankin is and the values he possesses and ability to interact and instruct his players.

Despite having coached for many years, last year was different for Rankin for many reasons and he believes he learned many things that will carry over to this year.

“I know the ropes and understand the program a little better,” Rankin told VSN. “Last year was a learning curve for me as I was trying to get these kids ready for high school and I got to learn a long with them. I’m more comfortable this year, which will help things. It also helps that I have roughly 16,17 kids back from last year who can help reinforce certain behaviors, standards and expectations with the younger group. Overall, I think things are going well.”

Hopewell’s Kruz Krotec

Hopewell had to play mostly against older competition last season, which will be the case again in 2026. Considering some of the quality programs they’ll be facing, it’ll be a challenge, but Rankin believes because of development, his players will be better equipped to compete.

At this level, I was curious if seeing player development was the biggest priority and not basing success solely on wins and losses.

“It’s about both. Across the board, for both our 7th and 8th graders, we want to see each kid develop and improve. The team that will predominantly be playing the other freshman teams, I want them to be confident, feel like they can compete and ultimately, we’re going to be trying to win games. Last year was challenging for the 7th graders, they didn’t back down, they weren’t afraid of the higher competition, sometimes two classes above them. I feel like this year, we’ll be more equipped for success against the older teams.”

Hopewell’s Vin Smetana

The other thing to keep in mind is that the varsity team will be graduating 7 players following the 2026 season. That means that opportunities will be available next season for the 8th graders, which is something Rankin is aware of.

“I believe that we have a very talented group at both grade levels and believe that we’ll have kids that will be equipped to contribute at the high school level either next year or the year after,” Rankin told VSN. “We’re going to give them every opportunity to get better and compete and that goes for the 7th graders as well. I really believe that between our two grade levels, 7th and 8th grade, it’s an extremely talented group. They’re also a very close-knit group as a lot of them have been playing sports together for a while.”

Looking ahead, something very encouraging for the Hopewell baseball program as a whole is the roster size at the junior high level. Regardless of any sport you’re talking about, the more players in the program gives coaches more options to choose from in order to field their teams.

Hopewell’s Ryder Kostrick

“The numbers that we have in our program right now is unique. I don’t believe we’ve had 24 players on a junior high team in a while. Our biggest goal is player improvement and development, and I believe that every one of our kids has improved individually from a year ago. That’s what you want to see as a coach, to see kids progress, to see them improve which gives them confidence. When you’re improving and confident, I believe that allows you to perform in a game.”

In this conversation with Coach Rankin, I didn’t ask him about individual players as it’s probably a bit too early for that. However, from his voluntary off-season workouts and from the opening of official practices, I was curious as to what he believes could be the strength of this year’s team.

“One of the biggest challenges for us last year was pitching,” said Rankin. “As it was last year, one of the biggest challenges for the 7th graders this year will be going from a 46-foot mound, sometimes 50-foot mound to a 60-foot mound. That’s a huge jump.”

Hopewell’s Tyler Hoffman

“We’ve been throwing from the pen for the last few weeks and we look good. I’m excited for that and I believe that’s what will give us the opportunity to compete. Being able to fill up the strike zone, making the other team put the ball in play and not giving away free bases. Fundamentally, that’s where it starts. But we’ve been doing a lot of batting practice, we’re making a lot of good contact, but pitching is going to be the key this year.”

VIKINGS SPORTS NOW’S HOPEWELL JUNIOR HIGH (7TH/8TH GRADE) PLAYERS TO WATCH:

8th Graders:

Tyler Hoffman

Ryder Kostrick

Vinny Smetana

Connor Reed

Nico Yannessa

Channing Yesionek

Noah Honess

Liam Rankin

7th Graders:

Kruz Krotec

Wade Enders

Henry Dunn

Austin Gallagher

Rhett Rankin

Published: March 6, 2026 0 comments

Hopewell Middle School Baseball

Hopewell Middle School Baseball Drops Season Opener to Montour

by Mike Vukovcan Published: March 19, 2025

written by Mike Vukovcan 3 minutes read

After practicing and preparing for the last couple of months, the Hopewell Middle School baseball team opened the 2025 season this afternoon.

Head coach BJ Rankin and his team traveled to Montour to take on the Spartans. One thing to keep in mind, this Hopewell middle school team is comprised of 7th graders, although they’ll be taking on 8th graders. This will no doubt be challenging but more importantly, it’ll be good competition and a learning experience.

Today after a rough start, Hopewell showed character as they battled back to make it a game before ultimately falling to Montour, 12-9.

Pitchers today for Hopewell were Connor Reed, Tyler Hoffman, Noah Honess and Liam Rankin.

Things started well for Hopewell as Vin Smetana led off the game with a walk and followed that up with a stolen base but was ultimately stranded there.

In the bottom of the first, Montour scored 6 runs, 3 of which came after 2 outs. Montour scored those runs despite only recording 1 hit, as they walked 5 times and reached on 2 Hopewell errors.

Hoffman pitched an effective second inning, allowing 2 unearned runs. Two Montour runners scored in this innings despite not recording a hit (walk and an error).

Hopewell got on the scoreboard in the 3rd inning. Colby Cunningham led off the inning with a single and 1 out later, Reed drew a walk. Then with runners at 1st and 3rd and 2 out, Cunningham would score on a passed ball. Montour now led 8-1.

After pitching well and not throwing a ton of pitches in the 2nd inning, Hoffman went back out to pitch the 3rd inning. Tyler once again did his job as he pitched a scoreless frame, only facing 4 Montour hitters. Outs were recorded courtesy a flyout to Brandon Cecchini in left, Hoffman fielded a groundball and so did Grey McIllvain at 3rd base.

The Vikings got back in the game in a big-time way in the 4th inning as they scored 8 runs.

Liam Rankin drove in Noah Honess with RBI single and later in the inning, Cecchini also came through with an RBI single to cut Montour’s lead to 8-3.

Hopewell wasn’t done in that inning as Cunningham drew a bases loaded walk to make it 8-4. Montour made a pitching change but the same result as Smetana also drew a walk to cut the gap to 8-5. Next up, Reed singled to left field and now Hopewell now trailed by just two runs, 8-6.

Hoffman stepped to the plate next and came through with a sacrifice fly to score Cunningham. After another bases loaded walk to Chandler Yesionek, Hopewell tied the game after trailing 8-0.

Montour responded in the bottom of the 4th inning with 4 runs of their own to regain the lead 12-9.

Rankin came on to pitch the 5th inning and was lights out as struck out the side, needing just 13 pitches.

Hopewell had a chance in the final inning as they put two runners on with just 1 out but following a single by Hoffman, the Montour CF made a nice throw to the plate to cut down the Hopewell runner.

Final Score: Montour 12 Hopewell 9

Hopewell 3 Stars of the Game:

3rd Star ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️

Colby Cunningham and Vin Smetana: Cunningham reached base 3 times (1 hit, 2 walks), scored 2 runs and from the 10 spot, did a tremendous job turning over the lineup.

As the leadoff hitter, Smetana did his job of getting on base 3 times (3 walks), while also recording an RBI.

2nd Star ⭐️⭐️

Liam Rankin: Rankin pitched a 1-2-3 inning, striking out all 3 batters he faced. At the plate, Liam was 1-3, with 2 RBI. He’s going to be expected to drive in runs and he did that today.

1st Star ⭐️

Tyler Hoffman: He came on to pitch in the 2nd and 3rd innings and settled things down for the Vikings, which allowed them to get back in the game. Tyler pitched two innings, allowing 0 hits, 2 runs (0 earned runs) and striking out one. At the plate, Hoffman was 1-3 with an RBI.

The Hopewell Middle School returns to action on Friday as they host Beaver.

Published: March 19, 2025 0 comments

Introducing You to New Hopewell 7th Grade Baseball Coach BJ Rankin

by Mike Vukovcan Published: February 17, 2025

written by Mike Vukovcan 5 minutes read

Often times, the success of a sports program begins with the coaches within the program.

Coaching and instruction are crucial to player development. Over the offseason, the Hopewell Baseball program got better in a big-time way with a coaching addition.

Hopewell HS head coach Morgan Singletary had an opening at the junior high team. After talking with some candidates and although it took some time, Hopewell has got the guy they wanted- BJ Rankin.

Having been involved with the Hopewell Youth program for years, I’m very familiar with Rankin and this is a grand slam hire for a number of reasons: 1) his knowledge of the game 2) his coaching style and ability to get his message across 3) the type of person Rankin is and the values he possesses and ability to interact and instruct his players.

For those not familiar with him, Rankin is from graduated from Upper St. Clair High School. After HS, Rankin then went to college at Malone University in Ohio, where he played both football and baseball. In baseball, Rankin was shortstop and a starting pitcher while in football, he played safety.

Currently, BJ and his wife Gwen live in Hopewell with their three children: Liam, Rhett and Charlotte.

Since moving to Hopewell, Rankin has been heavily involved in Hopewell Youth Baseball along with coaching in travel baseball.

Vikings Sports Now had the chance to spend some time with Rankin and talked baseball and started with getting into his new position.

“Initially, I didn’t want to do it,” said Rankin. “I have reservations around having a kid on the team and I know how that can be and optically how that looks like. But in the end, my motivation around saying yes and wanting to do it was centered around the kids on the team and whether or not they’d have a team to play for and if they didn’t, how that could set them back.”

“So, in talking about it, thinking about it, praying about it, it was something ultimately it was about what was best for the kids and the program as a whole and wanting to see those kids progress, improve and get acclimated to the program.”

Baseball is baseball regardless of the age of player you’re coaching but there no doubt is going to be a difference for Rankin in coaching the younger kids in the youth baseball organization and at the junior high level.

” The biggest is just being able to understand the expectations within the program and of the head coach,” said Rankin. “But what I want to do is to prepare them as best I can for when they get to high school. That’s why Coach Singletary wants the 7th and 8th graders participating with the high school program, so they get acclimated, understand the expectations and really what working hard means from a high school level.”

“On the youth level, it’s not as serious and at a youth level it should be about fun, being around your friends while gaining skills and learning to play the game with intelligence and with skill. The biggest change for me is going from youth to the junior high level is me understanding from Coach Singletary what’s expected from the kids and reinforcing that.”

Anyone that knows Rankin realizes how much he loves to coach, loves baseball and loves to compete. Being at the junior high level and trying to get these kids ready to perform at high school, is something he’s looking forward to.

“I love to compete. Every time baseball starts, it makes me want to get back on the field and compete and play. I just want to give back to these kids and try to share some areas of the game that I was successful at, as well as areas in which I wasn’t as strong in but really reinforce the time and hard work that you have to put in as you approach a season, when you’re in the season and out of season.”

” When you commit to a sport or commit to anything in life, you have to really buy in and give everything that you have. Because in my opinion, it’s not worth doing if you’re not 100% in. As apprehensive as I was about accepting this position, now that I have, I’m 100% in.”

Not only will there be a change in the coaching staff, but the Hopewell players will have to deal with a big change in competition.

Due to roster sizes and other factors, the Hopewell program is changing their team structure. Starting this year, the 8th and 9th grade players will play together on a team called ‘The Freshman Team’. They will mostly go up against other school’s 9th graders, which will challenge Hopewell’s 8th graders.

Conversely, Hopewell’s 7th graders will be challenged by taking on other districts 7th and 8th graders, most times the 8th grade players.

Will this make things challenging? Of course, but that’s not something that Rankin is worried about.

“I think we have a talented junior high team and I’m excited to see how these kids are going to progress and how they’re going to compete and respond to adversity,” said Rankin. “We’re going to be playing kids that are mostly older than us, more physically developed than us and it’s definitely doing to be a challenge. But what way to make yourself better and that’s what I’m excited for, to see how they respond to that and see how they’re ready to compete.”

Because of his long-time history with a majority of these 7th graders, Rankin is familiar with these players and they know him. But in case they’ve forgotten, Rankin has a few core values and expectations for his players:

-Practice time is important, don’t just go through the motions.

-Wants players that love to practice and that will push their teammates and hold them accountable.

-Treat their teammates, coaches and the game with respect.

“Baseball is a brutal game, and it can definitely get the best out of a lot of players.,” said Rankin. “Players need to realize that baseball is a game of failure but it’s how you respond to adversity, how you respond to failure, how you learn from it but more importantly, how you move on and get better.”

“I love coaching, I love being able to give what I’m able to give. Ultimately, I love Hopewell baseball and want to continue to see them be successful and be champions.”

Published: February 17, 2025 0 comments