The ingredients for Hampshire Regional’s baseball success simmered for the perfect amount of time. Behind three seniors and a strong junior class, the Raiders are off to their best start since 2015, when they began 6-0 and went all the way to the Western Massachusetts final.
Hampshire (4-1) has scored double-digit runs in three of its first five games, and the Raiders have thrown two shutouts. Four Raiders have at least four hits: Drew Thompson (eight), Jack Boyle (six), Justin Meunier and Zack Phakos (five each). Thompson (two homers) and Boyle have driven in eight runs each.
Hampshire had 15 extra base hits this season entering Wednesday’s game against Greenfield, its first defeat of 2023.
“I think we swing the bat pretty well,” Hampshire coach Mark Baldwin said. “We have some guys who are legit.”
Baldwin took over his alma mater this spring. Former coach Dan Korpita asked him to help out in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the season, then Baldwin coached the Raiders JV team over the past two years.
“All the foundation was done by him. He did a really good job getting these guys ready,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin begin his baseball coaching career at Hampshire in 1988 under Dave Grills. He spent time leading Hopkins Academy and two decades as Northampton’s head coach. Baldwin was inducted into the Massachusetts Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2019.
“I had teaching jobs elsewhere and I was happy enough where I was,” Baldwin said.
Now he and the Raiders have returned to each other at potentially the perfect time. Hampshire reached the Division 4 state tournament’s Round of 32 last season after falling in the preliminary round of the 2021 sectional tournament.
“Having our season come together finally after a couple of years on varsity, it’s exciting to see this team coming together like full potential,” Boyle said.
SANTIAGO MAKES GRANBY GO – Without the complement of home run hitters they’ve become accustomed to, the Rams will rely on small ball and hitting into the gaps. Leadoff hitter Jonathan Santiago will play a large part in that. He’s already scored a team-high four runs with six hits.
“If he can get on base 60 percent of the time, he runs really well, steals bases really well, we should be able to score three runs a game just by him getting on base,” Granby coach Jim Woods said.
The Rams reached the Division 5 Sweet 16 but graduated eight seniors. Many of them were pitchers, so while Granby’s three pitchers are seniors, they haven’t thrown many innings at the varsity level.
“This is their time to step up. They have so far,” Woods said.
A FULL HAND – Hopkins Academy has been able to throw an ace for the better part of the past decade, a lineage traced from Andrew Ciaglo (now playing Division 2 basketball) last season to Jack Feltovic (now at Wheaton) and Jon Morrison (pitched for Rhode Island).
Now rather than one go-to arm, the Golden Hawks will rely on a hand full of kings including lefty Cody West, pitcher/catcher Patrick Fitzgibbons, Alex West, Chace Earle and Liam Flynn.
“It’s weird not having that one guy you look to, and it’s a different mentality when Ciaglo took the mound or Feltovic took the mound it was like ‘screw everybody we’re gonna win today,’” Hopkins Academy coach Dan Vreeland said. “When you have a bunch of guys who are really good, it’s a little bit about finding yourself and believing in yourself, which I think we need to do a little bit more of.”
The Golden Hawks only graduated one senior (Ciaglo) from last season’s Division 5 Sweet 16 run. They have varsity experience despite their youth (two seniors) but occasionally still play like the sophomores (and younger) they still are.
“It’s an interesting mix of guys who are veterans and rookies at the same time, young and old at the same time,” Vreeland said. “I think it’s a little bit right now about just finding that voice within themselves of being confident in what they can do.”
REPEAT REDHAWKS? – Frontier lost two of its top hitters — Tyler Dubreuil and Kevin Baumann — from a team that made it to the Western Mass. Class C finals and took home the Suburban League West title.
Despite those losses, Redhawks coach Chris Williams said he likes the way his offense is coming together, hoping to once again end the season as league champs. Frontier is 4-1 through five games.
“Repeating as league champs is 100 percent the goal and expectation,” Williams said. “We have guys on the roster who have done it before, know what it takes and know how to win close ball games. That’ll be huge. We have some competition. There’s a lot of really solid teams in our league. It’s as up for grabs as ever. It’s a new year and we have to prove ourselves and play to the level I know we can play at.”
FANNING FALCONS – Smith Academy senior pitcher Griffin Smiarowski is approaching 200 career strikeouts and should hit the milestone this season.
Sports writer Tom Johnston contributed to this report.