06/09/2016

Attleboro Shutout in Semifinal By Top Seeded Lakers

Attleboro's Nate Tellier struck out nine and allowed just two hits in the Bombardiers' loss. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com) — Attleboro’s Nate Tellier struck out nine and allowed just two hits in the Bombardiers’ loss. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)

BRAINTREE, Mass. – Heading into the D1 South Semifinal, the Attleboro Blue Bombardiers knew that would have to play nearly flawless if they wanted to upset top-seeded Silver Lake and Gatorade Player of the Year, pitching Anthony Videtto.

Unfortunately, Attleboro had things go wrong at inopportune times and the Bombardiers suffered a 3-0 loss to Videtto and the Lakers in the D1 South Semifinal.

Silver Lake scored single runs in the first, third and fifth innings while Attleboro was unable to get a base runner past second base.

“We couldn’t generate a couple hits in a row and then we had some base running mistakes that we don’t normally make and couple errors,” Attleboro head coach Matt Bosh said. “You can’t do that against that against good teams. Unfortunately, the three kids that scored for them, all got on by walks. So with the errors, the base running mistakes, against a good team like that, that’s going to burn you.”

Nate Tellier was strong on the mound in a six-inning complete game effort, tossing a two-hitter with nine strikeouts. But Silver Lake was patient, drawing six walks – three of which led to runs.

Attleboro’s Tyler Stowe roped a one-out single in the top of the first inning but Videtto came back, getting a strike out looking and Lakers’ catcher Greg Wozniak fired to second for the double play.

A lead off walk from Will Gallagher to open the bottom of the first quickly turned into a scoring opportunity for Silver Lake when he stole second. Dan Collins ripped an 0-2 pitch into right field, bringing Gallagher in for a 1-0 lead.

The Bombardiers were unable to capitalize on a lead off walk in the top of the second, grounding in a 5-4-3 double play. And then Videtto worked around a two-out single in the third.

Videtto drew a lead off walk in the bottom of the third and quickly got into scoring position by stealing second. The senior then took off for third and the throw from home skipped into third. Videtto sprinted in for the Lakers’ second run as the throw from left sailed high.

Attleboro had a base runner in every single inning, including Will Carter reaching second on a one out error in the fourth. But Videtto locked in with a strikeout and a routine grounder to short to get out of the inning. Stowe collected his second hit of the game to lead off the sixth but a line out to center turned into a double play with the throw to first for the out.

Silver Lake added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Back to back walks to Gallagher and Videtto preceded an infield hit from Collins to load the bases with no outs. After Tellier induced a pop up in foul play to first, Lakers head coach Kenny Tocci elected for a squeeze play. Jack Ruprecht placed a perfectly hit bunt for a ground out RBI, right between Tellier and third baseman Robbie Araujo, allowing Gallagher to scamper in.

“I don’t know if he felt 100%,” Bosh said of Tellier. Tellier had pitched back to back extra inning games, the most recent a week ago. Videtto had yet to pitch in the postseason. “He didn’t have his normal velocity and control. I think he was really trying to get a lot of turn in his body to make up for the velocity. He changed his mechanics a little but that kid battles. He wasn’t 100% but he went out and threw a two-hitter against the top seed, so hats off, hats off to all the kids.”

“You’ve gotta get the runs when you can, [Tellier’s] an excellent pitcher,” Tocci said. “We knew that coming in. He had something like 65 strikeouts in 35 innings [in the regular season]. We knew we would have to do some unconventional things to get runs across, we stole third when he wasn’t looking and the squeeze. You have to push runners across when you can.”

Tellier struck out the side in the bottom of the sixth, all looking, and gave the Bombardiers the momentum heading into the top of the seventh, and they nearly capitalized.

Araujo’s grounder got through at second base for a one out hit. Pinch hitter Nolan Kane took four straight balls to put two on and bring the tying run to the plate. Videtto got a strikeout for the second out, bringing Attleboro second baseman Cam Hochwarter to the plate. Hochwarter connected on a 1-2 pitch, launching the hardest hit ball of the day to left center field but Silver Lake’s Aidan O’Neil made the running catch just mere feet from the fence for the final out.

“We battled all year,” beamed Bosh. “We were 7-9 and we finished off 13-10, so there’s absolutely nothing to hang your head about.”

Attleboro finishes the season 13-10 overall, winning seven of their last nine games.

Ryan Lanigan can be contacted at RyanLanigan@hockomocksports.com and followed on Twitter at @R_Lanigan.

05/25/2016

Wednesday’s Schedule & Scoreboard – 05/25/16

Today’s games are listed below.

Baseball
Attleboro, 6 vs. Bishop Feehan, 5 – Final (8 inn.) – Attleboro rallied from a five run deficit, scoring four runs in the fifth inning and tying the game with a run in the sixth inning. Tyler Stowe brought in the game-winning run, his third RBI of the day, drawing a walk in the bottom of the eighth with the bases loaded. Will Carter, Brent Cook, John Burns and Cam Hochwarter each had two hits apiece for Big Blue. James Weir came on in relief for Attleboro, tossing 3.1 scoreless innings without giving up a hit.

North Attleboro, 4 @ Foxboro, 0 – Final – Click here for a recap of the game.

King Philip, 4 @ North Quincy, 1 – Final

Mansfield, 6 @ Bridgewater-Raynham, 4 – Final – The Hornets concluded the season by winning their fourth game in the last five, upsetting a tournament bound Trojans squad. Sophomore Tyler Dalton earned the win in six innings of work, striking out one. Jack Neureuter came on to get the save, pitching the seventh inning. Zach Peterson with 2-4 with a pair of RBI singles, Jake Tryder was 2-4 with an RBI single, Colin Gibbons had a pair of hits and an RBI and Max Boen went 1-3 with a squeeze bunt RBI.

Taunton, 10 @ New Bedford, 2 – Final – Sophomore Jacob Crawford broke open a scoreless game with a two-out, two-run double in the top of the fourth. Crawford, along with Kevin Griffin, Luke Figueira, Christian Simoes and Joe Manchester each had two hits. Max Bowden pitched four shutout innings for the Tigers, scattering three hits while striking out three.

Softball
Attleboro @ Bishop Feehan, 3:30

Stoughton @ King Philip, 3:30

Taunton, 3 vs. Dighton-Rehoboth, 2 – Final – Taunton experienced a taste of the tournament with a close win over a talented Dighton-Rehoboth team. Aimee Kistner knocked in Jaime Brown in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Tigers the walk off win. Brown’s lead off walk preceded a single from Jordan Wade. Kistner singled up the middle to bring Brown home for the winning run. Wade went 2-3, scoring the Tigers’ first two runs while Meghan Navarro was 2-3, recording Taunton’s first two RBI. Kya Enos went 2-3 while Brown reached base three times via a walk. Kistner earned her 14th win of the of the season, tossing a complete game, scattering five hits and striking out five.

Boys Lacrosse
Attleboro, 4 @ Canton, 14 – Final – Canton freshman Mike Shaw paced the Bulldogs’ offense with four goals and two assists for a team-best six points. Senior Nick Gustafson netted his first career goal while CJ Martin, a converted midfielder, made two saves in the cage in the fourth quarter.

Foxboro, 4 @ King Philip, 3 – Final – Foxboro did all of its scoring in the first half, building a 4-0 lead just before the midway point of the second quarter and held off King Philip the rest of the way. Anthony Truini set of both of KP’s goals in the second quarter while Sam Agricola had a goal and an assist and Harry Fallon found the back of the net twice. Conor Khung had a strong game defensively, Steven Eaton recorded seven ground balls and Paul Macrina made 12 saves in net for KP.

Franklin, 7 vs. Dover-Sherborn, 8 – Final

Oliver Ames, 2 @ Mansfield, 15 – Final

Taunton, 4 @ Bristol Plymouth, 8 – Final – Andrew Wellington netted a hat trick for Taunton while Tommy Joyce scored once. Kyle Hebert added a pair of assists for the Tigers.

Girls Lacrosse
Canton, 15 @ Attleboro, 9 – Final – Mary Nee and Mary Kent scored scored four goals apiece, leading the Bulldogs to a win. With the victory, Canton punched their ticket to the postseason.

King Philip, 13 @ Foxboro, 15 – Final – Click here for a recap of the game.

Milford, 3 @ Franklin, 21 – Final – Sophomore Kate Morse found the back of the cage twice and had four draw controls for the Panthers. Abby Egan added two goals and two assists and Shannon D’Arcangelo registered a hat trick in the win.

Mansfield, 18 @ Oliver Ames, 10 – Final

Sharon, 7 @ North Attleboro, 17 – Final – Erin Holley totaled nine points and Hannah Caster recorded five assists for North Attleboro. Brooke Ebert recorded 15 saves in the cage for the Rocketeers.

Taunton, 12 @ Bristol Plymouth, 2 – Final – Taunton finished its inaugural season with a win on the road at BP. Abbey Kingman and Annie Tate each scored a hat trick to pace Taunton’s offense while Layne Kingman scored once and had four assists. Tatum Speicher, Lindsay Sneyd, Bre Conlon, Hannah Moniz and Alexis Bissonnette each found the back of the net once.

Boys Tennis
Canton, 5 @ Quincy, 0 – Final

North Attleboro, 5 @ Foxboro, 0 – Final – The Rocketeers won three matches comfortably but needed three sets to win the final two matches. Mitchell Dyer won 6-2, 6-3 at first singles and Barsomo Nuay won 6-0, 6-1 at third singles. The team of Jake Fontes and Daniel Zhang won 7-6, 6-2 at second singles. Zack Pfeffer won 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (12-10) at second singles and the team of Jeff Yao and Nick Lockavitch won 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 1-0 (10-5) at first doubles for North Attleboro.

King Philip, 5 @ Walpole, 0 – Final

Mansfield vs. Hingham, 4:00

Milford, 1 @ Hopedale, 4 – Final

Oliver Ames, 2 @ Brockton, 3 – Final

Sharon, 4 vs. Bishop Feehan, 1 – Final – The Eagles won at second and third singles and swept doubles play to get their 18th win of the season. Sophomore Fred Bondar won 6-2, 6-2 at second singles and Han Cui won 6-0, 6-1 at third singles. The team of Adam Dobbin and Alex Romantz won 6-1, 6-1 at first doubles and Tilak Mehta and Danujan Thirumavalavan won 6-3, 6-2 at second doubles.

Taunton, 5 @ New Bedford, 0 – Final – Taunton finished their season with a sweep on the road against the Whalers. Brett Beaulieu won 6-2 6-0 at first singles, Charlie Fiske won 6-1 6-3 at second singles and Mike Briggs won 6-1 6-1 at third singles. Tom Morrissey and Connor Briggs won 6-0, 6-0 at first doubles and Kyle Medas and Zack Taylor won 6-0, 6-2 at second doubles.

Girls Tennis
Canton, 5 vs. Milton, 0 – Final

Foxboro, 3 @ North Attleboro, 2 – Final

King Philip vs. Walpole, 3:45

Milford, 1 vs. Hopedale, 4 – Final

Oliver Ames, 4 vs. Brockton, 1 – Final – The Tigers got wins at second and third singles and swept doubles for the win. Jackie Sulkala won 6-1, 6-3 at second singles and Sarah Leger won 6-1, 6-1 at third singles. Lark Warner and Valeria Tueme won 6-2, 6-4 at first doubles and Claudia Ferrara and Rachel Stryke won 6-0, 6-0 at second doubles for OA.

Taunton, 5 @ New Bedford, 0 – Final

05/24/2016

Attleboro Beats North Thanks to Tellier No Hitter

Attleboro baseball — Attleboro senior Nate Tellier tossed an eight-inning no hitter against North Attleboro, striking out 16 hitters in the process. (Josh Perry/HockomockSports.com)

NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. – Going into its final three games of the season, Attleboro needed two wins to clinch a spot in the state tournament. On Monday night, under the lights at Community Field, the Bombardiers threw their ace, senior Nate Tellier, against North Attleboro in the annual Blue and Red Cup game.

Attleboro needed a solid start from its top pitcher. Tellier went way beyond solid; he gave the Bombardiers historic.

The UMass Dartmouth-commit tossed a no hitter against the Rocketeers, striking out 16 over eight innings, including a stretch beginning in the second inning in which he fanned 11 of 12 batters that he faced. With a dominating fastball and a curve that he could throw for strikes, Tellier limited North to four base runners: lead-off walks in the first and second, a fielder’s choice in the first, and an error on a bunt in the sixth.

North Attleboro coach Paul Tobin summed it up succinctly, “That’s the best pitching performance I’ve seen in seven years of coaching in the Hockomock League…Tellier was untouchable.”

Tellier’s effort was matched almost pitch by pitch by North starter Andy Katch, who threw seven shutout innings of his own before allowing an eighth inning rally that would produce the winning runs for the Bombardiers, as Attleboro claimed the cup with a 2-0 extra innings victory.

“It was a shame someone had to lose that game,” said Attleboro coach Matt Bosh, praising Katch for the way he kept the Bombardiers off-balance. “It was just a great pitcher’s duel.”

North had its best chance in the bottom of the sixth. Tobin called for a bunt from nine-hitter Zach Rofno and he placed it down the third base line. If Tellier’s throw had been on line it would have been an out, so it went down as an error on the pitcher.

Rofno stole second and moved to third with two outs on a grounder, but he was stranded when Tellier got Zach DeMattio to bounce back to the mound.

Tobin said, “If we could have gotten that one hit I felt really good that he was going to shut them out in the seventh. We just couldn’t get that two-out hit, which has been a pattern for us.”

Will Carter lined a two-out double to left center, bouncing it into the stands that line the warning track, but Katch got Robbie Araujo to ground out to end the inning. In the bottom half, Tellier made quick work of the Rocketeers with two strikeouts and a grounder to first.

The game was scoreless into the eighth, but finally Attleboro got something going. Pinch hitter Nolan Kane worked a lead-off walk and after Katch struck out Brent Cook, No. 9 hitter Cam Hochwarter smashed a ground-rule double to left to put two in scoring position.

Bosh joked, “[Cam’s] been using a 33-inch bat for two years. Yesterday at practice, out of nowhere, he used a 32 and he’s hitting lasers…and I was like why didn’t you think of that sooner?”

Jon Dunn followed with a clutch single to left that scored both runners. An error and hit by Tellier would load the bases but John O’Donnell came in to relieve Katch and got a line drive and a fly ball to center that Kyle McCarthy made an excellent play on despite barely being able to see it in the limited Community Field lighting.

Tellier did not need any more than two runs. He got a comebacker for the first out and then, facing a pair of pinch hitters, he overwhelmed the final two batters with his fastball that during the game the North coaches labeled the fastest they have seen this year.

“To me he’s the best player in the league all-around,” said Bosh about Tellier. “He’s had his fastball working all year; he had his deuce working and he kept his pitch count down…He was just lights out tonight. He was awesome.”

In his last outing he threw 136 pitches and Tellier admitted that his arm was still sore from that last start. He took some Advil on Monday morning and that seemed to help a little. Then he went and threw the best game of his career.

“It helped that I was getting ahead of batters and not getting deep into counts,” said Tellier. “That really drove my pitch count down.”

When asked if there was any consideration of him being done after the seventh, Tellier insisted, “No question, I was going. There was no way I was not finishing this game.”

In the midst of the pitcher’s duel and the drama of the scoreless game, many people were unaware that Tellier was working on a no hitter as the final inning began (this reporter included). In fact it was not until he was about to take the mound for the eighth inning that Tellier even became aware of what he was working on.

“I was just focused on getting outs up until the eighth inning and then when it came around I was like wait,” he said with smile, still soaked from the water his teammates dumped on him in the postgame celebration.

Tobin was proud of the way his team competed on Monday with nothing more to play for than the trophy and a chance to beat its rival. He praised Katch for giving his all and felt bad that the senior could not have been rewarded for his great start.

“I thought Andy Katch pitched a tremendous game,” he said. “Seven shutout innings, what more can you ask of a kid? Any other game and that’s a win and it’s heartbreaking for Andy to not get the win with that kind of effort.”

Attleboro rode a historic start to a win on Monday and will go into its final two games needing one more win to clinch a postseason berth.

Bosh said, “These are games all year that we’ve lost where it’s close late and there’s a bad break or an error or a base hit…That’s the kind of win we haven’t gotten all year.

“Things seem to be coming together and hopefully we can get tomorrow out of the way, so we don’t have all that pressure for Wednesday.”

Attleboro (9-9, 8-7) will travel to Frothingham Park on Tuesday to face Oliver Ames. North Attleboro (6-12, 5-10) will face Foxboro.

Josh Perry can be contacted at JoshPerry@hockomocksports.com and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.

04/15/2016

Taunton Prevails In Extras After Great Pitcher’s Duel

Taunton baseball — Taunton’s Max Bowden (9) celebrates with Brendon Mazerolle after walking off with the win in the eighth inning. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)

TAUNTON, Mass. – The pitcher’s duel between Attleboro’s Nate Tellier and Taunton’s Luke Figueira certainly lived up the hype.

Two of the top pitchers in the Hockomock League went back in forth, Figueira landing a punch the top half only for Tellier to answer with a counter punch on the mound in the bottom half.

While both pitchers were engaged in a heavyweight battle, both offenses struggled to get just about anything going, combing for three hits total.

In the end, it was a walk, Taunton’s lone hit and an error in the bottom of the 8th inning that allowed the Tigers to walk off with a 1-0 over the Bombardiers.

“It’s a win and it’s a league win against an outstanding opponent and a well coached team so we’ll take it,” Taunton head coach Jeff Sylvia said. “And it was against one of the better pitchers in the league. So after the first week we have two wins and just one loss so that’s a good week. Now going forward we have two big games coming up after the City Championship [against Coyle].”

Taunton went seven innings without a hit but finally got one in the bottom of the eighth inning. Junior William Emerson battled to draw a lead off walk and advanced to second on Matt Machado’s sacrifice bunt back to pitcher Matt Callahan. Senior Brendon Mazerolle reached on a hard hit infield single to put runners on first and second. Callahan responded with a strikeout for the second out.

Senior Max Bowden then hit a hard hit grounder up the left field line was squirted through at third base and rolled slowly into left field. With two outs, Emerson was running on contact and came around to score the winning run.

“Whoever is going to play better defense is going to win [these types of games],” Attleboro head coach Matt Bosh admitted. “We made some mistakes, a couple popups, we booted a couple of ground balls. Eventually those will hurt you and they did.”

Attleboro had one of its best chances in the opening inning when a one out walk preceded a single and a fielder’s choice to load the bases. Figueira was able to get his third strikeout of the first inning to escape the jam though.

Taunton’s lead off batter reached in both the first inning (Machado via a walk) and sophomore Joe Manchester (via an error) but both times, Tellier came up with a pair of strike outs to walk away unscathed both times.

Figueria (four pitches) and Tellier (13 pitches) each breezed through the third inning. Bowden reached on an error to lead off the fourth and moved to second on a sac bunt from Manchester and to third on a wild pitch. But Tellier once again closed the inning with a strike out to escape.

Attleboro’s Tyler Stowe reached on a one out error in the fifth and moved to third after a stolen base and a ground out to short. Figueira closed the curtain on his performance by inducing another 6-3 groundout.

Tellier got into a little trouble in the bottom of the sixth after a hit batter and an error put runners on second and third with two outs but the senior got Manchester looking with his 98th and final pitch to get out of the jam.

In relief, both Taunton’s Bowden and Attleboro’s Callahan was very strong. Bowden had 1-2-3 innings in both the 6th and 7th but ran into a little trouble in the 8th inning. After getting a strikeout to start the top half, an infield error allowed Cam Hochwarter to reach. Nate Tellier then reached on another infield error to put runners on first and second.

Patrick Collins’ blooped Attleboro’s second hit of the game (and first since the first inning) into right centerfield. After a bobble from Machado, Figueira – who shifted to right field after coming off the mound – rocketed a throw to home to gun out Hochwarter at the plate. Bowden then induced a grounder to Mazerole at short get out of the inning.

“If the have runners in scoring position and we have either of those two guys pitching, I want the ball hit to [Mazerolle],” Sylvia said. “He’s as solid as you get. In the 12 years that I’ve been here, he’s one of the premier defensive players that we’ve had come through the program. It was nice to have a lot of 6-3s today. Luke, he’s another guy. With the game on the line, he was in the right place at the right time and he made a perfect throw.”

Tellier pitched six innings of no hit baseball, struck out 10 with just one walk issued. Figueira tossed five scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and struck out six. Neither pitcher was involved in the decision.

“Can’t ask for anything more pitching wise,” Bosh said. “We could battle more than we did at the plate. I don’t know how many called third strikes we had today but we need to battle better than we did today against good pitching. Everyone has a good pitcher so we need to learn to battle better against a good pitcher.”

“We had two really good pitching performances,” Sylvia said. :Fortunately we had our two veterans, our two top notch pitchers going today so that was beneficial. After a shaky first inning I thought Luke did a great job settling in, being very efficient and started to get ahead of hitters which is key for him. Sometimes he tries to be too perfect and too fine with his pitches but after the first inning he just attacked the strike zone and let the defense handle it. It all came down to pitching and we made the plays when we needed to so that’s the key.”

Taunton baseball improves to 2-1 overall and in league play. The Tigers will be back in action when they travel to Coyle & Cassidy on Monday in the all important City Championship. Attleboro (1-3) will look to bounce back when they travel to Sharon on Tuesday at 11:00AM.

Ryan Lanigan can be contacted at RyanLanigan@hockomocksports.com and followed on Twitter at @R_Lanigan.

04/09/2016

Attleboro Bats Off to Cold Start at Feehan

ATTLEBORO, Mass. – The Attleboro baseball team traveled a couple of minutes across town to Beach Field to face rival Bishop Feehan on Saturday afternoon. Weather had forced a delay to the start of the season for the Bombardiers and had severely limited their ability to get outside and practice.

On Saturday, Attleboro looked like a team that was seeing its first action of the spring, especially at the plate where the Bombardiers were limited to only four hits by a pair of Shamrocks pitchers, and fell 5-1.

Junior Matt Callahan made the first start of his varsity career, giving up three runs on five hits over four innings of work. Although Callahan took the loss, Attleboro coach Matt Bosh pointed to the lack of offensive punch as the main reason for falling to 0-1 on the season.

“He did alright,” said Bosh of Callahan. “We just didn’t hit the ball…and we threw the ball around a little bit, more than we should have.”

He added, “Give them credit. Their pitchers pitched well, hit spots and we just didn’t put the ball in play enough.”

Attleboro had a chance in its opening at bat to get on the board. Cam Hochwarter led off with a single to left but with one out was forced out on a grounder by Nate Tellier, who took second on a balk. Patrick Collins followed with a walk but Nolan Kane grounded out to short to end the threat.

Jon Dunn reached on an error in the top of the second but was caught stealing third on a missed bunt attempt and would be the last baserunner for the Bombardiers until the fifth inning. Feehan starter Zack Newman settled down and struck out four over 4-1/3 innings.

“We just didn’t put the ball in play enough,” said Bosh. “We didn’t force mistakes by them, not enough contact.”

Meanwhile, Callahan got off to a great start. He needed only 11 pitches to get through a perfect first and 11 more in the second in which he allowed just a two out single.

In the third, Feehan took the lead. After Callahan got the first two hitters to ground out, he hit lead-off batter Matt Everton in the foot. Jake Bamford followed with a single to right moving Everton over to third and then Jason Medeiros drilled a pitch into the gap in left center plating both runners.

The Shamrocks added another run in the fourth when Reid Spears, who had singled with one out, raced home from third on a wild pitch.

Attleboro finally got something going in the top of the fifth. Dunn singled to center, his second time reaching base in as many plate appearances. John Burns followed with a single and Dunn took third. Brandon Galvao would plate the Bombardiers lone run with a fielder’s choice to short and advanced to second when the ball was thrown away.

Newman walked pinch hitter Dylan Maskell to put two on with one out. Pat Cashin came in from shortstop to take over on the mound and he promptly induced an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play from Hochwarter to get out of the jam.

Feehan plated another run off of Maskell in the bottom of the inning, but Attleboro came right back and had the first two on to start the sixth on a double by Will Carter and a walk to Nate Tellier. Again, Cashin made his pitches and Nolan Kane bounced into a double play to end the inning.

The Shamrocks wrapped up the scoring in the bottom half. Bamford drove in Jake Bernhardt with a single off Dylan Prout. The ball died in the lengthy grass, allowing Bernhardt to score from second without a throw.

“I’m sure they didn’t have a chance to cut all week because of the snow and the rain,” said Bosh about the grass at Beach Field. “Usually, it’s sort of a fast track but today everybody was coming in full sprint on ground balls.”

Burns got his second hit of the game with one out in the seventh, but Cashin got a grounder and then caught Prout looking on a breaking ball to end the game.

“We had three scrimmages last week but we haven’t seen live pitching since Thursday of last week, so we’re going on 10 days,” Bosh explained. “Hopefully that’s going to come. We’ve got three games next week…we’ll be alright. I’m not worried.”

Attleboro will not have much time to dwell on it, as the Bombardier will be back on the diamond on Monday against Milford. Bosh is confident that his team will get the bats going.

“The Hock is loaded this year…every game is going to be a battle,” he said. “We’ve got Milford on Monday and they’re going to be good, so we’ll be right back at it.”

Josh Perry can be contacted at JoshPerry@hockomocksports.com and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.

04/06/2016

Baseball: Kelley-Rex Division Preview 2016

By HockomockSports.com Staff

ATTLEBORO

2015 Record: 8-12
2015 Finish: Missed playoffs
Coach: Matt Bosh

A rough end to the 2015 campaign kept the Bombardiers out of the postseason last year but with 11 seniors and a good amount returning experienced players, Attleboro is looking to get back to the playoffs this year.

“We have a lot of returning varsity players from last year, and we have three two-year captains, four [captains] overall,” head coach Matt Bosh said. “The positive thing is that even though we have a lot from last year’s team back, there is still a lot of competition for playing time, which will hopefully bring out the best in all of our kids.”

Both Nate Tellier and Tyler Stowe are returning three year starters and captains this season, alongside seniors Will Carter and Jon Dunn. Tellier is one of the best shortstops in the league and led the Bombardiers in hitting last season with a .357 average and 14 runs scored. Tellier will also be a force on the mound after recording a 1.44 ERA in 34 innings last season. Stowe will man first base when he isn’t pitching.

Matt Callahan, Cam Hochwarter, Brandon Galvao and Robbie Araujo will all see time in the infield along with Tellier and Stowe and juniors Dylan Maskell and Dylan Prout should also fit in the infield. Will Carter returns behind the plate while Dunn patrols centerfield. Pat Collins, Brent Cook and John Burns are all likely candidates to see time in left and right.

Along with Tellier and Stowe on the mound, Dunn, Galvao, Callahan, Prout, Maskell, Nolan Kane, Tyler McGovern and James Weir should see time.

FRANKLIN

2015 Record: 16-8
2015 Finish: Reached D1 South Semifinals
Coach: Zach Brown

The Panthers reached the D1 South Semifinals last year but there will be some voids left from graduation that Franklin needs to fill in order to get back there.

“We have a lot of positions up for grabs,” head coach Zach Brown said. “But I’m really excited about the opportunity we have this season. We have a lot of new talented players that are competing hard for playing time and open positions and roles. We will be relying on some younger guys, sophomores and juniors, to help fill some critical positions. Competition during practice and scrimmages has been intense. I think we have a unique blend of veterans and a new influx of talent. I’m very optimistic about what this team can become by the end of the season.”

The talent that Franklin does have back is a good group with Alex Bissanti returning at second base, Mike Skaza back to pitch and patrol the outfield, Nick Santucci at shortstop, Tyler Gomes will move to catcher full time and Jake Lyons will handle centerfield duties. Joe Corsi will handle a variety of roles and Josh Macchi will take over first base.

Franklin graduated 10 seniors from last year’s squad that included the entire pitching rotation and closer. Brown noted sophomores Jake Noviello and Matt Foley will see time on the mound this season.

KING PHILIP

2015 Record: 5-15
2015 Finish: Missed playoffs
Coach: Pat Weir

King Philip has seven seniors and seven juniors on its roster this year and a good chunk of that experience comes on the mound.

“I can say in my short three years at KP this current group is the most cohesive group I’ve been around,” head coach Pat Weir said. “Solid senior leadership, solid team chemistry and competition is very healthy.”

Jake Lannigan, Jake Cavanagh, Jon Rolfe and Jack DiCenso are all seniors that have experience on the mound. Rolfe notched a 1.80 ERA in 35 innings last year while striking out 26 while Cavanaugh tossed over 41 innings, striking out 35 with a 2.88 ERA. Rolfe is also the top returning hitter after hitting .302 last year.

Leo Munafo returns as the starting catcher and Will Weir is back at shortstop for another year. Stephan MacMeans had a strong year in the outfield last season and will patrol centerfield again this season. All four senior pitchers previously mentioned will all see time in the field as well.

MANSFIELD

2016 Record: 17-6
2016 Finish: Reached D1 South Final
Coach: Joe Breen

Last season was a banner year for first year head coach Joe Breen and the Hornets as Mansfield won its first league title since 2007 and reached the D1 South Finals. But last year is already in the rearview mirror for the 2016 Hornets.

“After a great season last year, we are a whole new team,” head coach Joe Breen said. “We have a talented group of multi-sport athletes that look to transition from the JV ranks to the varsity ranks this spring. We have some great senior leaders at the top and quite a bit of young talent to fill in the holes left by last year’s large graduating class. I’m excited to see what players breakthrough in our pre-season practices and scrimmages.”

Key returnees include senior catcher Mike Arnold, senior first baseman Tyrone Pascual and senior center fielder Charlie DeMassi. Expect each of them to be in the top of the order. DeMassi showed off his defensive prowess in the center last season and will be a key piece this year.

The biggest question mark for the defender Kelley-Rex champions will be pitching. Breen said he will be looking for seniors Jared Menzer, Jack Neureter and Michael Kirejczyk to step up alongside sophomore Tyler Dalton.

North Attleboro

2015 Record: 8-12
2015 Finish: Missed playoffs
Coach: Paul Tobin

Last season ended far from how Big Red had planned when they dropped nine of their last 10 games to miss out on the playoffs. But head coach Paul Tobin brings back his two top pitchers and a solid group of experienced seniors.

“This is a smart, good-character group who are fun to coach,” Tobin said. “The middle of the lineup should hit. If we get production from some of our new players and the expected contributions from our returning veterans we should be in the thick of the race.”

Seniors John O’Donnell and Andy Katch are back on the mound for the Rocketeers. O’Donnell logged over 36 innings on the mound last year with a 2.89 ERA and 23 strikeouts. Ridge Olsen is back and will patrol left field after batting a team-high .433 last year with 13 RBI and Brian Kleczkowski returns to first base after hitting .321 last year with 16 RBI.

Junior catcher Tyler LaFreniere is also back along with second baseman Brian Poillucci and centerfielder Bryan Harris. Tobin noted junior Brett Cloutier, junior John Brennan and sophomore Zach DeMattio will factor in this season.

TAUNTON

2015 Record: 14-8
2015 Finish: Reached D1 South Quarterfinals
Coach: Jeff Sylvia

Taunton has had a lot of success since joining the Hockomock League and head coach Jeff Sylvia is hopeful that will continue this year. With a handful of very good players back, it’s likely that will continue.

“Our goal is to be better on April 30th than March 30th,” Sylvia said. “And then even better on May 30th.”

Taunton brings back Luke Figueira, who was the 2014 HockomockSports.com Underclassman of the Year as a sophomore and then was one of the league’s best all around players last year as a junior. Figueira batted a team-high .500 with 15 RBI and pitched over 35 innings with 51 strikeouts, posting a 1.78 ERA. Jose Mercado will see an expanded role on the mound after striking out 25 in 18 innings last year.

Max Bowden returns behind the plate and will also be back as the closer after four saves and a 1.62 ERA last year. Sylvia also has Brendon Mazzerole back, who was selected to the HockomockSports.com First Team as a third maseman last year. Mazzerole will shift to short this year and will look to build upon his .429 average from last year.

Senior Kevin Griffin also brings back some experience while seniors Charles Hearrold III and Dan Noonan and junior Danny Keogh will try to make an impact this season. Sylvia is also looking for sophomores Joe Manchester and Jacob Crawford to slide into roles early on.