HIGH VELOCITY: Cole McManimon fires a pitch this spring during his freshman season with the Lehigh University baseball team. Former Princeton Day School standout McManimon went 0-0 this spring with 30 strikeouts in 26 2/3 innings and a 6.41 ERA in 11 appearances with four starts. (Photo Courtesy of Lehigh Sports Communications)

In his sophomore season with the Princeton Day School baseball team, Cole McManimon produced a mound gem against rival Pennington School.

The towering red-headed righty struck out 12, helping the Panthers to a 5-0 win in the 2013 contest.

While the shutout victory was a highlight of that spring, it turned out to have longer range implications for McManimon.

“There was a senior on the team going to Lehigh, Connor Donovan, and his head coach at Pennington (Mike Coryell) had played at Lehigh back in the 1980s,” said McManimon.

“Right after I pitched against them, the Pennington coach reached out to the coach over at Lehigh (Sean Leary).”

While that performance put McManimon on Lehigh’s radar as the school reached out to him, his mound exploits also drew interest from Lafayette, St. Joseph’s, and Villanova, among others.

But in the final analysis, that initial connection with Lehigh proved decisive. “Ultimately Lehigh was where I wanted to be,” said McManimon. “I think the fact that they stuck with me, they made me feel like they really wanted me there. They made me feel welcome. I really liked the feel of the campus and the engineering program there was also a huge factor in my decision.”

The 6’ 7 McManimon got introduced to the intensity of college baseball by Lehigh’s fall program, which included daily practices from September 1 through mid-October with games on the weekends.

“My fall season went pretty well,” said McManimon, noting that he had to hone his time management skills as he balanced his engineering studies with baseball. “I had a lot of success in the fall and that led me to be able to play as much as I did in the spring time.”

McManimon’s first outing of the spring came at Norfolk State in late February.

“I was more excited to be in the game than nervous,” said McManimon, who struck out five in 3 2/3 innings of work in his college debut.

“I felt comfortable, we are all out there for a reason. I immediately got my first strikeout. I did really well through two innings and then I gave up two home runs in the next inning so that was a nice welcome to college baseball.”

In early March, McManimon got his first start and it had extra significance for him as it came against Villanova, whose roster included former PDS teammate and close friend J.P. Radvany.

“When I got the e-mail earlier that week that I was starting that game, I was so excited,” said McManimon, who went 2 1/3 innings in the game with three strikeouts and one earned run.

“I immediately told James that you better be in the lineup buddy. He was the Designated Hitter and I got to pitch against him and I struck him out. He stepped in the box and I smiled and he nodded at me. We went right from there and it was all business. I ended up winning the battle on three pitches that day.”

A major highlight this spring for McManimon came when he struck out seven in 5 1/3 innings against Maryland Eastern Shore in late April.

“I had my high in strikeouts; I went to the sixth inning and I gave up two hits and I got pulled,” said McManimon.

“I was getting back in the groove in that game. I went through a few tougher relief appearances before that. I went out there and did pretty much what I wanted to do. I gave up one earned run that day.”

Ending the spring with 30 strikeouts in 26 2/3 innings and a 6.41 ERA in 11 appearances with four starts, McManimon learned some valuable lessons in his debut year.

“From a pitching standpoint, I have to work on keeping the ball lower,” said McManimon, who is doing sessions with a local trainer and pitching for the Trenton Generals of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League this summer to get ready for his sophomore campaign with the Mountain Hawks.

“That was one thing that hurt me in college, the higher fastballs. In high school I was able to get outs on those but in college, they hit them.”

With Lehigh going 25-29 overall and 9-10 in Patriot League play, McManimon believes the Mountain Hawks can take things to a higher level next season.

“I am a year older and I have a year under my belt,” said McManimon. “I am excited to go back out and play in the fall and play with my family and get prepared for a spring where we can hopefully reach our goal of winning the Patriot League. Two years ago Lehigh won the Patriot League so our goal this year was to win it again but we didn’t get out of the first round of the Patriot League playoffs. This year we hope to get back to the championship series and win that. I think we can do it. We have a lot of talent coming back and a lot of good freshmen coming in.”