Note: Photos included in this publication are credited to Evan Kuznar.
Brian Gatio, the head coach of the McNicholas Varsity Baseball Team, has led the team to a 14-10 record in the 2023 season. After the 2020 season, Gatio came to McNicholas to coach the team and has been here since then.
This year, the varsity team finished 14-10 and is headed for the playoffs in the upcoming days. “It has been a successful season,” says Gatio, “But we also hit a rough patch there for a minute.”
This year, the team improved in their ability to steal bases. His goal for this season was 100 stolen bases and they exceeded that by reaching 110. “On top of that, we have done well with everything else, but we are still working on those things because we still need to improve,” Gatio said.
One of those areas of improvement for the team is bunting. Gaito said, “we work on a lot in practice and it all translates to the games but not all of it translates well and bunting is one of those things.”
He has very high expectations for his team. “I think I could get McNick to the district championship game,” said Gatio. His goal for the future of the program is to win a title.
Gatio started coaching baseball in 1997 at McNick and won the state championship a season later in 1998. In 2016, he left McNick to coach at Turpin and in 2019, he coached at Anderson for a year. In 2020, he decided to come back to McNicholas. However, there was no 2020 season due to Covid. In 2021, he was the assistant head coach and finally in 2022, he became the head coach of the Rockets Varsity Team.
The McNicholas Milestone 