Wood's exploits garnered Capozzi Award

The daily schedule of Andrew Wood is enough to make you tired.

The Bellmore JFK senior took six advanced placement classes, ran cross country and indoor track and played baseball. Wood is on the math team, is a member of the wind ensemble and volunteers with the Rolling Thunder Special Needs Program, for which he served as a running coach and race guide to children and adults with disabilities.

Add assistant coach to his resume. On April 4, Bellmore JFK baseball coach Eric Passman had prostate surgery. He returned to coach the next day, but because of budget cuts, he had no assistant coach this past season.

Passman obviously was limited early on, and Wood took it upon himself to work with the young pitchers, given that he was the lone senior pitcher on the team.

For all his accomplishments, Wood received the Capozzi Award presented by the Nassau County Baseball Coaches Association on June 15. The winner is selected based on athletic performance, academic achievements, school involvement and letters of recommendation.

"I'm very big on team unity," Wood said. "I wanted to make sure the pitchers do everything together. Athletics is a way to relax and have fun."

"He did everything you can possibly think of," Passman said. "He sacrificed his reps as a pitcher and working at third base to help the team. It was one less thing I had to worry about. We wouldn't be successful if he didn't step up."

Passman was concerned about Wood early in the season. Wood arrived 10 minutes late to practice on occasion because he was going for extra help. It perplexed Passman because Wood has a 4.0 GPA, scored 2,260 out of 2,400 on the SAT and is a member of five honor societies.

"You can always use extra help," Wood said. "Spending 41 minutes a day on six college-level courses isn't enough. Baseball season is the height of AP exams, and I had six in six days."

Wood went 4-1 with a 1.01 ERA and batted .315. He will attend North Carolina and was accepted into the honors program, as well as admitted to the Kenan-Flagler Business School, which is one of the best in the nation.

Thanks to Wood, his coach was able to attend his daughter's wedding in May 2010. If Wood hadn't defeated Massapequa in Game 2 of the best-of-three quarterfinals, the deciding game would have been played on the wedding date.

"In my 40 years as coach, I've never had anyone pitch better in a crucial game," Passman said. "Every big game, he won."