By Laura Amato
Charlie Neuweiler is the older brother by one minute.
He wants to make sure everyone knows that. After all, he reminds his brother of it often enough.
Charlie and Ryan Neuweiler are twins. They’ve grown up together and, most importantly, they’ve played baseball together. In addition to being twins, Charlie and Ryan are teammates and, this spring, it’s that relationship that has the Monsignor McClancy baseball team on the road to a CHSAA “AA” city championship.
“When it comes down to the stuff that has to be done in the house, I’m always telling him I’m the older brother so he has to listen to me,” Charlie said. “But when we’re on the field, we’re teammates and we just kind of work as one.”
The Neuweilers, both LIU Brooklyn commits, have emerged as leaders for the Crusaders this season and they’ve found creative ways to do it.
Charlie has been dominant on the mound, taking on the role of McClancy’s top pitcher with a quiet modesty that has his teammates confident they’ll be victorious when the ball is in his hand. The junior has racked up 85 strikeouts in 50 innings pitched, along with a perfect 5-0 record and 0.85 ERA. Ryan, on the other hand, has stepped up in the batter’s box, forced into a pinch-hitting role when tendonitis in his shoulder kept him off the mound earlier this spring. He boasts a .375 average with 20 RBI.
“They’re fun to watch and I’m finally getting to know who’s who instead of just yelling ‘hey you,’” McClancy coach Nick Melito said. “They’re competitors. They really were raised right.”
Charlie and Ryan have been playing baseball for as long as they can remember and that experience has shown throughout their careers with the Crusaders.
The game doesn’t end on the final out—at least not for the Neuweilers. It continues on the drive home and at the dinner table and, sometimes, late into the night. It continues with post-game discussion and analysis of every single pitch.
“It’s honestly really good, because you always have someone to talk about the game,” Ryan said. “We talk about what happened and what we can do better in the future.”
The Neuweiler twins may spend a lot of time analyzing baseball, but they also spend a good amount of time playing it. And that near-constant exposure to the game has created a pair of players who are nothing short of competitive, particularly when it comes to each other.
Of course, they want each other to succeed, but they also want to be the best.
“My dad had us throwing out of the carriage when we were 3 years old,” Ryan said. “We’ve been working on this for a long time.”
McClancy heads into the city tournament as the No. 2 seed, looking to build off of last year’s semifinal appearance. The Neuweilers know they have their work cut out for them. A title run is never easy and the metaphorical bull’s eye on the Crusaders’ back is a bit heavy.
The Neuweilers and their teammates don’t really care. They may be the only brothers on this team, but as far as the Neuweilers are concerned this entire McClancy squad is a family and they’re ready to fight like one for a championship.
“This year is something special,” Charlie said. “Last year we went pretty far, but this year is looking really special for us and hopefully we can pull it out.”
