The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Healthy Thivierge enjoys breakout season
Pitcher from Portland compiled 8-1 record for Mitchell
Some last-minute spring season cleaning around the local sports scene, where the kids keep putting their phones aside long enough to play daily pick-up basketball at the Pat Kidney courts (good for you, kids):
Finally healthy, Portland’s Roland Thivierge established himself as the No. 2 starter in NCAA Division III powerhouse Mitchell College’s rotation.
“The big thing coming in to this year was, can I stay healthy for a full season and can I make sure that my arm stays good,” he said.
His right arm held up well for his sophomore season. Thivierge went 8-1 in 11 appearances with four complete games for the Mariners. He had a staff-best ERA of 2.24, a 7.97 strikeouts-per-nine rate, and opponents hit .242 against him.
Thivierge’s only loss came at the worst possible time — in the New England Collegiate Conference tournament final. In a 2-1 defeat against New England College, which denied Mitchell an automatic berth in the Division III tournament, Thivierge allowed both runs on seven hits in eight innings. He did get rewarded with selection to the NECC All Tournament team.
Thivierge pitched effectively out of Mitchell’s bullpen as a freshman, but he was limited by a back injury. The spring before, as a senior at Portland High, he had a biceps strain that put him on the bench for four weeks and prevented him from pitching, period.
“The big thing coming in to this year was, can I stay healthy for a full season? And can I make sure that my arm stays good?” he said. “What I learned about myself is that I can push my limits, go farther than I thought I could, and still manage to get the job done in pressure situations.”
Mitchell coach Travis Beausoleil said he was hesitant to extend Thivierge in games last season, but in a NCAA New England Regional game against Suffolk, he
called on him out of the bullpen. Thivierge wound up pitching 71⁄3 shutout innings and getting the win, the Mariners’ last of the season. They were eliminated the following day.
“That was a big win,” Beausoleil said. “Losing our No. 1 and No. 3 pitchers last year (after the 2017 season), we needed him to step up as a starter this year. Outside the numbers, he really gave us a catalyst, him and (freshman ace Ryan) Solimine. They were true No. 1 pitchers for us.”
Mitchell went 34-8 this season.
“I thought this team did something special this year, really on the backs a few guys, and Solimine and Thivierge were really those two guys,”Beausoleil said. “We could have won a national championship if we got through the NECC tournament. We were one of the last teams that missed out on an at-large bid.”
Thivierge not only will enter his junior season knowing he is a trusted arm, he’ll have the added comfort of his brother being on the roster. Brett Thivierge, an infielder and pitcher, was one of several seniors who helped lead Portland to its first Shoreline Conference championship two weeks ago.
“I honestly didn’t know if I’d ever get to play with him again,” Roland said. “We played (with RCP Post 105) last year, and then he decided to come to Mitchell. It’s just been really awesome for him to be able to see what it’s like to be in a college program. And I kind of get to see him blossom the way I came out of my shell at Mitchell. I think it’s going to be really good for him.”
Beausoleil couldn’t say
enough about the baseball brothers and their parents, Bruce and Laureen.
“They’re such a great family. I joked with their parents, ‘you need to have a third so 18 years from now we can have another one in this program,” Beausoleil said. “Roland and Brett are good people, and on top of that they are good baseball players.”
75ERS BUSY THIS WEEK
Middletown Post 75’s 19U team swept a Sunday doubleheader from Ellington on Sunday, 10-4 and 2-0. Ellington is last year’s Zone 3 North champion.
The 75ers’ week includes two games at Palmer Field — Wednesday against Ellington (6 p.m.) and Saturday against East Hartford/ Manchester (noon). In between is a Thursday game against EHM at McKenna Field.
A check of the 75ers’ roster:
DJ Arnold, C/P/2B, Vinal Tech
Griffin Biro, P/2B, Coginchaug
Connor Cardi, 2B/P, Xavier graduate
Owen Clancy, OF/P/1B, Coginchaug
Jake Famiglietti, P, Xavier
Giancarlo Genovese, C/OF, Xavier
Spencer Higgs, OF/1B, Xavier
Ryan Hurlbert, P/1B/3B, Middletown
TJ Isleib, SS, Coginchaug AJ Kleczkowski, QB/P/ OF, Xavier graduate Nico Kulpik, SS, Xavier Tyler Lemay, 3B/P, Xavier
Cole Niedmann, OF/SS, Coginchaug
Cal Pitruzzello, OF, Coginchaug graduate
Zach Reimer, P, Middletown
Connor Rulnick, OF, Coginchaug
Joe Vogel, 1B
John Vumback, P/3B/SS, Maloney
MHS SPRING STUFF
Twelve noteworthy things from Middletown High’s spring sports awards presentation:
** In the softball team’s 8-5 loss to NFA in the Class LL tournament, senior Dominique Highsmith was issued an intentional walk. With the bases loaded. Memories of Barry Bonds. Highsmith was a fearsome hitter and very good shortstop for the Blue Dragons. She now takes her game to Central Connecticut State.
** Junior Logan Frame had a fantastic season that included All-State recognition. She finished fourth in the CCC championships in a field of 68 and tied for 19th among 105 starters in the State Open, shooting 88 at Tashua Knolls in Trumbull. Frame also participated in the individual Open tournament on Saturday. For the season, she had the seventh-best differential in the state. According to CIAC figures, 133 girls played golf this spring.
** Many MHS seniors will go on to participate in a sport in college, noted in this space throughout the year). Four more: Matt Lecky will be on the cross country and track and field teams at RPI, Ryan Hurlburt and Ryan Conklin will play baseball at Plymouth State, and Ariana Salafia will be on the crew team at Sacred Heart University.
** Conklin, Kobe Watanabe and Logan Wenzel were named to the All-CCC team. Watanabe, an outfielder, will play next year at Eastern Connecticut State. Wenzel will be a senior next season and MHS’ top returning pitcher.
** The boys track team won the CCC’s “froshmore” meet for ninth- and 10thgraders. When coach Jenn Price said she looked forward to the next two varsity seasons, you could hear the excitement in her voice. The varsity Blue Dragons again won the CCC Colonial Division title in 2019.
** 120 out of 199 MHS spring athletes received CCC All-Academic recognition.
** Nine of coach Kelvin Jones’ 10 players on the girls tennis team are expected to return in 2020.
** The boys lacrosse team loses just four seniors, meaning 19 of the 23 on the roster are expected to return. MHS’ first varsity season came with six wins, a 4-4 CCC record and a state tournament berth.
** More strength in lacrosse numbers: 19 girls are expected back, a promising sign for a program that also just completed its first season as a varsity sport.
** The state champion Ultimate team will lose 16 of 20 players to graduation, making 2020 The Ultimate Rebuilding Year. The kids are tight and work hard, though, so coach Trevor Charles’ program will sustain itself.
** Golfer Garrett Kronenberger had a hole-inone this spring, the first for a player coached by Matt Harris. Kronenberger was the team’s most improved player, as chosen by Harris.
** The school’s roster of spring coaches is incredibly diverse, just like the MHS student body itself.
COMMISH SALUTES JASKOT
Count Al Carbone, the commissioner of the Southern Connecticut Conference, among the many who have appreciated their working relationship with retired Xavier athletic director Tony Jaskot.
“One of the nicest persons I’ve ever met,” said Carbone, who has overseen the conference for 15 of its 25 years. “He has always
been willing to work with and help the league. I’m really going to miss him.”
Jaskot was Xavier’s AD since 1997. A 1969 graduate of the school, he worked there as either an educator, coach or AD for more than five decades.
A legacy like Jaskot’s is not something we see much of anymore in high school athletics — if at all, Carbone said.
“In today’s world there is a lot of movement. To see someone like Tony, who’s devoted his life to Xavier but also to the (larger) cause, it’s unique and admirable,” he said. “But that’s just the type of person he is — loyal. Service to others is just what he is about.”
Matt Martorelli, who comes over from West Hartford’s Northwest Catholic, was hired in February to succeed Jaskot this summer.
THIS AND THAT
** Coginchaug pole vaulter Hayden Rovelli finished fourth in the New England Championships in Saco, Maine, on Saturday. Rovelli was thet state’s top vaulter during the indoor season and will go on to compete at Southern Connecticut State, where he will major in film and communcations.
** Middletown’s Trevor Drescher will be in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the end of this week for the New Balance National Outdoor Meet. Drescher throws the javelin and qualified in the emerging elite division.
** RCP Post 105 opened its season Sunday and has four more games this week, three at Cromwell High: Monday (vs. Northeast), Tuesday and Saturday (both vs. Tri-County). The Saturday game begins at 11 a.m.
** Malloves Jewelers hosts Ulbrich Steel tonight
at 7 at Pat Kidney’s Buzzy Levin Field. The Jewelers had a 1-4 record heading into Sunday night’s home again against East Hartford. Their roster includes Middletown products Jared Pflaumer, Austin Rak, Tyler Garcia, Scott Marks, Anthony Franco, Nick Brenchak, Luigi Fazzino and Bubba LaChance.
** The media had a weird expectation that Clint Frazier should have talked about his comedy of errors in right field last week against the Red Sox. What is the point of this? Frazier cost the Yankees a chance to come back and beat Boston. Everyone saw it. Two days later, Frazier finally faced reporters and said, “The plays were what they were. I sucked.” Not exactly enlightening.
** Bryce Harper ($330 million) currently strikes out at a rate of once every 2.9 at-bats. Manny Machado ($300 million) is hitting .242 and slugging .403. Giancarlo Stanton (owed $285 million through 2028) has played in three games for the Yankees.
** On the responsibility of being a female athlete and a nod to equal pay in soccer, U.S. national team member Alex Morgan articulated it best. “We have to do more in general — we have to be the athlete, we have to be the role model, we have to lead the way for the next generation. Are male athletes doing that? Are they thinking about anyone other than themselves? I don’t know,” she told TIME. “We do have more than one job within this role, and are getting paid much less.”
** Five songs that should be on all summer playlists: Summer Breeze (Seals & Crofts); Baker Street (Gerry Rafferty); Magnet and Steel (Walter Egan); Do It Again (Steely Dan); You’re No Good (Linda Ronstadt).