Minutemen firing early
Healthy, hot to start
Lexington baseball coach Zack Friedman had one goal for his team this season: Get off to a faster start than the past two.
So far, so good.
The Minutemen came flying out of the gate, win- ning their first five games before losing to Arlington last Tuesday. Included in that early-season winning streak was a 4-2 victory over Belmont and its highly touted ace Nate Espelin.
“The last two years we started 1-4 and 3-3,” Friedman said. “For us to get where we want to be at the end of the year, it was important to start fast. One of the big reasons for the quick start is that we have a lot of seniors on the roster and the other thing is that we are healthy which we weren’t last year.”
While Espelin has rightfully garnered much of the preseason attention, Lexington isn’t exactly hurting on the mound. Jack Pawloski is a legitimate ace, and Madison Dina would probably be the top dog at most MIAA schools.
“I really think our 1-2 pitchers are as good a duo as any around,” Friedman said. “Madison won six games and saved two more last year. We also have a handful of guys behind them who are more than capable and we’ll need them as the season goes on.”
The bats have certainly been on fire. Lexington is averaging a shade under eight runs a game. Boston College-bound shortstop Sal Frelick, second baseman Jessie Snyder and outfielder Max Stevens are all batting better than .400.
The early-season confidence, according to Friedman, could very well be a trickle down from the successful football program. Five of the Minutemen — outfielders Jimmy Lane, Tony Bianchi and Stevens, along with Frelick and catcher Will Thomas — were all-Middlesex League selections in football.
Smooth sailing
Kelsea Cheney knows she was handed the key to a Cadillac. She’s managed to keep it running without a hiccup.
The firstyear coach has Abington at 5-0, including a 5-4 win over Norton, which ended the season for the Green Wave in the Div. 2 South final last season.
“That was a really important game for us,” Cheney said. “We had a chance to face one of the best pitchers in the state (Kelly Nelson) and the girls went up there and swung with confidence.”
Cheney took over a program that returned the bulk of its players from a 25-1 season. She credits them for helping the new coaching staff make a seamless transition.
“That’s been a nice surprise,” said Cheney, who starred at Abington from 2005-09. “The one thing that I noticed right away was how well everyone got along. They’re excited to be here every day and that’s nice to see.”
The offense has been as lethal as ever. Prior to the Norton win, the Green Wave had at least 10 runs in each of the victories.
What makes Abington so tough is every hitter in the lineup is capable of doing damage. In the Norton win, Jenna McDonough and Lily O’Neil combined to go 7-for-7.
“We really don’t have a weak spot in the lineup,” Cheney said. “We’ve been batting Lauren Nelligan ninth and Lauren Keleher in the leadoff spot because I like having them go backto-back.”
The pitching once again is shared by Tori Young and Jordyn Needle. Cheney is hoping to keep the innings down so they will be fresh for another deep tournament run, this time in Div. 3 South.
Wildcats show fight
If you’re looking for a surprise baseball team in the Bay State Conference so far, one worthy candidate is Weymouth. The Wildcats are off to a solid 6-3 start, including a win over a vastly improved Brockton nine.
“I thought we were going to be better than we’ve been,” said coach Joe Paolucci. “A lot of guys worked very hard last summer, playing a lot of AAU and summer-league baseball. You can see the buy-in is there, that’s been the big difference.”
Kevin McGrath has emerged as the ace of the pitching staff. He opened the season with six scoreless inning of relief against Dedham and hasn’t looked back, reaching 4-0 with a minuscule 0.27 ERA and a no-hitter against Sharon.
Matt O’Neill has been hampered by a lack of run support, losing to Walpole (2-1 loss) and Hingham (1-0) despite six solid innings in each contest. Cam Munchbach stepped with a solid shutout up effort against Norwell.
Sean Goudey and T.J. O’Keefe lead the offense. Goudey recently had three hits — including a gamewinning homer in the eighth — to defeat Needham, while O’Keefe has been a steady plate presence all season.
“It’s great to see everybody stepping up,” Paolucci said. “We’ve struggled a bit the last few years.”
‘For us to get where we want to be at the end of the year, it was important to start fast.’ — ZACK FRIEDMAN, Lexington coach