‘Keys to our success’: Why brothers Ryan, Jeremy Whitehead represent future of P-O baseball
As rain poured down on Philipsburg-Osceola’s baseball field Thursday afternoon, the Mounties joked inside the high school gym with two of their teammates — Ryan and Jeremy Whitehead — prior to an interview.
Oh, I didn’t know you guys were brothers. Tell ‘em how much you hate each other.
Ryan cracked a smile as his younger sibling, Jeremy, jogged over from the makeshift batting cage. The brothers, usually not far from one another, stood side by side in the P-O hallway as they reminisced how they got here — how they both ended up starting and setting the tone for the Mounties ahead of Monday’s first-round PIAA game.
“We’ve always been together,” said Ryan, a sophomore starting pitcher. “Football, basketball, baseball. It’s nothing new. Ever since we were little, we’ve been playing sports together.”
Added Jeremy, a freshman outfielder: “My best memories in sports, my brother has been there for all of them. No matter what. All of our memories are together.”
The Whiteheads aren’t done making memories, either. Despite losing in the District 6 final to Mount Union — a game in which Ryan struck out eight and threw seven-plus shutout innings — the Mounties face Steel Valley on Monday in the PIAA first round.
P-O (15-7) is at an inherent disadvantage, having to drive two hours to Butler to face the District 7 champion. But the Mounties are looking forward to the tilt, especially the Whiteheads, who will be playing in their first state playoff game.
This time last year, Jeremy was in eighth grade, and Ryan was pitching for a middling P-O club. The Mounties managed an 11-10 record in 2018, a season that ended in a 10-run defeat to eventual district champion Huntingdon in the quarterfinals.
The 2019 version of P-O is much improved, though, thanks in large part to the Whiteheads.
On the bump, Ryan has evolved from promising freshman to bona fide ace. Thanks to an 85-mph fastball and devastating split-finger, the 6-foot-6 hurler boasts a 2.09 ERA and 9-1 record in 73.2 innings of work. If Ryan’s ERA holds, it’ll be the best by a P-O pitcher with at least 10 appearances since Luke Curtis’ 1.72 mark in 2010. Curtis, of course, went on to pitch at Pitt and in the Milwaukee Brewers’ minor league system — a route that isn’t outside of the realm of possibility for the older Whitehead.
“You hope that Ryan will continue to improve,” P-O coach Doug Sankey said. “I see no reason why he wouldn’t.”
Sankey feels the same about Ryan’s brother.
Jeremy — who’s just nine months and three weeks younger than his sibling — looks the part at 6-foot-4, 190 pounds, and he plays the part, too. The younger Whitehead owns a .315 batting average, good for third on the team. The left-fielder’s six doubles ties Keegan Soltis’ team-leading mark, and his 23 hits are second only to the senior third baseman.
And, perhaps most important for the ultra-competitive brothers, Jeremy bats ahead of Ryan in P-O’s order — as has been the case all season long.
“We kinda kid around about that,” Sankey said, laughing. “I told (Ryan) that one day maybe you’ll bat ahead of your little brother.”
Added their father, Greg Whitehead: “Ryan has always been in the spotlight. ... Little brother is finally catching up.”
Seeing that unfold — witnessing his boys excel at the varsity level in not only baseball, but also football and basketball — brings Greg Whitehead a deep sense of pride. But he’s not surprised. Ryan and Jeremy grew up with a role model, after all: Their older sister, Chelsea.
The senior ace of P-O softball’s 2011 state title team, Chelsea pitched at St. Francis and is now an assistant coach at the University of Redlands in California. But before she took her talents to Loretto and later the Golden State, Chelsea provided her younger brothers with a template for success: Compete at all times.
Whether it was playing cards or going hard on the driveway basketball hoop, Chelsea refused to let her younger brothers win. Of course, it’s a bit different these days. As recently as last week, when Chelsea was visiting from California, Jeremy belted a home run off her at the nearby softball field. “There’s no mercy,” the sister said.
That attitude extended to Ryan and Jeremy’s at-home relationship, too. “Whiffle ball definitely got intense,” Jeremy said, shaking his head with a grin. But when it came to organized sports, the brothers supported and committed to each other.
Jeremy was Ryan’s catcher from age 6 to 15. After school or in the summer, they’d put in work at Chester Hill Little League field, saving Greg’s knees from further beating after catching for Chelsea all those years.
Even now, the brothers stick together with the same spring routine. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in February, March and April, Jeremy and Ryan lifted for football from 6-7 a.m., went to baseball practice after school until 5:30 p.m., attended AAU basketball sessions for two more hours, did their homework and went to bed.
That’s what it took Jeremy and Ryan to be underclassman starters on a PIAA-bound squad — to be, as Sankey dubbed them, “the keys to our success over the next two years.”
The Whiteheads’ 2019 season isn’t over yet. The Mounties have a chance to make a run in the state tournament, starting with Steel Valley on Monday.
But regardless of what happens in Butler, this season has been a success for Ryan and Jeremy. And it won’t be their last.
“It’s cool knowing that we’ll be competing here for the next couple of years,” Ryan said. “Hopefully we’ll be making each other better.”
Added Jeremy: “I know that I’m going to be real sad when he graduates and it’s just me. Knowing that I have a couple years left to play with him — wherever he goes to college or whatever, that could be the end. I’m looking forward to and cherishing the moments I have left with him.”
This story was originally published June 1, 2019 at 12:56 PM.