Frank Stellar retires as Donegal’s baseball coach; Chris Miller takes over Indians’ program

After 37 seasons in Donegal’s dugout, including the last 10 as head coach, Frank Stellar has decided to hang up his spikes.

The 59-year-old Stellar retired as a physical education teacher at the end of the school year, and decided it was also a good time to leave the diamond.

Stellar led the Indians to a 131-80 record in his 10 seasons as head coach, including a Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 3 title in his first season in 1999.

In 2005, Donegal won 20 games and advanced to the state quarterfinals, and the Indians captured the District 3 Class Triple-A title in 2007.

Prior to his time as head coach, Stellar spent 27 seasons coaching the JV team.

Donegal was 13-9 and finished a game behind Northern Lebanon in L-L League Section 3 last season. The Indians won a district play-in game but lost their tournament opener.

Stellar will hand the reins to Chris Miller, an assistant high school principal who has been the varsity assistant for 10 seasons.

Miller will have some big shoes to fill. In addition to Stellar’s stint, Al Brooks coached for 36 years, going 371-197-3 with a district crown in 1990 and six Section 3 titles.

Among the players Stellar coached are Chris Heisey, who is playing in the Cincinnati Reds farm system at Class A Sarasota, Bryan Engle, who coaches Messiah’s baseball team, and Darin Gorski, who was 8-4 with a 2.43 ERA as a sophomore for PSAC champion Kutztown University this spring.