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Rutland Herald Spring Sports Guide 2019
Baseball Preview continued from 11
include Austin Currier, Tyler Eugair
and Hunter Manfredi.
Division IV rival MSJ comes calling in
Proctor’s opener on April 8.
Poultney
If Dan Williams is cutting a cake in
May, Poultney will be having a successful
year. If he’s hoisting a trophy in June, it
will be even better.
He’s nine career wins short of 100
and Williams thinks he might have the
team to get there, and beyond. Twen-
ty-six players are out for the program
including a senior class contingent that
Williams thinks will bring leadership, the
return to baseball of shortstop/pitcher
Caden Capman and standbys like
fl eet center fi elder Spencer Gibbs and
power-hitting catcher Jacob DeBonis.
DeBonis and Ryan Alt, Williams’
grandson, each drove in upwards of
30 runs last year, and fi rst baseman
Cam Wescott brings more power to the
lineup.
Williams says Poultney lacked leader-
ship last season but “this year (junior)
Caden Capman is a guy to make a
difference. We’ve got seven upperclass-
men playing and we’re expecting good
things,” he said.
Capman slips into an experienced
pitching rotation with Alt, a sophomore
in his third year in the program, Gibbs,
Scencer and Lane, and DeBonis, the
staff’s only lefty.
”We’ve got the pitching,” Williams
said.
Three new seniors — Eli Rosario,
Mason Hutchins and Jacob Allen —
came out this year and Williams thinks
their success in recent basketball and/
or football will contribute to a winning
attitude.
Williams has enough players that “I’m
going to have to do some managing this
year,” he joked.
Poultney is scheduled to host its
season opener on April 10 against
Division III Green Mountain. Poultney
plays a D-III-type schedule during the
season but will compete in the D-IV
tournament.
Proctor
Joe Valerio’s rehabilitation after
surgery won’t be fi nished before May,
so the Phantoms will go without their
Rutland
ROBERT LAYMAN / STAFF PHOTO
Otter Valley’s Josh Beayon throws a pitch
during a varsity baseball game against
Mill River Union High School in Clarendon.
ace pitcher/shortstop until just past
mid-season, if not later.
The upside is that the Phantoms have
veterans sprinkled around the diamond
along with a core of players from last
summer’s Rutland County Babe Ruth
championship team. If the Phantoms
can avoid absenteeism in the small
squad, coach Jeff Patch thinks they can
have a fi ne season, especially if Valerio
(a starter since 8th grade) is again a
factor.
“With Joe back I like this group,”
said Patch, who coached that Babe
Ruth team. ”There’s some baseball kids
who have been around a long time.
I think we will hang around and be
competitive.”
Camden Richardson and Solomon
Parker, the starters at shortstop and
catcher, batted over .500 last summer
and could be ready for breakout
seasons. It will help their RBI totals with
the Phantoms playing an aggressive
style on the base paths.
Jacob May, Parker, Richardson and
Liam Beaulieu form the core of the
pitching staff with Parker set to do the
bulk of the catching with Austin Currier
backing him up.
Former utility players Beaulieu and
Jacob Perkins are at third base and
shortstop, and Greb is back at fi rst base,
ahead of Sincere Bride. Outfi elders
The Raiders don’t have a lot of pop
in the bats but they have a pair of
workhorses on the mound.
Ben Simpson and Zack Bates ate up
a lot of innings last season and were
the Raiders’ biggest winners. Their role
looks even bigger this season, as they
are also the leading returning hitters.
“They pitched a lot of important
innings for us last year,” said coach Matt
Bloomer, whose team lost a fi rst-round
game in the D-I tournament.
”I kind of know what to expect from
them. They should hit the ground
running.
”We’re pretty confi dent with or
pitching because of the experience they
have and it’s a fairly deep staff too.”
Justin Aker worked hard in the
offseason and looks improved. Two for-
mer JVs, juniors Sean Olson and Billy
Hemenway, should also get innings.
Simpson batted .377 and led the
team in RBIs, and Bates batted .318 but
the Raiders will be a team that relies
on its defense and tries to manufacture
runs with some small-ball tactics and
aggressive baserunning.
Simpson returns to fi rst base, Aker
to center fi eld and Bates to shortstop,
with Cayden Marchinkowski and
Olson competing for infi eld spots.
Tanner Merrill will man left and Willie
Goulette, Owen Perry and Matt Noel
will patrol Giorgetti’s spacious center
and right fi elds.
The Raiders have 48 out for the
program and will fi eld three teams.
Out of that program comes the
team’s new catcher, Ethan Coarse.
Coarse caught during his JV years
and “is a good receiver and he’s smart,”
said Bloomer.
Rutland opened April 10 at Windsor.
Springfi eld
It’s been a bit of a merry-go-round
with baseball coaches at Springfi eld but
Devoid is looking to put an end to that
and build up the program.
The Hartford High School and
Colby-Sawyer (where he started four
years at fi rst base) product is pouring
the foundation for an eager group of
nearly two-dozen players and is in touch
with the recreation department and the
middle school to bulk up the pipeline.
He had team members fi ll out goals
sheets to help keep them focused and
growing throughout the season.
“I’m hoping we can get younger kids
out and playing and into a system,” he
said. “The guys are putting in a lot of
hard work. ... I have two expectations of
them: every day at practice they give me
150 percent, and that when they come
in every day they are the best team-
mates and players they can be.”
He is focused on the fundamentals
like throwing strikes, moving runners
along to pressure the defense and using
the entire fi eld for hitting. Devoid was
an accomplished opposite-fi eld hitter in
his playing days.
”I’m defi nitely more of an aggressive
coach,” he said.
Leading the pitching staff are Adam
Stokarski, Dylan Merrow, Greg Otis
and Vermont Academy transplant
Brady Clark. The Cosmos pitchers
will play infi eld roles when not on the
mound. Another twin-duty player is
Sam Presch, who has already assumed a
leadership role as the school’s starting
quarterback.
Senior Connor Starr is the founda-
tion of the catching core and Devoid
hopes Starr can shake the injury bug
and be behind the plate as much as
possible. His understudy is freshman
Jakob Lovell.
Collin Pinney, one of last year’s best
hitters, mans fi rst base and Jake Stepler
and Kaleb Chambers are slated to go to
left and center fi eld, respectively.
“From Day 1 the kids knew my expec-
tations and ran with them,” Devoid said.
The Cosmos will get a clear picture of
their progress when they visit projected
powerhouse Fair Haven in the opener
on April 10.
bob.fredette @rutlandherald.com