CHS baseball shows promise despite winless start
By Mike Berger
Junior Robbie Sullivan is part of a deep Bulldog pitching staff. (Mike Barucci photo)
Despite opening the season with three consecutive losses, CHS head varsity baseball coach Greg Digirolamo believes his team is light years ahead of last year’s young squad.
Even with the 0-3 start, Digirolamo believes his team has the potential to improve upon last season’s 6-12 record and possibly make the state tournament if they can get enough consistent hitting and pitching.
“We only lost four players from last year’s team so depth won’t be our issue,” said Digirolamo, now in his second season at the helm. “The team consists of a nice mix of veteran leadership and talented youth. We’ll carry three sophomores and three freshman who will contribute and/or compete daily for a starting spot.”
Among the top returning players are a trio of senior captains: Matt Casamento, a three-year starter in centerfield; Robbie Wilkinson, who accounted for three of Canton’s six wins on the mound in 2017; and first baseman Tommy Delello.
Digirolamo said defense up the middle is strong with returning starters in Casamento, junior catcher Matt Pigeon, and sophomore shortstop Nate Quan.
On the mound, Wilkinson leads a deep pitching staff that features returning veterans Nico Donovan, Ryan Hickey, Paul Corcoran and Robbie Sullivan along with newcomers Kevin McGonigle and Matt Connolly.
“It’s a great group of kids that like to compete every day,” Digirolamo said. “What else can you ask for as a coach?”
In last week’s action, the Bulldogs opened with a 17-4 home loss to King Philip on Monday, followed by back-to-back road losses to North Attleboro (6-2) and Duxbury (6-1) on Wednesday and Thursday.
In the opener against KP, Sullivan lasted a few innings but three of the four runs he gave up were unearned. Donovan and Connolly also pitched, but the best performance of the day was turned in by Hickey, who struck out two batters in two innings.
Quan led the Bulldog offense with two hits and two RBIs while Owen Lehane and Michael Conville each had a hit and an RBI.
In Wednesday’s loss to North Attleboro, Wilkinson drew the start for Canton and pitched well over four innings of work. Casamento hit a two-run homerun in the third inning to tie the score at 2-2, but the Warriors later regained the lead and the Bulldogs were unable to respond, leaving the bases loaded in the fifth and seventh innings.
The next day against Duxbury, Corcoran retired the first nine batters and Canton took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning after a sacrifice fly by Mike Konzal. But the Dragons came right back in the bottom half of the inning, scoring five runs on three hits. Donovan pitched the last two innings for Canton and allowed one unearned run. Duxbury’s pitching was stellar all afternoon, allowing only one run on one hit.
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=38693
Posted by Mike Berger
on Apr 20 2018. Filed under High School, Sports.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
