Drew's Story

2023

Stories of Drew from his Mentors and Friends

Honestly just seeing Drew’s excitement anytime he was at the field is my favorite memory of him.  That boy LOVED baseball and nobody brought more energy or positivity to the field than he did. Every day at practice was like his first time at Disney World, he was that fired up to be out there.  A story that comes to mind is one that happened in the first inning of just about every game in 2019. Griff would leadoff and inevitably reach base after which the dugout would start screaming “THERE’S TWO OF THEM!! YOU’RE SCREWED, WE’VE GOT TWO STIEGS”  Drew would look down at me with a you know what eating grin on his face. I know how much Drew and Griff loved playing together and I think that is still the best bit the dugout has ever come up with. I would have to turn around in the third base box and hide my smile because I couldn’t keep a straight face myself. We did have two of them (which was a problem for opponents) and losing 2020 still crushes me but I think back to those first innings in 2019 and immediately start chuckling to myself thinking about Griff and Drew playing the “bad guy” together.   Looking back now, I smile even bigger knowing Drew got to play that season with his little brother. - John Dowling

Drew to me was compassionate, friendly, and he had a work ethic like none other. I remember noticing (during his freshman year) that he would always hit front toss with antfarm after every practice. He also took the weight room seriously and had ridiculous strength numbers. I aspired to be like him in that regard. Every time I tried to hangout with him I found that he would always be at a baseball field. Hey, hitters hit, it’s what they do. He deserved every bit of his success on the field. He never complained, and gave great advice about baseball. I would pick his brains on hitting because I trusted him. - Andrew Liao 

I don’t think enough can ever be said about Drew’s work ethic. He was always trying to get better and help the team win and, like Andrew, I aspired to be like that. I remember there was a time where Drew was moving around a bit position wise to help best the team’s needs. He never complained about being moved from 3rd base to left field or vice versa, he’d run out there and take his ground balls / fly balls during practice and make the most out of each day. Oh yeah he could swing the bat a little bit too. - Ben Piper

Obviously as we all know drew was an animal on the Diamond. But I think my favorite drew stories were off the field. I think something people didn’t know about drew was that he had so many different talents besides baseball. One that comes to mind was his singing. There was one time him and I are just chopping it up in his room and he just starts singing some ed Sheeran song. Jokingly but partly serious I tell him he should sign up for the voice. He starts laughing with his contagious smile and then we talk for about an hour about how we was going to take over the music industry. And the conversation ended with him saying no matter what happens in life he wanted to remain close with his best friends which goes back to his loyalty and what made him such a special person in all of our lives. -Mitch Wasserman

I remember drew trying to be better at everything from hitting in the cage asking about swings talking about grips on the ball to the classroom where he asked how to sleep better in class he was a great teammate and a great friend to have he made everyday better. - Zavyor Zenk 

I remember a few years ago Drew telling me he was going to try to come all the way from a morning game in Northern Maryland down to Lynchburg to be our 9th player for the legion state tournament later that day. It was gonna be a close call as he was supposed to get there only about 20 minutes before game time. If it was anybody else, I would have been pretty worried, but somehow I knew Drew would make it in time. Not just because of how much he loved baseball, but because of how much he loved us and would do anything for us. I knew that because we needed him there so badly, he was gonna be there. Of course he showed with plenty of time to spare and we were able to play ball. He must have been exhausted from playing that morning and the long car ride, but he still found the energy to go 2-4. - Jackson Kantor 

Drew was one of the best friends and teammate you could ask for. His work ethic and passion for the game was contagious. Not only did he work hard, but he hyped up and coached everyone around him. Even back in little league we would play on the same all star teams and I remember him staying in the cages and getting every rep possible before practice ended or a game started. Then through high school he did the same and would waste no time before practice started either being in the cages or the weight room. - Nick Clines

Drew’s unstoppable work ethic and his bright eyed personality motivated the rest of us to love the game like he did. From the weight room to the cage, he was always putting in the extra time, encouraging us to join him. Early on he always gave me advice about the weight room and we would compare since we were similar in size, but I could see the competitor in him. And the next thing you know, he was one of the strongest on the team. Along with being a great teammate, he was also a great friend. When I was injured in the 2018 season he constantly asked how I was doing and kept me positive, even when he was having a bad game. - Connor Carroll 

Don’t remember too many specific stories with Drew but I do remember him and AntFarm always goofing around and bringing the fun to the dugout every practice/game. Was the last year most of us played competitive baseball but felt like we had just started with those good vibes. - Ben Weinstein

This is a very specific baseball memory from that year but when we walked off Langley, it was because the bases were loaded and Yanni hit a line drive right at the third baseman, and Drew was the trail runner at first and he got caught way off the bag. Third baseman throws it away and we win. I think that play kinda encapsulates my memory of Drew - chaotic, energetic, but damn if it didn’t work. I think overall I’ll remember how much he just loved being out there and playing baseball, you could tell every day that there wasn’t anything he’d rather be doing. - Owen Ricketts (and video of the play that James Beahn still had saved)

Coach, Thank you for reaching out. I think it is a great idea to compile this collection. This isn’t a single memory but I will always remember the times where Drew, my brother, and I would hit in the cage at McLean. We would spend countless hours hitting together whether it was before or after practice, or during the off-season. It didn’t matter what day it was but there was always an argument at the end of each of our rounds to get just one more pitch. Of course… one more was never actually one more. I will always appreciate the friendship, high energy, and good spirited attitude that Drew would bring. - Yanni Farmakides 

The happiest I’ve ever seen Drew was last summer playing in our summer league in Vienna. I remember one game he went off going either 3-4 or 4-4 with a home run. It was a close game and I remember Drew storming back into the dugout after that home run with the most infectious energy I’ve ever witnessed in my life. It might’ve just been a summer league game for some, but for Drew, there was no where he’d rather be. Just a guy whose love for baseball was eternal, and that’s what I’ll always remember about him. - Grant Williams

This isn’t a specific story, but I think more importantly than the energy and passion he had for the game was his kindness and camaraderie he brought with it. He never let tough losses get to him, always showing up the next day ready to work and putting a smile on everyone’s face. In the short time I had gotten to play with him he was one of my favorite teammates to share the field with. On a lighter note, drew loved the pregame meals. Never saw someone get so excited finding out we had chick fil a before a game. - Max Groppe 

Drew had an affinity for wrist tape, because he loved the way it looked (extremely high level baseball swag in his eyes). 

No one more excited about the prospect of warm weather because that meant he didn’t have to wear sleeves and could instead put on a boarder line absurd amount of pre wrap and wrist tape. 

Following an away game, later on in his Junior season, the bus pulled in to the parking lot at McLean. As usual, Dowling asked the bus driver to turn on the lights as he talked about practice and the rest of the week. In this overview, Dowling stated “make sure that you are drinking plenty of water tonight and tomorrow as it’s going to be very hot for our game on Friday”. 

Somewhere from the back of the bus Drew, completely out of sight, simply says “let’s go!” And then yells out “WRIST TAPE!!” Simple, yet hilarious; wrist tape became the battle cry for warm weather. - Ryan Christoff 

Either last year or two years ago my brother called me to pick him up from the steigs to drive him home as they were throwing a party. I walk in through the back and Anthony isn’t picking up his phone so I’m just looking around not sure what to do because there’s a ton of older people there that I don’t really know. I knock on the door asking to come in and next thing I know drew sees me and yells “KOBBB” and puts his shoulder around me introducing me to everyone. Then proceeded to tell me with a smile on his face that I am welcome anytime. He always made everyone felt like they were welcome and included which was my favorite part about him. - Jakob Luu

One day, I think it was before the gonzaga scrimmage our senior year, Drew and I are sitting in Mrs. Moe’s shop class and Drew is his usual uncontrollable ball of energy and we are in the process of making this batt rack and we are finally almost finished with it and so I go to get the thing out and start working on it with him and he goes “no Ricketts we aren’t doing that today, no chance” and he proceeds to sneak out the back door through the courtyard and I reluctantly follow him not knowing what the hell he’s doing and of course I should’ve known what he was up to as he runs down to the clubhouse shed and whips out his usual arsenal of like 4 beat up wood bats and 2 brand new metal ones, puts on his swath of evoshields and grabs a bucket of balls he brought from home and he’s like we are doing soft toss for the next two hours man we gotta prepare for this scrimmage. About five minutes into the session one of the security guys wheels up to us on his gator and goes what the hell are y’all doing you can’t be out here during school hours. Drew turns around and somehow convinces the guy that Mrs Moe and Dowling said it was okay because we have a big scrimmage today and he bought it and let us keep hitting. This has to be my all time Drew moment because it shows how much the kid loved the game, how much he wanted to win, and most of all how he had so much positive and fun energy when he was out there playing ball doing what he loved everyday at Mclean. - Andy Ricketts 

Another thing is that ever since like the first day of covid until we went off to college I would wake up with a text from Drew saying only two words every single time: “Wanna hit?” 

I think we went out to Mclean, Waters field, langley or sometimes even Justice high school to hit what felt like every day until we went off to college. He just had so much of a competitive drive to get better and help myself and everyone else improve their swing too. I’ll miss those hitting sessions the most. - Andy Ricketts 

I remember thinking I was going to walk into playing 3rd base, and guys on the team kept going on and on about Drew. I just kept brushing it off like how good can this underclassmen I have never heard of be. Once the preseason started and I started to see Drew getting after it in everything he did. Whether that be the weight room and Green Days, I was like this guy is going to be a problem in the best way possible. A problem for every other team not just that season, but for the rest of his playing career. The one thing you could never question was his work ethic on and off the field. He was always working, even when people weren’t watching. He always had a smile on his face no matter what was going on in practice or games. Coming back to watch him play with Griffin was special. Throughout our senior year we knew our team was good, but we would always say “imagine how good this team will be in a couple of years. When Drew and Co are seniors + Griffin”. Talking about how good they would be was one thing, but seeing them fulfill that potential was so fun to watch. My senior year was some of the most fun baseball I have ever played and Drew was a big part of the enjoyment. - James Beahn 

 I don’t have much in the way of stories however, what I can say is that I still freshly remember the amount of energy he brought into practices and games, and how that only continued to be ever present in the games that I had seen. He was developing into quite the heavy hitter over time, and I was more than impressed. - John Putziger

Drew impacted my life by being an example and a leader on the field. As an underclassman, he’s one of the guys I looked up to in the program. He was a relentless worker at his craft and in the weight room. He showed day in and day out how to be an exceptional teammate, and how to play the game the right way. Even when I was injured, he never failed to encourage me, and he always uplifted the guys around him. The things I learned from watching him and being his teammate carry on to today in a big way. I also have many memories of him punishing that trailer in centerfield during BP. A great teammate and an even better person. - Nick Norton

Some of my favorite Drew memories were from the cancelled season and the end of my freshman year when I was practicing with the team during the post season. As a young outfielder, Drew took me under his wing, making sure I knew how to do all the drills and critiqued my footwork during Stoff fungoes. Immediately after that Drew was the energizer bunny during on field BP, constantly sprinting after balls and navigating the sea of PO’s trying to make web gems of their own. It was especially entertaining to watch him get into a shouting match with his younger brother Griff for balls in the gap, despite the fact that Griff was the center fielder and had priority. As a freshman/sophomore it lit a fire under me watching an everyday starter and leader on the team bust his butt every rep simply because he loved to get after it. Drew’s love for the game and his teammates was felt by everyone in the program and was a big part of the success McLean baseball had during his time in the program and years after he graduated. - Robbie Coates

I wasn’t too close with Drew because I didn’t play with him and age. But whenever I was with him either at the Stiegs house or somewhere with baseball, he would always have the best attitude whether he was excited or fired up to do something. When I would be around him with other older kids as I was younger, he would always be such an easy person to talk to as no matter what, he would be interested in what I was talking about or he would go out of his way to talk to me. He was such a nice person to me and he made me feel comfortable to be around his other friends or people I didn’t know. His attitude towards life really left an impact on me because he was full throttle and that is something that goes a long way. I can almost hear him saying, “oh what’s up Chris!” With a big smile on his face. - Chris Morabito 

Drew loved the comradery of people in class, in the hallways…everywhere I saw him.  He sat at the front of room 181 in a group with John LeMunyon, Matthew Keay, Andrew Hecker and Michael Rizk…a crew of 16-year-old friends behaving accordingly. They could be happy, miserable, sometimes they were sleeping, usually they were talking about girls, always sharing each other’s work…frequently they were ripping on each other…but always Drew enjoyed it and was right in the middle of sharing life with his peers and laughing.

Drew enjoyed life in front of me…it’s what I hold onto. He embellished his buddies…yes…but in addition to everyone around him including adults…I never heard a negative comment about another person out of his mouth. I know he enjoyed my hockey stories as well…one day I said to him “hockey players are tougher than baseball players.” Drew snapped a response… “Mr. Stone you can’t hit a baseball…you’re like bam-bam in the Flintstones cartoon…baseball players have more talent than hockey players.” I just agreed and walked away😊

Memories of Drew’s kind vulnerable soul, keen sense of humor, curiosity, intensity to please, and willingness to banter with others rest in my heart. Drew understood my teasing…one day he walked into class, and I asked,” Did the cat comb your hair?” He just laughed and said, “probably.” Drew’s character and personality as a fine young man inspires me and will…for eternity, and faith leads me to believe we will meet Drew again in another life. - Michael Stone USVA History Teacher

In my early days of coaching at McLean we always seemed to end up at the Stieg’s house after wrestling events.  Drew was a young elementary student back when little Forrest was wrestling for McLean.  When over at the Stieg’s house many times, we would move the furniture out the way and watch Drew and Griffin wrestle in the living room while we would all cheer them on.  His competitive drive was on display very early on.

Drews Freshman year he was on the wrestling team.  He was a high level JV wrestler.  The varsity team was really good that year so Drew was crushing it on JV.  Near the end of the season we needed Drew to move up to varsity for a tri at Brentsville.  Drew was going to get two varsity matches on the day.  He was so nervous before going out.  He lost his first match to a tough opponent from Brentsville.  He was bummed and beating himself up.  I had a talk with him, picking him up and getting him mentally ready for the next match.  He ended up pinning the Chantilly kid in his next match.  I will never forget the smile on his face after that match.  He was beaming, and all his teammates were pumped for him.  - Ken Jackson

Drew is genuinely a once in a lifetime person — one of the biggest aspects of him as person, amongst so many others, was that he was so incredibly spontaneous. Trying to predict his next project or idea would be just as likely as him hitting a ball to right field. One day he’d be building an outdoor patio for his backyard, and the next he’d be telling me about his new pressure washing business (which he already started until he realized he had to get on a ladder). One of the last times I saw him was at Virginia Tech, and the day before we go, he texts me “Yo instead of real golf let’s go frisbee Golfing!” I had never even mentioned golfing in the first place, but either way this text didn’t surprise me at all. Here comes Drew with a new activity that he’s never once talked about  that, of course, he’s gonna be really good at. Fast forward a day and we’re on the VT disc golf course. Me, mr stieg, and drew each with our discs in hand that mrs Stieg had bought on Amazon for all three of us. 

We get to the first hole after arguing we’ve been going the wrong way for 5 minutes as we walked the completely right way.  Drew steps back, takes his driver disc and absolutely launches it. Then, he decides to mention he’d played almost every week in utah. Shit. He goes on to score 10 lower than his dad and I all while calling me his “student”. He was obviously joking but he really wasn’t wrong because after our first 9 holes he convinced me to throw forehand. I thought he was crazy but after 2 holes, i was a new man. I had a mid range shot from far out that should’ve never gone in, and I swear to god I hadn’t seen him happier in months. It wasn’t him who threw it— it was his friend, but he was so insanely psyched for me. He said “I could just feel the dopamine rush for you”. I couldn’t stop thinking about that because he would talk about dopamine and how he would always try to chase it. He never chose to be unhappy and never chose to bring his unhappiness on other people. He lived for happiness in new moments, whether he experienced it himself or got to witness it from those he loved. 

Every day was a new moment for me with drew, even when we would get ice cream each night of winter break for the last 2 weeks. He always had something new to show me, and when he told me he wanted to be a creative director in the future, I told him I couldn’t picture a better spot for him. If anything, he already was that figure in my life already. I never had a dull day with drew, and his house was almost like his directors chair. We would start the day there and end the day there, wishing we didn’t have to go home. - Tio Graybill