Champs hope to repeat
Legion baseball’s Upper Deck looks to defend title
LINCOLN – This season’s version of the Upper Deck American Legion Senior Division squad is eerily reminiscent of the 2016 team that finished as the Rhode Island and New England champions, then went on a fantastic run at the Legion World Series in Shelby, N.C.
Post 86/14 ended up finishing third in the nation, and made quite the name for itself.
“This team is a lot like that one in that it’s older team of veterans, for the most part, and one through nine (in the batting order), they give opponents fits,” stated coach Matt Allard. “That group could hit, we can hit. They had overall team speed, we have overall team speed. They could hit, so can we. They could play small ball, we can, too.
“They also would produce quality at-bats, and we’re very similar to that,” he added. “It’s just the way we approach at-bats when we step to the plate. They also had a top-notch pitching staff, and that’s another similarity.
“Of course, Chris Wright was the ace of that team, and he was just drafted by the Giants (Wright pitched for Bryant), so I’m not going to say another Chris; that would be crazy, but we have some kids who can be pretty darn good.”
Allard bases his comments not only on early practice sessions, but the fact UD opened the season with a doubleheader sweep of Gershkoff/Auburn Post 20 last week. It did so by scores of 6-1 and 10-2.
Those who make up his club this spring/summer reads like a Who’s Who of area baseball talent, as most of the returning players are playing college ball – or will be later this year.
They include Lasell University sophomore Drew Szafranski (center field/ leadoff batter); Rhode Island College sophomore Steve Andrews (first base/DH); recent Cumberland grad – and URI-bound – Addison Kopack (closer/1B/3B); Clipper junior Shane Calabro (SS/3B); Lincoln graduate Corey Mayer (RHP); Lincoln grad Tyler McNulty (CF/2B); La Salle seniors Kyle DeLuca (RHP/2B/3B/SS) and Ben Hale (RHP); CHS graduate Reuben Hancock (catcher); and classmate Joey Molis (3B/OF).
Allard indicated Hancock didn’t play high school ball this spring due to work obligations, but hasn’t appeared rusty so far. McNulty and Mayer will join Andrews at RIC next fall, while Molis is headed to play at Bridgewater State.
Most of those athletes will start, but the coach also has a host of stellar newcomers joining his outfit. Among them Wheaton College sophomore-to-be Dominic Cunha (RHP); La Salle grad Braedon Carney (catcher); Cumberland graduate Nick Croteau (2B/RHP); Clippers’ classmate C.J. Davock (OF); LHS graduate Aaron DeSousa (OF/1B); David Bordieri of Hendricken (SS/ DH); Mount St. Charles alum Josh Slaney (OF); and CHS junior-in-waiting Jackson Walsh (RHP/3B).
Cunha and Szafranski are the only two members of the team who helped UD win the New England title in Bristol, Conn. three summers ago.
Allard calls Slaney easily the fastest kid on his squad and will be his first choice for a pinch-runner, and that some of those kids will play in college as well. Bordieri is headed to Fairleigh Dickinson, DeSousa and Croteau to Wheaton and Davock to RIC.
He also stated he’s already got his starting rotation set. It will include the ace Cunha, then Mayer, Hale and DeLuca, while Walsh, Croteau, Calabro and McNulty should make up his middle relief staff. As for closer, Kopack owns that, and for good reason.
Still, Allard said that, if UD has a perceivable weakness at this point, it could be quality pitching depth.
“We can roll out eight guys capable of getting the job done, but realistically, in Legion ball, I’d like to have 10, but beggars can’t be choosers. We’ll go with the cards we’re dealt.
“Offensively, I think we’re going to be very good; like I said, one through nine, they can all hit,” he noted. “Opposing pitchers won’t be able to pitch around one kid to get to the next. Another strength, I think, is we could throw out two totally different lineups on consecutive days, and I’d be confident we’d be competitive on each.
“Going back to pitching, I believe our top-end guys are very good,” he continued. “Cunha had 13 strikeouts the other night in the first game against Gershkoff (the 6-1 victory). As for Mayer, he’ll probably start throwing for us in late June or early July, as he had an arm issue during his season with Lincoln.”
Another positive for UD: It is (again) the reigning state champion, as it defeated Gershkoff, 11-5, in the winner-take-all tilt at McCarthy Field last August.
“Our first goal is, obviously, just to get to the playoffs, then – if and when we get in – win the state title,” he said. “If we do that, it would be the fourth championship for us in the past five years, and that would be might special.”