The Pendleton Panther

Jimmy O’Neill was born on August 21, 1992 in Bradenton, FL.  Jimmy played many  sports when he was young such as baseball, basketball, and soccer.  His favorite was baseball.  Jimmy has one brother and he was the person growing up who pushed him the most to excel.  His parents Marj and Ed are a huge influence on him now.  This summer Jimmy plans to workout and hang out with his friends and then in the fall he will attend Stetson University to play baseball.  During summer around June 10 there is the Professional Draft for baseball and Jimmy is hoping to get drafted in mid rounds.  Someday he wants to make it to the major leagues and play professionally but he says that its a long way away. Congratulations Jimmy!   — Julia Lis

Casey moved to Bradenton at age 6 and started attending IMG baseball camps at age 10. By 14 he enrolled at IMG as an 8th grader and he has been at IMG now for 5 years. His achievements in baseball include a 3 time preseason all american 3 time season all american, an under armour all american, he  has won a national championship and a Florida state championship. More importantly though what he is equally proud of is that he has been a part of Pendleton leadership for 2 years and has been on the Pendleton varsity team for 4 years. His record pitching was 27 and 1 in his 5 years and he did not get his first loss in high school until he hurt his arm pitching this year in a game. Last year he accepted the senior gift on behalf of the junior class and this year he has been selected to win the Pendleton Spirit award and for that he will be giving a speech at graduation. He has given his scholarship back to Ole Miss so that he can rehab from his recent tommy john surgery here at IMG for the next year. The rehab takes a full year for a full recovery and he will be spending that full year at IMG. He will be considered a post grad high school student but he will not be playing much baseball until next summer. When he comes back he will be stronger because of the surgery that allows pitchers to gain a stronger ligament in their elbow. I know Casey will do great things in life! He’s someone to always watch out for. Congratulations Casey!   — Julia Lis

Patrick Albrittain was born in Dunn Loring, Virgina at Fairfax Hospital on October 10, 1991.  He played many sports throughout his life, baseball, basketball, soccer and football.  However, his favorite was always baseball which is the reason he attends IMG Academies.  He is the oldest of 4 kids from his parents Margaret and Chris Albrittain.  He has a sister that is a year younger than him named Lauren and two younger brothers that look up to him as a role model Daniel,11, and Brendan,9.   He plans to play for a summer team up in Virginia where he has lived my whole life.   Next year he will be coming back to IMG Academies to further his playing skills in baseball and strengthen his arm from surgery in October of 2009. Good luck and congratulations Pat!   — Julia Lis

Chad Clifton was born in Nacogdoches, TX on December 23, 1991.  He’s handsome at 6’4” with a muscular 200 pound build.  He has been at IMG for one year and will be attending Texarkana Junior College in the fall and hopes to play D-1 baseball in the future.  He is the son of Tami Clifton and Mark Clifton.  He also has two older brothers Clint and Christopher that live in Nashville, Tennessee.  He’s not sure of what his major will be, but wants to be a college coach.  He looks forward to becoming a father and raising a family.  — Dillon Moyer

Richard Baerga was born in New York, New York on September 2, 1992. He has been at IMG for three years playing baseball.   He is going to Siena College in Albany, New York next fall.  He is going to play baseball there.  They are part of the MAAC conference and make it to the regional tournament every year.  He is going to play for a local travel team this summer up in New York. He looks forward to majoring in Biology for his undergraduate degree this coming fall.  He plans to study athletic training after his four year undergraduate degree.  — Dillon Moyer

Carlos Samoza was born in Houston, Texas but moved to Charlottesville, Virginia before coming down to the amazing IMG baseball academy.  He has been at the extremely demanding Pendleton School for two years and it has been an amazing two years at that. He has met some of his now closest friends down here.  Carlos came down for baseball and worked with some great coaches.  His plans for next year are some what up in the air but he knows something will arise to his liking.  He wishes all of his classmates good luck in their future endeavors.  — Dillon Moyer