Bishop Eustace Junior Back with Old West Deptford Teammates

When Bishop Eustace junior Keith Wallace showed up to meet his Olympic-Colonial teammates, he saw a lot of new faces. He also saw a couple of familiar ones.

Wallace is a West Deptford resident who grew up playing baseball with Tom Jakubowski and later Tony Urban, so he felt right at home with his new team.

“Anytime you play with a new group of guys it is always good to have guys you know on the team,” Wallace said. “It makes everything easier.”

The Olympic-Colonial went 1-1 during the Carpenter Cup Classic, winning its opener before bowing out in the quarterfinals to Lehigh Valley.

Although the experience was a little shorter than they had hoped, Jakubowski said it was nice to play with an old friend.

“It was great to play with him, because me and him were good friends throughout Little League,” Jakubowski said. “He’s a great kid and it was great to be able to play with him again.”

Friday’s loss didn’t mark the last time the duo will where the same uniform–far from it. Wallace, Jakubowski and several other West Deptford High School ballplayers are teammates on the traveling Next Level Baseball team this summer.

During his time at Bishop Eustace, Wallace developed into the ace of the staff, a considerable achievement given Bishop Eustace’s standing as one of the top teams in the Olympic Conference. This season, Bishop Eustace went 14-9, but lost in the Non-Public B quarterfinals.

Wallace, who was 6-1, said excelling at his new school took a lot of work and is something he is extremely proud of.

“Going to a different school, you got a fresh start,” Wallace said. “No one knows anything about you, it is like starting Little League over again, just at a higher level. To be able to go to program like that and pitch is an honor.

"It’s something that as a ballplayer you want to do, to go out and compete with and against the best, and that’s what I’m doing.”