This year, the boys varsity baseball team is looking to make it back into the Division I playoffs for their third year in a row, hopefully bringing home the Western Mass. Championship title.
The players that make up the varsity team are seniors Alex Lafayette (captain), Kevin Borowiec, Dimitri Bryant (captain), Nelson Mourao (captain), Nick Mullins, James Patterson, and Scott Urban, juniors Connor Duquette, Brett Layman (captain), Chris Charest, Alex Davies, Mike Pepin, Nick Chisholm, Zack Frangules, Austin Harris, and sophomore Alex Soares.
The key players for the 2014 team are Lafayette, Borowiec and Layman. Lafayette has been starting as the varsity catcher midway through his freshman year. “His sophomore year he caught every inning, while he caught all, but one inning his junior year,” said Coach Martin Fanning.
This is Borowiec’s third year starting as the center field man, and he will also be doing some pitching. As for another key player, Layman, this is also his third year playing varsity baseball and he was even a starter his freshman year.
Even with these three key players returning back to the team, the Lions lost seven seniors last year. “Losing every senior hurts, especially losing players like Tyler Quiterio and Mike Lavell,” said Fanning.
With the season just beginning, there are some challenges that the boys have to face.
A major struggle has been “being able to use the fields because of how bad the weather has been,” said Fanning. “It’s hard to tell how the new kids are. So far they are good, but it’s only based on how they are inside, not outside.”
Fanning says their one weakness is their lack of depth. However, their offense is strong and they’ll be doing a lot of “hit and run” plays.
Defense is also strong and their mission is to “outscore the other team,” said Fanning.
The boys varsity baseball team was supposed to start off its season on March 31, at Minnechaug High School, but due to the weather and conditions of fields, the game was rescheduled to April 8.
They will play their first game tonight, which is their home opener, against Westfield at their home field, Whitney at 4 p.m.