MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Preston rising senior catcher Bryson McNew built a solid recruiting profile early in his high school career and his work has paid off with a Division I opportunity. McNew has verbally committed to play at James Madison as a part of their Class of 2027.
“It is beautiful up there,” McNew said of the Harrisonburg, Va. campus. “The coaching staff is great and the facilities are beautiful. I think they have everything I need there to go there and play early and do what I do at the next level and everything I need to get better. They checked all the boxes.
“I feel like they spent a lot of time working with me and talking with me. Coming to my games, you could tell that they were super-interested. I have always been told to go where I am wanted. It was pretty obvious that Coach Ike [Marlin Ikenberry] and Coach [Tanner] Biagini spent tons of time working with me and helping me figure out everything we needed to figure out. When it came down to making a decision, they were the clear favorite.”
JMU competes in the Sun Belt Conference and the Monarchs won 36 games in 2024, advancing to the NCAA Tournament. Hedgesville native Chase DeLauter played three seasons at James Madison (2020-22) and he now competes for the Cleveland Guardians.
With junior college and transfer portal players securing an increasing number of spots on Division I rosters, McNew says navigating the recruiting process has been a challenge.
“The whole landscape has really changed with these new rules. Getting recruited and getting seen is hard because there’s a lot of JUCO guys and transfer portal guys. Those guys are all proven college guys. But the recruiting process is fun as well. There’s so many opportunities. To go out and have a good game, you know you will get eyes on you.
“Emails have helped tremendously. Going to camps has helped tremendously. If you are good enough to get to that level, they are going to find you.”
As a sophomore, McNew earned the Johnny Bench Award as the top catcher in West Virginia. This spring, McNew earned Class AAAA first team All-State honors. He led the Knights with a .537 batting average. McNew also led PHS with eight home runs and 27 runs batted in.
Former Preston Knight Jimmy Galusky earned professional baseball opportunities after a successful career at WVU. He and McNew are two of the few from Preston County to play baseball at the Division I level.
“Preston at the same time has helped me tremendously. Having a place where I can go hit, go lift anytime I want, that has been huge. But it is tough coming out of a place like Preston because there hasn’t been much success there. But I think that for me, it has helped me a lot.
“There’s not really many guys in the area that are willing to push you and keep you going, keep you working hard.”
McNew has played for his father, Glen McNew, at Preston.
“That has been phenomenal. He has been there for me from countless hours at the field and in the weight room with the high school team. It has been great.”
McNew is now competing for Hit Dogs Ohio in the summer season. He has played as a corner infielder but catcher will remain his primary position going forward.
“My focus this year is mainly to get faster. I don’t need to put on a ton more weight. The offseason and leading into this year has always been to get bigger, faster and stronger, throw the ball harder, hit the ball farther.
“The biggest thing is mobility and having that size to where you can get beat down and your body can still have the capacity to stay healthy. That’s one of the main things with mobility and stretching. Ice and water factors into keeping the body healthy, especially in the summer.”
By earning a spot at the Division I level, McNew will soon be awarded an opportunity earned by few West Virginia natives every year.
“I started to realize that I had the talent to do it when I was 13 or 14. I was always a bigger guy and I always played well but I started to really be able to put the work in for my freshman year. And I was like, ‘I have a shot at this’. I just kind of kept going and sooner rather than later, it happened. It was kind of a switch I made from freshman to sophomore year in my work ethic that I started to realize that I had a chance to make it to the highest level.”