Written by Shelton Moss
2021 Turks Webcast Announcer
Wingate Head Coach Jeff Gregory is very familiar with the Harrisonburg Turks. Gregory spent his 2005 summer in Harrisonburg at the old legendary Veterans Memorial Park coaching the Turks. The young Gregory was an assistant at Wingate University until he was given the opportunity to advance and take the reins of the Bulldogs as head coach in 2010 where he has been successful building a strong program. Gregory has sent many outstanding Bulldogs to play for the Turks and this summer will be no different as four will head this way; Mac Callari, Logan McNeely, Michael Dansky, and Ricky Clark.
Mac Callari, a 6’4, a 185 pound senior right-hander, comes from Hollywood, Florida, a beach city outside Miami. He has spent the past three years pitching for Wingate University, a Division II school in Wingate, North Carolina. As a junior, Callari worked his way into the weekend rotation, appearing in five game and making three starts to the tune of a 3-2 record and 1.91 ERA in 28.1 innings of work. For the past two years he has played summer ball for the Boca Raton Blazers out of South Florida Collegiate Baseball League. Off the field, Callari is the president of Wingate’s Student-Athlete Advisor Committee (SAAC), which provides insight on the student-athlete experience and offers input on the policies that affect student athletes’ lives at NCAA member schools.
Logan McNeely, a 6’1 207 pound junior catcher, hit .220 in 17 starts as a sophomore in 2020, with homer, two doubles, eight RBI, and eight runs scored. He excelled as a freshman in 2019, posting a .284 average and .514 slugging percentage with four home runs and 16 RBI in only 26 games played. A native of Shelby, North Carolina, McNeely played for Crest High School where head coach Steven Hodge said he was like a “coach on the field”. McNeely is an avid fan of the Atlanta Braves and their star outfielder Ronald Acuna, Jr.
The third Bulldog joining the Turks Michael Dansky, a 5’11 170 pounder, made the most of his limited at-bats in the shortened 2020 season, as the redshirt freshman recorded a hit and walk with two runs scored in eight games played for the Bulldogs. One of those runs was a walk-off run against Anderson University. He plays second base and shortstop. Although Dansky’s hometown is Charlotte, North Carolina, he was born in Staten, New York, and grew up idolizing Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees.
The fourth Bulldog, Ricky Clark, is a 6’4 195 pound outfielder. Clark appeared in all 22 games for Wingate during the shortened 2020 season, hitting .275 with three homers, 19 RBI, and 16 runs scored. As a freshman in 2019, a Clark started 38 of the team’s 41 games, hitting .280 with 18 RBI. The Jupiter, Florida, native started playing baseball at the age of four, and was captain of the Jupiter High School team as a senior. Nicknamed “Tick”, Clark is an avid fan of the San Francisco Giants.
We are excited to welcome this Wingate Bulldog foursome to Veterans Memorial Park for an exciting summer of Turks baseball.