December 26, 2003
Yes, I know it's been a while - since August, in fact - since I wrote anything recapping the 2003 season, but I figured it was time to sit down and throw some info at all of you who frequent the site. Due to the school year, a busy work schedule and an overall lack of time being able to concentrate on diligently writing a recap, I have not put together as thorough a summary as I would have liked. So, even though I have written quite a bit below, it is incomplete, and here's hoping that once I return to my dorm, where a lot of the information is still being stored, I will be able to finish off the recaps for the individual players. But here are some memories, highlights, and obscure stats that are team-related. I also want to wish everyone Happy Holidays, as I wrote this between early Christmas morning and Dec. 26. Time to drop a little random knowledge, for your holiday pleasure. But first, we reached a momentous milestone this season when Jared Lowe pitched his heart out (7 K, 5 H, CG) to deliver a 3-2 Play-in victory over Mount St. Joseph: the 28-year-old program's 200th victory. Here's a quick rundown of how many games it took for the program to record 50, 100, 150, and 200 victories:
Win #
| Record
| Games
| Games to Next 50
50
| 50-64
| 114
| 143
100
| 100-157
| 257
| 111
150
| 150-218
| 368
| 102
200
| 200-270
| 470
| ??
| | | | |
Now for the goodies. First we delve into the random bits of facts from the games this year:
- Preseason: We have scheduled a preseason scrimmage with the good folks at Hopkinton High in Contoocook, N.H., for each of the three years Coach Phillips has been the coach now, and each year it has been cancelled! However, we did get outside on April 15 to scrimmage eventual Division I state champ Champlain Valley - our first preseason scrimmage since 2000, believe it or not.
- April 18 at South Burlington: Freshman Aaron Thibault started the season opener in right field, becoming just the fifth freshman to play on varsity. This even before he donned a JV uniform! We lost, 3-2, when the winning run scored just ahead of a relay he started in the bottom of the seventh. Tidbit: CHS is 1-10 all time when opening the season on the road.
- April 26/June 2 vs. Burlington: When the game began, it was our first played at CHS since May 22, 2001; it ended over a month later due to a weather/injury delay. Dusty broke a bone on the last play of a tie game in the sixth, leaving us with eight players. It was also raining, so this became the fourth game in program history which started on one date and was completed on another. When it resumed, we lost 8-7 in eight innings.
- April 29 vs. Spaulding: We picked up only four hits but scored four runs in each of the first two innings of an 8-4 win. We still haven't lost at home to Spaulding in five games since 1988.
- May 3 vs. Essex: It's never fun to play Essex, especially when they harass your team for about one inning and then do little damage the rest of the way. We lost, 14-2, but remove the first inning from Jared Lowe's pitching line and he ends up with 4 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 65 pitches. We're 1-11 all time against EHS in games at CHS, and 4-21 in the overall series.
- May 6 vs. BFA-St. Albans: The 8-3 loss was our first against the Bobwhites since a 2-1 defeat at their place in 1997, and it was their first win over us at CHS since 1993. Let's break down the domination for a second: We had won five straight against them overall, during which time we had outscored them by a total of 67-16; we had won eight of our previous nine meetings since that 1993 loss. This all coming after losing seven straight match ups with them from 1987 to 1993.
- May 8 at Milton: A weird thing happened during our 12-5 shellacking of underclassman-heavy Milton: Two more freshmen debuted for the Lakers. In the 453 games in CHS varsity baseball history during 27 years prior to the 2003 season, only four freshmen had ever debuted. In six games this season, we already had seen three additions to that list. In this game, Kyle Warner pinch ran while Eddie Montgomery - a late addition to the starting lineup at second base - went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, two runs and two stolen bases. Fun fact number one: 42 batters came to the plate and 25 reached (59.5%). Fun fact number two: Warner was on base for all of one pitch before neighbor Joel Bissonnette tapped into a fielder's choice, forcing Warner out at second.
- May 9 at Harwood: We picked up four hits - all doubles - in a 5-4 loss. This was only the fourth time the Lakers picked up only extra-base hits in a game, with four being the most XBHs in any of these contests:
- April 25, 1984: In an 11-6 loss at Milton, John Carp hits a two-run homer in the second inning for the team's only hit. This game might also mark the most runs the team has ever scored on a lone hit.
- May 6-7, 1993: Mike Johnson and Ken Boucher hit sixth-inning doubles during a 5-3 loss at Essex.
- May 18, 1994: The Lakers are perfected through five innings before Tom Belisle smacks a sixth-inning double for his first hit of the year - in the team's eighth game. Colchester loses to St. Johnsbury, 10-0 at home. Belisle was the only Laker to play every inning that year, so he had appeared in every inning to that point.
At the time of this writing (Dec. 25, 2003), the Lakers have never beaten Harwood in six trips to the school's home in Duxbury. We also haven't beaten them in the last four meetings, last winning on May 15, 1982. I was eight months and five days old. That win was 7,904 days ago. The Lakers did once beat the Highlanders while playing the visiting team - on May 22, 1976, in the second game of a double dip at CHS. That was 10,078 days ago.
- May 13 vs. Mount Mansfield: We lose, 6-5, and allow the 3,000th opponent run in program history. Lucas Mullally smacks his first varsity hit on the first varsity pitch he sees.
- May 15 at Champlain Valley: Even less fun than facing Essex is facing the eventual state champ and losing, 11-1 at their place, despite the field not being in playing condition and the coaches fearing for the players' safety.
- May 17 at Mount Abraham: Our guys smacked 12 hits in a 14-6 win. D.J. went 3-for-4 with three runs and four RBIs, single-handedly accounting for half of our runs.
- May 20 vs. South Burlington: We fell 8-3 at home, and Drew Sumner's two-out, three-run homer in the seventh helped us avoid our first home shutout at CHS (we've played a few road games at CHS) since May 2, 1997, against SB - 44 games ago. At the end of the season, the streak of not being shut out at home was up to 48 games. Tidbit: Shelby Nolin induced the 3-4-5 hitters into three outs on three pitches in the fifth inning. Jess Mattison last did that on May 8, 2001, versus Lamoille.
- May 22 at Missisquoi: We led 4-0 in the first inning, but the Thunderbirds scored nine unanswered runs in a 9-7 CHS loss. We had not lost to MVU since 1996 and had not allowed this many runs to them since 1991, a 10-2 loss at CHS. Wasko broke the single-season assists record during the game, and Aaron Mason - who had been 3-for-25 coming into the game - went 3-for-4.
- May 24 at North Country: A 5-2 loss could never be equally balanced by a bus ride on a Premiere and a trip to Wendy's ... could it? First baseman Joel Bissonnette and moundman Shelby Nolin combined for a nice 3-1-3 putout at first when a grounder ricocheted off Joel's head to Shelby, who promptly tossed it back to Skip for the out.
- May 27 vs. St. Johnsbury: In building a 4-0 first-inning lead, we stole five bases and were aided by three errors - all of which we needed in eeking out a 5-4 win. Of St. Jay's four hits, only one left the infield.
- May 29 vs. Rice: I listed this as my favorite game of the year below, but we knocked off the Little Indians, 6-5, behind the largest bottom-of-the-final-inning rally in CHS history. It was the 15th walk-off victory in team history. Here are the other 14, with available information:
- #1: April 24, 1976 vs. BFA-Fairfax, 4-3 (9 innings).
- #2: May 22, 1976 vs. Harwood, 8-7 (Game one of a doubleheader).
- #3: May 4, 1979 vs. Middlebury, 5-4. Jamie Vetters scores the game-winning run on a wild pitch.
- #4: April 24, 1980 vs. Mount Abraham, 9-8. Mick McKenzie hits a two-run double to plate the Lakers' eighth and ninth runs.
- #5: May 13, 1981 vs. Milton, 1-0. Mike Brochu scores on Brian Bittner's single with two down.
- #6: June 5, 1982 vs. Spaulding, 6-5 (8 innings). Tom Bergeron drives home Scott Weinheimer with an eighth-inning, pinch-hit single in a Division I quarterfinal game.
- #7: June 1, 1983 vs. Lyndon, 2-1. Bryan Parizo scores the game-winning run on an error in a Division I playdown.
- #8: April 20, 1984 vs. BFA-Fairfax, 5-4. John Carp's sacrifice fly scores Scott Hamlett.
- #9: May 20, 1985 vs. North Country, 8-7 (8 innings). Todd Collins singles to score Dan Brunelle with the game-winner.
- #10: May 6, 1989 vs. Milton, 8-7. Jim Covey drives home the winner with a two-out single.
- #11: May 18, 1989 vs. North Country, 4-3. Joe Goodreau scores on an error.
- #12: May 26, 1992 vs. Rice, 4-3 (11 innings). Sean Gilbert's single scores Jeff Simays, who catches all 11 innings.
- #13: June 1, 1994 vs. Middlebury, 2-1 (8 innings). John Hill scores on Tom Belisle's one-out, fielder's choice grounder.
- #14: April, 20, 2000 vs. St. Johnsbury, 13-12. Travis Miles lays down a suicide squeeze to plate Jason Carey with one down.
Down 5-3 entering the last of the seventh, Mike Wasko and Drew Sumner smacked consecutive singles before Aaron Mason walked. Joel Bissonnette followed with his second double of the day, one which reached the left-field fence and scored Wasko and Sumner to knot the score. D.J. followed with a suicide squeeze turned infield single to score Mason to cap the rally and give Shelby Nolin the victory after a strong complete-game effort. Nolin struck out seven and walked three in limiting Rice's offense to five hits and three earned runs. He threw 113 pitches - 65 for strikes - for his first 100-pitch game. To put Shelby's performance into proper perspective, the Little Indians had exploded for 10 runs six times already during the season, including 14 against Essex (lost 22-14) and 19 versus MMU (won 19-14). This was CHS's second one-run home win of the week, the first time that had happened since April 28 and 30, 1983. This was also the program's 100th win as the home team at CHS, where the Lakers have also won four "road" games.
- May 31 at Middlebury at Centennial Field: Wasko set the school's single-game assist mark with 10, surpassing John Kresser's mark of eight set back in 1976. Ultimately, however, we lost 6-5 in eight innings. Mike already had surpassed eight by the time we went to extra innings, so no asterisk is necessary. The Lakers committed no errors for the first time since May 22, 2001.
- Division I Play-in: June 5 at Mount St. Joseph: Our first ever trip to Rutland, and the 18th-seeded Lakers sprung a mild upset in knocking off 15th-seeded MSJ, 3-2, for the 200th victory in the program's history! I wasn't there - I was on Staten Island giving a speech, but I distinctly recall receiving a call from Coach Phillips during the awards dinner before my speech and wanting to do a little dance - but apparently the red clay will be hard to wash out no matter how many times the players ... ahem, the players' mothers ... run their uniforms through the wash. After notching only one win in his first season and a half with the team, Jared Lowe picked up his third career victory just eight days after recording his second during a win over St. Johnsbury. Jared K'd seven and walked two during a complete-game effort. Aaron Mason walked three times.
- Division I Playdown: June 7 at Champlain Valley Union: A 12-2 loss completed our season, and I'll paraphrase the review I wrote of this game: "In retrospect, this game tells us many things: We were the first of CVU's four postseason victims, and they 10-runned all of them - including South Burlington in the final. And we scored two more runs than SB scored in that fateful championship game. We also lost to SB by only one run early in the season. In the grand scheme of things, these facts give me a little consolation that our team really did have the talent to compete with the great teams in the state. I can't tell you how proud I was to see the team rally together and scrape to put runs on the board (against CVU). The last couple innings of the year were quite pleasant and spirited. Joel drove home our two runs on the day with a sixth-inning double, and we threatened for even more than that by putting seven runners on base in the final two innings. Lucas Mullally doubled his career hit total with a 2-for-3 effort, Mike Wasko went 3-for-4, and Drew Sumner and Jared Lowe each singled in their final high school at bats. So we finished 6-12 while CVU went on to finish 18-2 and corral the D-I title. But, as they say, there's always next year."
- To Recap: We finished 6-12 overall, including a 5-10 mark in the league. We played eight one-run games, posting a 3-5 record in those contests. Not since 1983 had any team play that many one-run games, and only the 2003, 1980, and 1981 teams can boast five one-run losses. Saddie told me once that in any given season, there should be about as many games lost that you should have won as games won that you should have lost. I'll keep those one-run losses against three of the top six teams in the Metro (SB, MMU, Middlebury) and try to forget the close losses against three of the bottom six (BHS, Missisquoi, North Country). All in all, some pieces were in place by season's end that I hope will be present next season. The solid defense was a constant all season, and I'm sure that the 2000 squad which nearly won the state title would have fared better during the season with a defense like ours. The hitting always goes from cold in the cold weather to better by May, and our pitching was solid, considering we had four pitchers who had 18 innings of varsity pitching experience between them (all Jared). In the long run, the younger players who took some lumps this past season will be better off for having gained the experience and, in my opinion, we have a lot to look forward to next season in our veteran players.
Now here are some team pieces of information:
- The last time three players had each drawn at least 10 bases on balls was 2000. D.J. Edwards (12), Taylor Newton (11) and Joel Bissonnette (11) all did it this year.
- The last team to have six players strike out at least 10 times had been the "Hitless Wonders" of 1997, a team which batted .216; the 1990 team holds the record with seven players striking out 10-plus times, including six with exactly 10. D.J. Edwards (23), Shelby Nolin (17), Taylor Newton (16), Aaron Mason (14), Kyle Burkhard (11) and Jared Lowe (10) all pulled the feat in 2003.
- This season was the first time since 1989 that two players had at least 10 walks and strikeouts (D.J. Edwards 12/23; Taylor Newton 11/16); in 1989, three players accomplished the feat: the late Scott Benoit (10/11), Joe Goodreau (11/11) and Whitney Lyman (10/11).
- However, this season was the first time that at least two players had each at least 10 walks and 15 strikeouts.
- D.J. became just the third player to lead the team in walks and strikeouts, joining Brian Bittner (21 BB, 19 K in 1982) and Kevin Grabowski (7 BB, 15 K in 1987).
- 2003 was the only time other than 1981 and 1982 that two pitchers appeared in at least 10 games - Jared Lowe and Shelby Nolin saw action in 10 games apiece, with Drew Sumner just a game behind their pace. 1981: Adam Viens (12) and John Yandow (10); 1982: Doug Bergstein (12) and Mike Battistini (10).
- Jared Lowe, Shelby Nolin and Drew Sumner became the first threesome of Lakers to appear in at least nine games on the mound.
- The Lakers' batting average was .209 after nine games, below the 1997 team's school record low of .216; through nine games, we were comparable to the Detroit Tigers, and I have a feeling that, on a very good day, we might have beaten them. But on May 17, we traveled out to Mount Abraham, whose pitching we pummeled. D.J. Edwards had a day anyone would appreciate - especially for a then-struggling sophomore - with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate with three runs scored and four driven in. Mike Wasko also drove home three runs. With 12 hits in 35 at bats, the team raised its batting average 17 points to a robust .226, and it ballooned to as much as .242 by season's end.
- By my calculations, we had eight rough innings pitching this year, and that's it. By "rough" innings, I'm counting those in which we allowed more than three runs. Combined, we allowed 44 runs (28 earned) and 31 hits in those eight innings, accounting for a 24.50 ERA. Subtract those innings and our staff's ERA is 3.01, and we allow 114 hits in exactly 114 innings.
- One of the more obscure stats is the ground ball-to-fly ball ratio, which is something I've never kept track of ... until now! Of the outs recorded off the bat (i.e., all outs not recorded via the strikeout), 92 came in the air and 163 came on the ground, hence Mike Wasko's record-breaking amount of assists. Shelby was the best at inducing grounders, getting 64 versus 25 fly ball outs. Thus, 52.0 percent of the 123 batters he retired this year grounded out. Jared had 54 ground outs (43.9% of his outs) and 34 fly ball outs, Drew induced 43 ground outs (47.3% of his outs) and 30 fly ball outs, and Kyle had two grounders and three fly balls during his brief mound appearance.
- With only Jared, Drew, Shelby and Kyle pitching this year, we had the fewest number of moundmen since the 1984 sent only John Carp, Matt McKenzie, Rob Peeters and Jeff Addleman moundward.
- No player committed 10 errors for the second year in a row after at least one person had recorded 10 in five of the previous six years. Making this feat more impressive is the fact that we had a pair of sophomores splitting time starting at third base and a shortstop who had a ball hit to him every other pitch, so that put a lot of pressure on the left side of the infield, not to mention Skip at first.
- This was also the first time since 1996 that three players had 25-plus assists (Alan Hill 37, Steve Wood 33, Travis Hilton 28) and - I hope you all appreciate this one! - the first time that three players had 25-plus assists but none had 10 errors: Mike had 77, Shelby 26 and D.J. 25.
- It still boggles my mind that Mike Wasko collected 77 assists in only 128 innings. That means 20.0 percent of our 384 outs came off one of Wasko's assists. Our pitchers threw 2,160 pitches. That means he had an assist every 28 pitches or so.
- Now for the records portion of the review. With the program having only existed for 28 years, there are bound to be records broken each season. Let's start with team records and noteworthy feats:
- Wild Pitches: 46 of these shattered the 2001 record of 29
- Fielding Assists: 181, thanks in part to Wasko's sure-handed defense, surpassed the 1989 team's mark of 163; each of these teams recorded 5-11 regular-season marks, but the teams with the next three best season totals each recorded at least nine wins.
- Caught Stealing: 19, eclipsing the 1997's total of 17.
- The 2003 squad used 18 players, almost tying the 1978 team's 19-man roster, but we did dress 20 players (18 played, and Mike Graves and Erik Shepard did not) - presumably the most ever.
- We used BY FAR the most underclassmen in a season in 2003. We employed 10 underclassmen (three freshmen and seven sophomores) who combined for the following totals: 60 games, .215 batting average (32 for 149), 26 runs, 23 bases on balls, 53 strikeouts, 11 steals, four times caught stealing, and an .852 field percentage (19 errors in 186 chances). Compare that to the 1979 team, which had the previous high for underclassmen (six sophomores): 37 games, .256 batting average (22x86), 18 runs, seven walks, 20 strikeouts, six stolen bases, two times caught stealing, and an .892 fielding percentage (seven errors in 65 chances). An honorable mention goes to the 1983 team, which allowed five sophomores to see action.
- As previously mentioned, three freshmen playing for the squad this season. Only four had suited up at all in the 27 seasons previous to this season.
- The 1993 and 2001 teams each produced one triple, but we went one better by becoming the first of 28 teams not to leg out a three-bagger.
- With 597 chances accepted, we came within six chances of the 1982 team's record of 603. That team went 16-3. See? Solid defense will help us keep climbing toward the top of the heap in the Metro.
- Twelve pitches tossed by our opponents found one of our players' body parts this season, tying the 1999 team's total of hit batsmen for fourth all time. Sadly, I was not among those 12 in 1999 (that definitely would have helped my OBP).
- Retribution should not find its way into high school baseball, but somehow our pitchers matched our opponents hit batsman for hit batsman. They nailed 13 hitters, the fourth-highest total in program history.
- Our 121 batting strikeouts were the fourth-most in program history.
- Now for more pleasant statistics, whose abundance I decided to save for last; let's start with defense, since that's what wins championships: Along with our program record 181 assists, our .916 fielding percentage was seventh in program history and our 366 putouts were sixth.
- Our 22 doubles tied the 1993 squad for fifth all time.
- Our players reached base a total of 212 times via a walk, plunk or hit, the fifth-highest total in program history. Statistical anomaly warning: The four teams whose players reached base more times than ours each hit .310 or better. We hit .242.
- Our 79 bases on ball were the eighth-most in program history.
- Thanks in large part to Taylor, we laid down nine sacrifice bunts, tying the 1976 squad for third-most in CHS history.
- Mount Mansfield scored the 3,000th run against Colchester all time on May 13 at CHS. I'm sure we'll all tell our kids about that momentous occasion in 20 years.
- Here are the individual single-season records and noteworthy feats:
- Mike Wasko recorded a team-record 77 assists, breaking Nate Brubaker's 1993 record by 30. Nate had 47 assists as a senior, but he also pitched in addition to spending time on the infield. In fact, Brubaker and the only other three players to record 40 helpers in a season all pitched during that season, as well.
- Not surprisingly, Mike set the mark for the best fielding percentage by a shortstop with a .934 clip, committing only seven miscues in 106 chances.
- Shelby tossed 20 pitches to the backstop, breaking Dan Companion's 1986 wild pitch record of 12. Jared Lowe, with 17 wild pitches, also surpassed Companion's old record, but with Kyle Burkhard and Lucas Mullally - two inexperienced varsity catchers - guarding the plate, those totals should receive asterisks. But they won't. Before the 2003 season, Companion had been the only CHS pitcher to surpass 10 wild pitches in a season. With his wild season, Shelby has now vaulted all the way into second all time - tied with Lowe - with 20 career wild pitches, behind only Travis Clairmont (23).
- No, Taylor, we could never forget about your records and near-record. Here's something you won't see for a while: someone breaking a record held by Jason Carey. Taylor got caught stealing five times, but a record's a record. Carey (2001), Mark Carpenter (1997), and Todd Charlebois (1994) had each been caught four times in a season.
- Taylor also laid down four sacrifice bunts, one short of Rick Harrison's single-season (1980) and career records of five. On the bright side, he could tie and/or break Harrison's career record next season.
- Alas, Taylor did get plunked three times, affording him another record (obscure, nonetheless): most combined times laying down a sacrifice bunt and getting hit by a pitch. I know they don't nearly go hand in hand, and there's no section in the record book for this, but these two statistical categories represent a player's success to give himself up for his team and/or help him get on base. Take it.
- D.J. walked 12 times, breaking Justin Bissonnette's 1998 sophomore record (10).
- Joel recorded 151 putouts at first base, tying Ty Pratt (2000) for most PO's in a season.
- Joel recorded the third-most total chances in a season, accepting 159 chances - the most in a single season for a first baseman.
- Joel's 8.4 putouts per game were second only to John Pike, who averaged 8.9 for the program's inaugural squad in the spring of 1976.
- More Joel! His seven doubles tied Marc Ferlo (1993) for the fourth-most in a single season.
- Mike Wasko's six doubles tied five other players for sixth all time in a season.
- Eddie Montgomery and Aaron Thibault joined Travis Clairmont (1999) as the only freshmen to record hits.
- Eddie ended up breaking freshman records with six runs (Clairmont had five in 1999) and four stolen bases (Jay Dashnow had one in 1978).
- Here are a few pitching facts involving Shelby to close out this chapter of the season review; Shelby finished one pitching strikeout behind Jared Lowe for the staff lead, and he would have become the first sophomore to tally the most K's since Joel's brother, Justin, did so in 1998.
- Shelby's 42 innings on the mound were a sophomore record, surpassing Tyler Cochran's 1991 record by a single inning.
- Should Shelby appear in 40 innings during either of his last two seasons, he will match Doug Bergstein, Justin Bissonnette and Kenny Boucher as the only pitchers ever to log 40 innings in two different seasons.
- Shelby is on pace to join Bergstein, Bissonnette, Boucher, and Clairmont as the only 100-strikeout pitchers in the program's history.
- I'd like to share a few lasting personal memories for myself as we go into the new year, just a few months from the 2004 season, the 29th in the program's history:
- Trying to instill the idea of communication. Communicate!! The on-deck batter should always be in position (i.e., in his line of sight) to let a runner who is about to score what do to: use arm motions, use your mouth. One day it will win us a game.
- The Rice game on May 28 was such a thing of beauty. It involved late-inning heroics, a dramatic comeback, a suicide squeeze turned infield single, and me losing my voice. Did I mention it also involved pizza? Yes, we trailed by three runs going into the sixth, and I did promise the guys I'd buy them pizza if they could rally to tie the game during that inning. They scored once. They saved the heroics and SportsCenter highlights for the final inning. Wasko singles. Sumner singles. Mason walks. Bissonnette doubles to deep left, scoring Wasko and Sumner to tie the game. Edwards lays down a beautiful bunt to score Mason. Colchester wins, 6-5. I buy four pizzas and take them on the road as we watch CVU shrug off Essex at Centennial Field that night from the front row. I hope that's not a violation of some sort. Rick Majerus would be able to tell me. Did I mention the pitcher we harassed in that game, who was trying for a complete game due to (I assume) a depleted pitching staff, is now pitching at Saint Mike's? That was the best game I've been a part of from the sidelines (the 2000 championship doesn't count; we lost).
- Other happy memories, taking me back to my glory days of donning the uniform and getting it dirty: making that over-the-left-shoulder catch in left field during that pickup game at the park on Justin Morgan Drive, helping my guys win 11-10 and capture whatever series we happened to be playing for. (Coach Flynn might as well have been Babe Ruth that day.) Remember kids, don't try over-the-shoulder catches at home - this one was performed by a professional, albeit one who has no clue how to play the outfield but has played there before anyway.
- Playing stickball inside was a blast, and then I hit a home run. Off a banner, if I recall correctly. They (and we, with "we" being coaches) always say "act like you've been there before" but, heck, home runs are few and far between for guys like me. But that got me off the 21-year schneid.
- Fielding grounders during infield drills during practice in the heat. I didn't remember how energy-consuming it could be to field grounder after grounder, but it reminded me what it was like to play on that field. However, a cup would have come in handy.
- Believe me, there will be plenty more tidbits of information, just as soon as I can break into my townhouse at SMC (we're locked out until Jan. 11 or so) and retrieve my notes and the scorebook. Happy Holidays everyone, and have a safe and Happy New Year!! See y'all in the gym in March. I'll also be posting as much of our 2004 schedule that I know ASAP. I do know that we host CVU on May 13 at 4:30 p.m. ... about five hours after I receive my diploma.
August 17, 2003
As the summer has progressed, I've realized more and more that I would never take the time to write the season review during the summer time, that more likely than not it would be completely written during some free time during the first semester of the coming school year. It will be written, but I will take some time. It always ends up being a novel, so give me some time. This will be a brief review of the season right now, at best. More to come, for sure. But I have to thank Coach Phillips for having me back for this year, and I plan on being back in the spring for what will likely be my last year. So you seniors will get your stats the way you're used to getting them; you juniors and younger players will have to cope in your senior year with learning to read a stat sheet done by someone else. Coaches Flynn and Tarigo were great to work with, personally, and I wish both would come back, but last I knew, Coach T is likely done at Colchester. He might be back in Connecticut by now, for all I know. Hopefully Coach Flynn will return to tutor you guys, especially the pitchers. As for the season, it wasn't the best, but we had some bright spots. Shelby will be a dependable pitcher for the next two years, and this year gave us a glimpse of that. Joel got on the Metro League All-Conference Second Team, and Drew and Mike Wasko were honorable mentions. Mike had an awesome season and was the most dependable shortstop in the league. It might have been the best season by a shortstop in school history. Aaron in center was the most dependable player we could have placed out there, and after Kevin Lilley's superb 2002 season in center, the next center fielder has a big pair of shoes to fill from a defensive standpoint. I'm not sure that I saw a single fly ball land between our infielders and our center fielder over the past two years, and that's a testament to our center fielders' agressive nature in trying to catch most of the balls hit out there. The best game I saw (I missed the MSJ game, so maybe that topped my favorite game of the year) was the Rice game, where we overcame a two-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh. It was the biggest final-inning comeback in CHS history, and it was nice to see D.J. knock home the run on a suicide-squeeze-turned-infield-single. He also had a great year at third and one game in particular (at Mount Abe) where he tore it up. Drew and Jared were our workhorse seniors on the mound and also finished up strong with the bats. Joel was our best hitter for the second straight year, but this year he really became more than a slap hitter, though he still placed the ball well. He was solid at first. Dusty would have been the Metro Player of the Year had he not been injured. But on to bigger and better things for him, hopefully. Some players top out in high school. If he plays in college, that will top anything he could have done in high school. Same for Joel, who I know strives to play for Southern New Hampshire University this coming year. Drew mentioned playing in college, I think Aaron wanted to play football, and Jared wants to play basketball at Franklin Pierce College. Good luck to all. Elsewhere on the team, Taylor played well (a lot of walks, a lot of sacrifice bunts) and Burksie was a solid backstop once Dusty went down. It's a tough position to learn, especially in high school. He might have helped the team out on the mound if not for our need to have him catch. And basically everyone else who had bit roles on the team (either doing scoreboard or filling in for a game or two) did their part well, among them: Joey Doud, Brad Frieberg, Mike Graves (DNP), Eddie Montgomery, Lucas Mullally, Jeremy Ringuette, Erik Shepard (DNP), Aaron Thibault, Kyle Warner and Robbie Yarnell. Many of them will be fighting for varsity jobs next year, and I urge everyone to play in the fall and keep running around and getting in shape during the winter. If I count everyone who might be vying for varsity jobs next year, there might be more than 15 guys trying to play varsity. Maybe more, maybe less. But we're ready for another good season, ideally one that will be better than just "good". I know the coaches are ready for a 10-win season and a deep playoff drive, and you guys should be committed to it as well. I'll try to get to my computer in the next month or two and write up the season review the way I really want it to be read - longer than this, if possible! - with more statistics and details. When you graduated seniors read this, you'll be immersed in your freshman year of college. Good luck to you guys, and good luck to everyone else with your school year and other sports you play. Hope to see y'all back on the field - OK, who am I kidding? Inside the gym - in March.
June 29, 2003
Time for the big summer site update (Part I of III)! The record book is updated, reflecting the good (and somewhat not-so-good) records we matched or set this season. The full 2003 season recap will be posted soon, but I thought it was about time I write recaps for the Burlington game and the playoff games:
- June 2 vs. Burlington: In the completion of a game suspended on April 26, we allowed an unearned run during the eighth inning - our second inning of play on June 2 - at CHS and lost the game, 8-7. Had we won, we would have vaulted from 18th to about 15th in the Division I playoff standings. We didn't. During the game, Dusty Fregeau hit a solo homer and a double and scored twice, but that occurred April 26. He was lost for the season when he was injured at the end of the sixth inning. Taylor Newton walked twice and singled twice, including in consecutive innings which came 36 days apart (the sixth and seventh innings).
- June 5 at Mount Saint Joseph: In our first meeting ever with MSJ, we traveled to Rutland and won a Division I Play-in game, 3-2. It was a "mild upset", according to the Rutland Herald, since we were the 18th seed (5-11) and they were the 15th seed (6-10), but it was also the 200th victory in the program's history. We're also 3-0 alltime now in play-in games. From all accounts (unfortunately not mine, since I was on Staten Island during this momentous victory), Jared Lowe pitched a heck of a game, allowing two runs on five hits while K'ing seven and walking two during a complete-game effort. After allowing a first-inning home run, we scored twice in the second with two down after Shelby Nolin and Jared hit consecutive doubles and Mike Wasko later singled Jared home. Aaron Mason led off the next inning with his first of three walks on the day and stole second. D.J. Edwards and Taylor followed with one-out walks before Shelby's fielder's choice grounder to short scored Mason with an insurance run, which became immensely important after Jared granted a leadoff walk in the fifth and saw the runner come around to score. However, he struck out the side in the seventh, completing what was quite a dramatic victory. Drew Sumner also had two hits in the game. I'm told it drizzled. I'm told the clay/dirt has been difficult to wash out, and I'm sure when the guys take out their pants next spring it will be a reminder of how hard they worked that day in Rutland. It will also be a reminder of their last 2003 victory, because...
- June 7 at Champlain Valley Union: In retrospect, this game tells us many things: Yes, we lost 12-2 in the Playdowns to CVU, but we were the first of their four postseason victims. And they 10-runned all of them. Including South Burlington in the final. And we scored two more runs than SB scored in that fateful championship game. We also lost to SB by only one run early in the season. In the grand scheme of things, these facts give me a little consolation that our team really did have the talent to compete with the great teams in the state - even if SBHS was only second-best. Oddly enough, the Division I final opponents (CVU and SB) were the only teams we played twice each this season. Hmmmm...anyway, we lost 12-2 in this game, falling behind 12-0 by the fifth inning. But I can't tell you how proud I was to see the team rally together and scrape to put runs on the board. We won a couple games this year when the team had the never-say-die attitude, and the last couple innings of the year were quite pleasant and spirited. Joel drove home our two runs on the day with a sixth-inning double, and we threatened for even more than that by putting seven runners on base in the final two innings. Sophomore Lucas Mullally doubled his career hit total with a 2-for-3 effort, Mike Wasko went 3-for-4, and Drew Sumner and Jared Lowe each singled in their final high school at bats. So we finished 6-12 while CVU went on to finish 18-2 and corral the D-I title. But, as they say, there's always next year.
The 2003 stats are also now available in web page format, and the final standings for the points program are online. Check back soon and more stuff should be posted. Also, the single-season pitching records which need qualifications (ERA, OBP against, BR per inning) will revert back to a minimum of 1 IP per team's games ASAP. I'll update those when I get a chance. Also, Joel Bissonnette, Drew Sumner and Mike Wasko were all honored by the Metro League for their play this season. Joel was a second team all-conference while Drew and Mike were honorable mentions. More soon.
June 8, 2003
Well, things didn't go exactly as planned yesterday. Our season came to an end to CVU, the second-best team in the state, 12-2, at their place. I'll write more on that game and the MSJ Play-in game, which was the 200th win in the program's 28-year history. The stats are updated, and soon enough I'll write Javy's Year in Review, as is part of the routine this time of year. Many records were broken this season. You knew about Mike Wasko's. Stick around to find out about Taylor Newton's.
June 2, 2003 (afternoon)
We lost 8-7 today. More when I return from New York. I also won't be around Thursday for the Play-in, but our opponent will likely be Mount Saint Joseph in Rutland. Have fun on the bus, guys, and bring home the "W" and the program's 200th win. Good luck this week!
June 2, 2003
After falling behind 3-0 at Centennial Field on Saturday to Middlebury, we rallied to take a 5-3 lead, but ultimately fell in eight innings, 6-5, after allowing consecutive infield singles with two out. Seniors Drew Sumner and Jared Lowe pitched well, and our offense and defense clicked at opportune times. We smacked nine hits, including two by Mike Wasko. He had a double and an RBI, as well, and set the school record for assists in a game with 10, breaking John Kresser's '76 record set in a 1976 game. Kresser was a third baseman, and I don't know which team he set the record against, but his eight assists were eclipsed by Mike before we reached extra innings, so no asterisk will go next to this record. Mike also extended his single-season school assists record to 68. Looking back, he has annihilated the old record of 47, set by Nate Brubaker '93 in 1993, but he both pitched and played shortstop, so that got me to thinking: Who had the most assists while only playing the field and not pitching? Travis Hilton '98, also the career assist record holder (101), had 39 assists as a senior in 1998 at shortstop. Mike now has 85 career assists, fourth alltime! I don't know how he's been so fortunate to handle about four grounders per game, but no one else has ever been on that pace over an entire career, apparently. He's four assists away from second, also. Alan Hill '97 and Shea Lamphere '88 are tied with 89 apiece. Joel Bissonnette is 11th alltime now in putouts with 177, just 10 away from Sean Chase '98. He's also in the top ten in fielding percentage with .973. During Saturday's game, freshman Eddie Montgomery stole his fourth base, nearly matching his brother Chris's '91 career total (5) in two varsity seasons. He's also halfway (6) to Chris's run total of 12. Our defense committed zero errors while Middlebury had five, but I unfortunately don't have time to look stuff up today, or even until Friday, because I'll be out of town. FYI, the last time we didn't commit any errors was May 22, 2001, against Spaulding, a 7-1 victory on Saddie Field decidation day. We're approaching the school's single-season team assist record (163), set in 1989. We have 155, tied with 1982 for third. Other things I promise to look up:
- Last time we experienced walk-off finishes from both sides in consecutive games
- Last time we played three consecutive one-run games
- Last time we committed zero errors and still lost
- Last time we committed zero errors and lost and had the other team commit that many errors
I won't have time to update the Burlington game, either. Nor will I be able to post playoff information. Check the VPA web site for the playoff bracket beginning Wednesday. It depends on how we do today, but we'll either host a play-in game or hit the road. See everyone at 4:30 p.m. today for the completion of our Burlington game. It's 7-7 going into the top of the seventh with Burlington batting. It could be win No. 200 in the program's 28-year history.
May 29, 2003
Win No. 199 in CHS baseball history came dramatically on Thursday as the Lakers rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh without making an out en route to a 6-5 victory over Rice at Saddlemire Field. The three-run rally was the largest ever for the Lakers in the bottom of a final inning, a stretch which now spans 467 games. (i.e., no Laker team had ever rallied from as large as a two-run deficit in the bottom of the final inning for a victory.) Mike Wasko and Drew Sumner smacked consecutive singles to open the seventh inning before Aaron Mason walked. Joel Bissonnette followed with his second double of the day, one which reach the left-field fence and scored Wasko and Sumner. Sophomore D.J. Edwards followed with a suicide-squeeze-turned-infield-single to score Mason to cap the rally and give classmate Shelby Nolin the victory after a strong complete-game effort. Down 4-1, we rallied with two unearned runs in the sixth thanks to two-out RBI singles by Nolin and Jared Lowe, which occurred after Mason reached on a dropped fly ball leading off the frame. Nolin struck out seven and walked three in limiting Rice's offense to five hits and three earned runs. He threw 113 pitches - 65 for strikes - for his first 100-pitch game, the seventh thrown by a CHS pitcher this season. To put Shelby's performance into proper perspective, the Little Indians (8-7, 8-6) have exploded for 10 runs six times this season, including 14 against Essex (lost 22-14) and 19 versus MMU (won 19-14). Despite committing three errors - our most since May 17 - the defense backed Shelby up with some nifty plays. Wasko had a couple nice plays in the hole at short, Lowe made a catch in deep right and Kyle Burkhard nearly caught one runner stealing before catching a player stealing home after a failed suicide bunt. The offense kicked it into high gear with 11 hits, also the most since May 17, as four players collected two hits apiece for the third time this season. D.J. went 2-for-3 with a second-inning sacrifice bunt, Lowe went 2-for-3 with an RBI, Joel went 2-for-4 with two doubles, and Shelby went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Taylor Newton also dropped down his fourth sacrifice bunt of the season, one short of the school's single-season and career records. The win was also Colchester's 100th as the home team at CHS, where they've also won four "road" games. With a 9-4 win last year against Rice, this marks the first time we've knocked Rice off in consecutive seasons since a sweep from 1992 to 1995. As a miscellaneous fact, we have three players with 20-plus fielding assists (Wasko 58, Nolin 24, Edwards 20) for the first time since 1997, when Travis Hilton '98 (34), Alan Hill '97 (26) and current jayvee head coach Jeff Mongeon '97 (20) turned the trick. With 143 total assists, the team has a chance of eclipsing the 1989 school record of 163. And now the "Walk-Off Facts" that you've all patiently (and eagerly, no doubt) awaited. Here is the list of all of the walk-off victories CHS has recorded at Colchester High School over the years, including all of the game-winning information available.
- #1: April 24, 1976 vs. BFA-Fairfax, 4-3 (9 innings)
- #2: May 22, 1976 vs. Harwood, 8-7 (Game one of a doubleheader)
- #3: May 4, 1979 vs. Middlebury, 5-4. Jamie Vetters '79 scores the game-winning run on a wild pitch.
- #4: April 24, 1980 vs. Mount Abraham, 9-8. Mick McKenzie '80 hits a two-run double to plate the Lakers' eighth and ninth runs.
- #5: May 13, 1981 vs. Milton, 1-0. Mike Brochu '82 scores on Brian Bittner's '82 single with two down.
- #6: June 5, 1982 vs. Spaulding, 6-5 (8 innings). Tom Bergeron drives home Scott Weinheimer with an eighth-inning, pinch-hit single in a Division I quarterfinal game.
- #7: June 1, 1983 vs. Lyndon, 2-1. Bryan Parizo '84 scores the game-winning run on an error in a Division I playdown.
- #8: April 20, 1984 vs. BFA-Fairfax, 5-4. John Carp's '84 sacrifice fly scores Scott Hamlett '84.
- #9: May 20, 1985 vs. North Country, 8-7 (8 innings). Todd Collins '86 singles to score Dan Brunelle '85 with the game-winner.
- #10: May 6, 1989 vs. Milton, 8-7. Jim Covey '89 drives home the winner with a two-out single.
- #11: May 18, 1989 vs. North Country, 4-3. Joe Goodreau scores on an error.
- #12: May 26, 1992 vs. Rice, 4-3 (11 innings). Sean Gilbert's '94 single scores Jeff Simays '94, who catches all 11 innings.
- #13: June 1, 1994 vs. Middlebury, 2-1 (8 innings). John Hill '94 scores on Tom Belisle's '95 one-out, fielder's choice grounder.
- #14: April, 20, 2000 vs. St. Johnsbury, 13-12. Travis Miles '00 lays down a suicide squeeze to plate Jason Carey '01 with one down.
Hope you enjoyed that useless list of information. It includes our longer game ever, the 11-inning affair in 1992 with Rice. Today's one-run win against Rice was our second narrow home victory of the week, which got me to looking stuff up. This is the first time since April 1983 that we've won two one-run home games in one week. We knocked off Missisquoi on April 28 (Thursday) and MMU on April 30 (Saturday) in 1983, two years after beating Milton on May 13, 1981 (Wednesday), and Vergennes on May 16, 1981 (Saturday). Today's win was our 30th one-run victory alltime in games played at CHS. At 5-9 overall and 5-8 in the Metro, we're rapidly improving as the playoffs approach. We'll play the visiting team against Middlebury on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Centennial Field, where we're 7-9 alltime, including a 6-2 victory over Middlebury in 1993. Following that, we'll host Burlington on Monday for the remainder of our April 26 game. We're tied at 7 going into the seventh. And those of you who didn't come to Centennial tonight missed some fun. Not only do all Metro teams now have at least one loss, but I'm also out $35. Ah, pizza: The ultimate bribe for victory.
May 27, 2003
We knocked off St. Johnsbury at home today, 5-4. Of the 20 teams in Division I, we are the 18th ranked and St. Jay is No. 19. The Lakers came out hot, smacking three hits in the first, but our five stolen bases and their three errors really contributed to our four first-inning runs. However, after Joel Bissonnette's single with two down in the second, we didn't collect any more hits. In fact, we left the bases loaded in each of the first two innings but failed to leave a runner on in the final four frames during which we batted. Joel's RBI double in the first was our first big hit, and fellow seniors Drew Sumner and Jared Lowe also knocked singles during the inning. Thus, all four of our hits were by our seniors, and each Bissonnette and Sumner extended their hitting streaks to five games. Drew also made a nice sliding catch in left to end the fifth. For the game, we stole six bases on seven attempts, once again showing we are capable of swiping a bag or two. Jared went five strong innings on the hit for his second career win and Drew finished it up with two innings of two-hit ball for the save. The pair combined to allow only four singles, three of which never left the infield. Our defense was sharp once again, committing only one error for the fourth consecutive game. I'll check the last time that occurred when I get a chance. At 4-9 overall, we need two more wins for 200 all time and another two or three victories (I'm leaning toward three) to get a home play-in game. We'll play a play-in game somewhere next Thursday. Also, our game with Burlington likely will resume next Monday. We're tied at 7 heading into the top of seventh at home. Tomorrow we face Metro heavyweight Rice (8-6, 8-5). They have a lethal offense (8.4 runs per game) but a struggling pitching staff: After allowing three runs or less in five straight games, they've allowed at least eight in the last four outings. Tune in at 4:30 p.m. at CHS when the Lakers go for win No. 199.
May 24, 2003
The Lakers lost a tough one today to North Country in Newport, 5-2. We banged out only five hits - two by first baseman Joel Bissonnette, including a two-run double in the third. He also made a nice play by deflecting a grounder off his head to pitcher Shelby Nolin, who tossed it back to Joel for the out. The alarming stat is we struck out 10 times, including eight times looking. Thanks to all of the parents who made the nearly-two-hour trek to almost the Canadian border. Especially thanks to Mrs. Nolin, who snuck into the drive-thru line at Wendy's to get food for some of us rather than us braving the mass of humanity inside.
May 23, 2003
We lost yesterday, 9-7, at Missisquoi, in the process falling to 3-8 overall and 3-7 in the Metro. We jumped out to a 4-0 lead thanks to a big two-out, first-inning rally, keyed by Shelby Nolin's bases-loaded double, which scored two before an outfield error allowed a third runner to score. However, the Thunderbirds roared back with one in the first and four in the second. They tacked on four more in the fourth for a 9-4 lead before the Lakers rallied for three in the fifth, but with a runner on third and one down in the fifth we couldn't close the gap any further. This was our first loss against Missisquoi since 1996 and the most runs we'd allowed to them since April 25, 1991, when we lost 10-2 at home. Aaron Mason, who began the year 3-for-25, went 3-for-4 in the game. Nolin went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, and Mike Wasko recorded six fielding assists to up his season total to 50, breaking the old school record of 47. Two things I have to add: On Tuesday, Shelby induced three South Burlington hitters into outs on only three pitches during the fifth inning. No less, they were the 3-4-5 hitters. Also, the departure times for the bus are in all of the players' handbooks and have been listed on the practices page on the Web site all season. We leave at 7:30 tomorrow morning for North Country. Also, with sophomore Jeremy Ringuette appearing in right field on Thursday - picking up his first varsity hit in the process - we have had 11 underclassmen appear in a game this season, extending the school record which we are in the process of smashing: The most had been six, back in 1979.
May 21, 2003
The Lakers fell to 3-7 overall and 3-6 in Metro League play with an 8-3 loss to South Burlington on Tuesday. We fought back valiantly after allowing six runs (two earned) in the first two innings but never completely jelled on offense. Drew Sumner went 2-for-4 with a two-out three-run homer in the seventh, a screamer that cleared the left-field fence by a few feet. Taylor Newton went 2-for-3 with a run and a stolen base, and Mike Wasko smacked his team-leading fifth double of the season. Shelby Nolin pitched five innings of relief, allowing only two seventh-inning runs and two walks while striking out six. Taylor and Mike, both juniors, are closing in on a couple lesser-known - and lesser-heralded - single-season CHS records. But, of course, what would the game of baseball be without obscure records? Taylor has three sacrifice hits, tied for the second-most in a season. The single-season and career records are five, well within his reach. Mike has 44 fielding assists, three fewer than Nate Brubaker's '93 1993 record. It should be noted that Nate only played 16 of his team's 18 games and played 110 innings in the field, including 41 on the mound when not playing shortstop. Thus far, Mike has played 76 innings over 11 games at shortstop. Both of the previously mentioned records are the little things a baseball team has to do to be successful, and we're getting there. Our batting average is up to .226, 10 points higher than the worst-hitting CHS team of all time. We have 30 hits in our last four games after recording 37 safeties in our first seven (don't forget that eleventh incomplete game of ours against Burlington). We also have 10 extra-base hits in our last five games after getting six in our first six. I also just did some research on where we would be if the playoffs began today: 17th out of 20 teams. Not good, but we have the potential to zoom up the Division I standings with a few more wins. Just for clarity sake, teams are seeded in the postseason based on their index rating, which is formulated by dividing a team's index points by the number of games it played. Index points are determined thusly: A team receives 5 points for a road win against a team in the same division; 4 points for a home win against a team in the same division OR for a road win against a team in a lower division; 3 points for a home win against a team of a lower division. Therefore, our road wins against Mount Abe and Milton (both Division II teams) are worth four points apiece, and our home win against Spaulding (a Division I team) was worth four points. Our final few games look like this, with the potential index points in parentheses: Thursday at Missisquoi (5); May 24 at North Country (5); Tuesday vs. St. Jay (4); May 29 vs. Rice (4); May 31 at Middlebury (5). We also either will complete the Burlington game or call it a tie. If we're seeded somewhere between 13 and 20, we'll probably have to play a play-in game (which I'll miss because I'll be in New York, something which is out of my control). However, last year we were 7-9 and were seeded 10th and went straight to the playdowns. So not only should we have a goal to return to .500 (which is imminently doable) but also to build off of being at .500. But first things first. We travel to Swanton to face Missisquoi tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. We are among eight teams which have been mathematically eliminated from winning the Metro, but we're in no way out of it when it comes to determining our playoff fate. This following story might seem trite, but I interned at the Burlington Free Press last summer and covered the Division IV championship game. I know it's not Division I, but bear with me. Whitcomb had had a mediocre regular season (9-5), but their ace pitcher returned for the playoffs from an injury and sparked them to the state championship. He pitched every inning in those playoffs. The moral of the story is it took one big spark to get them rolling, and they never stopped. I see everyone on our team coming together, and it's the perfect time for that. This is the last shot for the seniors, and everyone else might get their best shot at getting deep in the playoffs this season. Just something to think about because the playoffs is another season entirely. We'll be back to 0-0 like everyone else, but right now we determine how tough a road we have to travel. See everyone at 2:15 p.m. bus tomorrow.
May 18, 2003
NOTE: Tuesday's game with South Burlington has been moved from a 4:30 p.m. start time to 4 p.m. Adjust your schedules accordingly.
May 17, 2003
Our offense broke out as we won today, 14-6, at Mount Abraham. We banged out 12 hits, the same number we had over our previous 16 innings of play. D.J. Edwards continued to hit by going 3-for-4 with three runs, four RBI and a double, and he also laid down a nice sacrifice bunt. Drew Sumner pitched six strong innings for the win, allowing four runs (one earned) and seven singles while striking out six and throwing only 79 pitches. Shelby Nolin pitched a solid seventh to wrap it up, allowing two unearned runs that were set up when the first-base umpire ruled (very incorrectly) that Taylor Newton's throw pulled Joel Bissonnette off the bag. Our defense hurt us a bit today: Five errors were committed - four by underclassmen - and led to five unearned runs. However, it also helped us. We took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the first when their starting pitcher smacked the first of his four hits, but an Aaron Mason-to-Bissonnette-to-Lucas Mullally relay cut a runner down at the plate on the play. Aaron and Joel made perfect throws while Lucas, in his first varsity game at catcher, blocked the plate beautifully. Aaron also made a couple running catches out in center field while Drew picked a runner off first. Mount Abe's defense broke down even worse than ours, committing nine errors - six by their shortstop/relief pitcher - which led to 10 unearned runs. In fact, nine of our first 11 runs were unearned. Up 2-0, D.J. came up with his first big hit of the day with a two-run single in the second inning. That put us up 4-0, and we broke out for seven runs in the fourth inning, keyed by six consecutive hits, including Mike Wasko's two-run double to the left-field gap. In the seventh, D.J. smacked a two-run double and scored on an error to produce the 14th run. At the plate, Drew also had a good day with two hits. More miscellaneous facts on D.J. and Drew in a second. We had other offensive contributors today: Wasko had three RBI; Joel had two hits, including a double, and an RBI; Jared Lowe had two hits; Aaron had a hit and scored three times. Okay, useless information time. Drew is inexplicably a markedly better hitter when he's our starting pitcher. He's 1-for-18 (.056) with five strikeouts, one walk and two RBIs when he starts elsewhere than the mound, but he's 4-for-8 (.500) with no strikeouts, one walk and two RBIs as the starting hurler. D.J. also has come around hitting as he has found his niche with the team. He began his varsity career by striking out in each of his first seven at bats while walking once and stealing a base. Since then, he's 8-for-19 (.421) with seven runs, two doubles, four RBI, two strikeouts, seven walks and four stolen bases. Going a little further into the season, he started 1-for-13 (.077) with eight K's and has hit 7-for-13 (.538) since then with only one strikeout. Today, D.J. was responsible for seven of our runs (3 R, 4 RBI), the most since Jason Carey (5 R, 2 RBI) and Dusty Fregeau (4 R, 3 RBI) each produced seven on May 3, 2001, at BFA-St. Albans, a game which we won 20-8. I'm not sure what the record is, but Ty Pratt '00 exceeded seven at least twice: He had nine (5 R, 4 RBI) at Missisquoi on April 27, 2000, an 18-6 pounding, and eight at Essex (4 R, 5 RBI) on May 6, 1999, a 16-13 win. He hit a home run in that game, so when figuring runs produced, we subtract the time he drove himself in. However, none of these three players were accountable for half of their team's runs. We return to action on Tuesday at home against South Burlington (6-4) at 4 p.m., which is different than our normal start times. Plan accordingly. We lost at South Burlington on April 18, 3-2, our fourth loss in a row to them and 12th loss in 14 games dating back to 1996.
May 15, 2003
We lost at undefeated CVU (7-0) today, 11-1. Despite the coaching staff's concerns about players getting injured due to very poor field conditions, we played on. Their starting pitcher apparently has suffered from arm problems this season, and he began the game by walking four of our first five batters, tossing two wild pitches and allowing two stolen bases before being relieved. We only scored one run in the first and were held hitless until the third inning when Mike Wasko beat out an infield grounder. The CVU scorekeeper called it an error, but I felt Mike beat it out. So, according to CVU, our first hit came off the bat of Shelby Nolin with two down in the sixth. As far as I can tell, our six-game losing streak to CVU is our longest current skid against any team. We last beat them on May 23, 1998, by a 2-1 count at Centennial Field, a game which I believe was pitched by Justin Bissonnette. However, the last time we defeated them at a high school was 7-2 at CVU on May 18, 1996.
May 13, 2003
The Lakers fell to Mount Mansfield today, 6-5 at CHS. It was our third one-run loss of the year, and we fall to 2-5 overall and 2-4 in the Metro. Drew Sumner had likely his best high school game today. He pitched five strong innings before MMU broke through in the sixth for five runs to erase a 3-1 deficit. Drew allowed eight hits and two earned runs while walking one and K'ing three, and his throw to Kyle Burkhard while falling backward in the sixth inning resulted in the first out and stopped a run from scoring. He also went 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI and a walk. After we fell behind 6-3, we rallied for two runs in the bottom of the sixth thanks to Joel Bissonnette's second hit of the day and a throwing error by the left fielder. However, our rally stalled and we couldn't get anything going in the seventh. D.J. Edwards doubled his season total with two hits today and also made a nice snag in left field. Shelby Nolin doubled in a run in the fifth and reached for a sharp grounder to start a play that resulted in the first out of the seventh inning. Lucas Mullally picked up his first varsity hit on the first varsity pitch he ever saw. The last time a CHS team had three one-run losses in a season was 2000, when they went 14-6. During the game today, the first run MMU scored was the 3,000th allowed by CHS alltime. Our next game is Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at CVU.
May 11, 2003
Just a note on the research I said I'd do: I found three other instances where the team had only extra-base hits in a game and no singles:
- April 25, 1984: In an 11-6 loss at Milton, John Carp '84 hits a two-run homer in the second inning for the team's only hit. This game might also mark the most runs the team has ever scored on a lone hit.
- May 6-7, 1993: Mike Johnson '94 and Ken Boucher '95 hit sixth-inning doubles during a 5-3 loss at Essex.
- May 18, 1994: The Lakers are perfected through five innings before Tom Belisle '95 smacks a sixth-inning double for his first hit of the year - in the team's eighth game. Colchester loses to St. Johnsbury, 10-0 at home. Belisle was the only Laker to play every inning that year, so he had appeared in every inning to that point.
Thus, the four doubles we hit for our only hits on Friday at Harwood were the most extra-base hits we've ever had as our only hits in a game.
May 10, 2003
We lost yesterday at Harwood, 5-4. Thus, we are still winless in six trips to Duxbury since 1976. Of those six losses, this was the third by a lone run. Of the teams we've played at least 12 times, we have the fewest wins against Harwood (three). A couple mental mistakes dug us a 2-0 first-inning hole, and after a first inning in which we placed three runners on base but did not score, we broke through in the fourth thanks to back-to-back doubles by Joel Bissonnette and Mike Wasko and a suicide squeeze by Kyle Burkhard. After Harwood took a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the inning, we got two back in the fifth: D.J. Edwards doubled to the left-center field fence before a two-out error and a walk loaded the bases and Wasko doubled two home. In the bottom of the sixth inning, some nifty defense kept us out of trouble before the winning run eventually scored. A Highlander led off with a single and the next batter's sacrifice bunt was misplayed into a hit by pitcher Jared Lowe. However, third baseman Shelby Nolin came all the way to the first-base side of the diamond to retrieve the bunt and nailed the runner from first - who never stopped running on the play - at third when shortshop Wasko covered. Then Lowe picked the runner off first to clear the bases with two out. However, the next batter singled, moved all the way to third on a wild pitch and came home on another wild pitch. Lowe is now 0-3 despite having a 3.61 ERA. Harwood used a strategy of bunting and slashing to get many of their hits. In fact, four of their 10 hits were bunt singles and another was a slow roller hit to Wasko. We had a handful of opportunities again during the game. We put a runner on base in six innings, being set down 1-2-3 in the third inning for just the fourth time in 47 innings this year. In all, 13 of 31 batters reached base, aided greatly by a Harwood error in each of the last four innings. During the game, four doubles accounted for all of our hits. I'm going to research when the last time was we had that many extra-base hits account for all of our safeties in a game. Wasko not only had two doubles and three RBI but also had seven fielding assists. Eight assists are the most that I know of that have been recorded in a game, a record set by third baseman John Kresser '76 in a game in 1976. Mike also has 28 assists through seven games, which puts him on pace for 64 this season, which would shatter Nate Brubaker's '93 1993 record of 47 set in 18 games. Of course, Nate spent seven of those games on the mound when he wasn't playing shortstop. Thus far, Edwards also is accomplishing a noteworthy feat (for good or for bad): He leads the team in K's (nine) and is tied for the lead in walks (seven). Only two Lakers have led the team in these categories at season's end: Brian Bittner '82 (21 BB, 19 K in 1982) and Kevin Grabowski '88 (7 BB, 15 K in 1987). Their respective seasons were two of the most impressive in CHS history, with Grabowski hitting a school-record eight dingers that year. Average those two season together and you get: 18 games, 21 runs, 19 hits, six homers, 41 total bases, 14 walks, 17 strikeouts, .358 average and .774 slugging percentage. Also, D.J. is within three walks of Justin Bissonnette's '00 1998 sophomore record of 10 bases on balls. Our next game is on Tuesday versus Mount Mansfield at 4:30 p.m. Only four wins to 200...and we only need to allow one run to reach 3,000 runs allowed. Also, check out the "Odds & Ends" page in the "Misc Pages" for some info on brothers who have at one point both played on varsity, such as freshman Eddie Montgomery and his brother Chris, who played in 1990-91. In just two games, Eddie has more at bats (six) than Chris had in his first varsity season as a junior (five) and more hits (two-to-zip). Chris, who played 20 games, still holds the stolen-base edge five-to-three...for now.
May 8, 2003
In the 453 games in CHS varsity baseball history during 27 years prior to this season, only four freshmen had ever debuted. In six games this season, we have already seen three additions to that list, including two who debuted during today's 12-5 win in Milton. In our season opener, Aaron Thibault appeared in right field, and today Kyle Warner pinch ran while Eddie Montgomery - a late addition to the starting lineup at second base - went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, two runs and two stolen bases. Quite a debut indeed, and he became just the third freshman to record a hit. In the top of the fifth of a 5-5 game, Eddie dropped a single into left for his second hit and RBI of the game, plating Mike Wasko with the game-winning run. Milton helped us by committing eight errors and allowing six unearned runs, but the bats came alive for the first time this season - we banged out 11 hits - as our team batting average rocketed up to .213. With all of our base runners, we had time to strand nine, the same number we left on base in our 8-3 loss to BFA-St. Albans on Tuesday. Today, at least one runner reached base in every inning, including at least three in each of the last six innings and four during five frames. Offensive highlights: D.J. Edwards reached base four times - including three walks - but was stranded in scoring position three times before scoring in the seventh. He also stole two bases; Jared Lowe smacked a third-inning single and scored before drilling a three-run homer in the seventh, his first varsity extra-base hit and his fourth hit in his last eight at bats; Wasko went 2-for-4 and reached base four times before lining out to second base in the seventh; Nolin had two singles and scored twice; Kyle Burkhard had an RBI single that put us up 1-0 in the second. In all, 42 batters came to the plate today, and 25 reached base. That means our batters reached base nearly 60 percent of the time today. An additional fact that at least proves our offense isn't dead: We've been set down 1-2-3 only three times during the 40 innings in which we've batted this year. Warner's pinch-running appearance also warrants a mention, since his debut lasted one pitch before Joel Bissonnette's grounder forced Warner out at second. His base-running excursion is likely the shortest debut for any CHS freshman, and it's possibly the shortest debut for any of the 241 varsity players who debuted before him. Defensively we looked sharp again. Highlights included Wasko going backhanded in the hole at shortstop and throwing out a runner at first from his backside; Nolin charging a slow roller and getting the runner at first by a step; and Edwards battling the sun to catch a tough fly ball in right. Drew Sumner also started his first game on the hill and went four strong innings before giving way to Nolin, who pitched three no-hit innings for the save. With our 12 runs, we have scored more runs on the road against Milton (114) than against any other team in the program's history. We return to action on Friday at Harwood, a team we have never beaten in Duxbury. However, we did beat them as the road team during a game at CHS on May 22, 1976 - 9,842 days ago! We haven't beaten them period since May 15, 1982. The game begins at 4:30 p.m. For directions to the field, check out this page [ed. note: dead link removed], courtesy of the Vermont Senior Baseball League Web page (which is a cool site to check out). For more information on CHS baseball freshmen, see the "Odds & Ends" page in the "Miscellaneous Pages" section of the Web site.
May 6, 2003
We lost to BFA-St. Albans today, 8-3 at home. Jared Lowe went 2-for-4, Taylor Newton reached base threes times (BB, 2 HP), Kyle Burkhard smacked a double for his first varsity hit, and D.J. Edwards had a nice diving play at third base and walked twice. As a team, we stole four bases during the first 10 batters of the game but didn't attempt another steal and had a runner picked off. Our batting average is .183, which would be the lowest varsity batting average ever at CHS by a good 30 points. With 22 hits, we're also on pace for 70 hits, which would be the lowest in a 16-plus game season by 30 hits. We travel to face Milton on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
May 5, 2003
I'm finally getting around to reporting on Saturday's game with Essex, which we lost 14-2. Except for the first inning, Jared Lowe pitched brilliantly. His first-inning line: 1 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 30 pitches. His final four innings: 4 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 65 pitches (16 per inning). In fact, from the second to fifth innings, we out hit them 2-0. Kyle Burkhard came on in the sixth during his first varsity pitching appearance, and with his first varsity pitch he plunked a batter. He allowed 7 runs during the inning (4 earned) and calmed down in the seventh for a 1-2-3 inning. That we lost this game just adds to the overall domination by Essex in the alltime series: They're 21-4 against us since the series began in the 1982 playoffs and annually in 1984. Our .160 winning percentage against them is the worst against any team we've ever played, and we're now 1-11 against them at CHS. I was a part of the last team to beat them: 16-13 at EHS on May 6, 1999. No, our pitching was not as good that year as it will be this year. Saturday's game was the third straight against Essex in which they scored 10 runs and the fourth time in five meetings. They've outscored us 40-7 in the last three meetings.
Though we continue to struggle at the plate, some positives came out of this game. Mike Wasko looked sharp at short and Aaron Mason was solid in center. Drew Sumner and D.J. Edwards picked up their first varsity hits while Joel Bissonnette went 2-for-2 with a walk and a stolen base. Wasko also stole two bases during the same time on base. During the game, we struck out 15 times, definitely one of the negatives. Of the 10 strikeouts the starting pitcher had, seven were looking. Thus, we barely missed the school record for K's in a game: 16, set vs. Milton on April 26, 1977, and last year at Centennial Field against Mount Abe on May 11. Forget for a second that seven came in three innings against Tyler Pelland, a Boston Red Sox pick in last year's amateur baseball draft. Additionally, the seven runs we allowed in the sixth inning against Essex tied the record for the most runs we've allowed in a sixth inning. Seven runs were also allowed one month apart to Burlington (April 20) and Rice (May 27) during the 1989 season. That year the team posted a 6.34 ERA, something which we're approaching at 4.52. I'll bet we get that down quickly, though. Tomorrow we're scheduled to face BFA-St. Albans at home at 4:30 p.m., Thursday we face Milton on the road at 4:30 p.m., and then Friday we travel to Harwood for a 4:30 p.m. match up.
May 2, 2003
Today's game has been postponed until next Friday. Tomorrow we play at 3 p.m. at home versus Essex. Be there at 12:45 p.m.
April 30, 2003
We won our first game of the year yesterday, 8-4 over Spaulding at home. We had only four hits all day, but we scored four runs in each of the first two innings to pull out to an 8-0 advantage, a lead we never relinquished. In the first, Mike Wasko scored on a wild pitch, and Shelby Nolin doubled two home before also scoring on a wild pitch. In the second inning, we scored four runs without the benefit of a hit thanks to two hit batsmen and four consecutive bases on balls. During the rest of the game, only Aaron Mason picked up a hit, albeit hit first on varsity. Shelby's was also his first varsity hit, and he drove in three RBIs while also pitching the first four innings for the win. He allowed only two singles and one run while walking three and striking out four. Drew Sumner made his first varsity pitching appearance over the last three innings, allowing four hits and three runs while walking two batters. Joel Bissonnette walked three times as the Lakers drew seven walks.
Yesterday's game was our first with a decision (win or loss) at Colchester High School since May 22, 2001, when we beat Spaulding on the day we dedicated Saddlemire Field. It was also the first time the varsity team won before April 30 during Coach Phillips' tenure. In fact, CHS hasn't lost on April 29 since 1997, to Spaulding since 1994 or at home to Spaulding since 1988 (5-0).
Our next game is Friday at Harwood at 4:30 p.m. We played Harwood annually from 1976 to 1983 and began playing them again in 2001. We haven't beaten them since 1982 and we've never won at Harwood. Yes, we have beaten them playing the visiting team, but that was during a home-and-home doubleheader played at CHS in 1976, which we swept. So we beat them twice on May 22, 1976, and have beaten them once in the 9,832 days since, as of today. Yes, I counted. In the 9,872 days since the program's first game, we've never won at Harwood. In fact, we haven't beaten them since May 15, 1982, a good 7,560 days ago. Just to put that into perspective, the coaches were all born, but none of our players were! Heck, I was barely eight months old, and I was living in Northern California!
April 26, 2003
I'm back for an update on today's game. First off, everyone at the game today knows Dusty Fregeau is injured, though Drew Sumner confirmed that Dusty did indeed break a bone in his shin. So it's unclear that he will play at all the rest of the season, so everyone is urged to be supportive of Dusty right now and wish him well. If you read this, Dusty, we're all here for you. I'm sure you'll be at the games and such, but if there's anything anyone can do, let us know.
As for the game, there was a steady sprinkling rain starting at about 9 a.m. and it was basically a gametime (11 a.m.) decision to play today. This was our first game at Colchester HS since May 22, 2001, after vandalism forced us to play all of our games on the road last year. So we played 20 straight games on the road before today. Once we started, we played six innings and were tied at 7 when the final out was recorded and Dusty got injured when he made an awkward slide at second base. At least, I think that's how he got injured. So after that, Coach Phillips and Burlington Head Coach Wayne Courcy decided to complete the game at a later date. So this means this game is not a tie. It will just be completed later on. So I have updated the stats and will just tack on the stats for the final inning once we complete it. This means Jared Lowe, who pitched all six innings, has yet to receive a decision or a complete game since it's not over yet. This also means that the first team we will pick up a decision against (a win or loss) at Colchester since 2001 will be Spaulding (Tuesday at 4 p.m.), which was the team we last played at CHS in 2001.
As for the game, CHS took a 2-0 lead in first on Joel Bissonnette's two-run single. However, Burlington took a 6-4 lead thanks to five errors by sandwiching four second-inning runs and two third-inning runs around two CHS second-inning runs. Of those six Burlington runs, only two were earned. Our two runs in the second scored on a wild pitch and a Mike Wasko RBI single. Burlington added another run in the fifth before Dusty hit a home run to left later that inning to draw us within 7-5 before we tied it in the sixth. Taylor Newton roped a single up the middle to drive in Shelby Nolin and Jared Lowe hit a sacrific fly, scoring Taylor. And that's where it still stands.
Dusty's day began pretty well before his sixth-inning injury. He homered and doubled. The homer was his second on varsity after hitting an inside-the-parker at Lamoille last season. Skippy's two-run single sparked us early and Taylor had a big day with the single and two walks. He scored twice. Shelby, a sophomore playing in his first varsity game, made some plays at third while also roping a liner to the center fielder in his first varsity plate appearance. Freshman Aaron Thibault was back for his second appearance in right field. In fact, he has yet to play on junior varsity and might become a fixture on the varsity squad. He also should be proud of today. After a shaky start, he made two catches and even poked his first high school hit through the right side. The fifth freshman ever to play varsity baseball at CHS, he became just the second freshman to pick up a hit. The only other freshman to pick up a hit was Travis Clairmont, who picked up three singles and a double in 1999. Here's a freshman breakdown:
Name
| Year
| G
| AB
| R
| H
| Avg
Chris Jarvis
| 1976
| 2
| 3
| 0
| 0
| .000
Jay Dashnow
| 1978
| 10
| 2
| 2
| 0
| .000
Reed Beaupre
| 1987
| 1
| 1
| 0
| 0
| .000
Travis Clairmont
| 1999
| 9
| 22
| 5
| 4
| .182
Aaron Thibault
| 2003
| 2
| 4
| 1
| 1
| .250
| | | | | |
So Aaron seems like he is going to help the best he can on varsity this year, which should be amply. In six plate appearance, he has walked twice, singled, grounded out to move a runner, reached on an error and struck out. So he has done something productive five times out of six. Not bad for anyone, but especially a freshman with absolutely no JV experience. In the game, Jared also pitched pretty well. He K'd seven and only walked four, but he was hurt by those four unearned runs and five errors. We gave them about eight outs in those two innings, not to mention five extra bases on bad throws. But those were all the errors we committed in the game.
So it's back to the grind on Tuesday against Spaulding. After that, we play Friday at Harwood and versus Essex on Saturday, the first day of my summer vacation. Thank goodness it's an SAT date and we don't play until 3 p.m. I can sleep in! Regarding completing a game on a later date, I know of three other times the team began a game one day and finished it on another: April 22 & 24, 1989, a 10-5 win versus CVU; May 6 & 7, 1993, a 5-3 CHS loss at Essex; and May 21 & 23, 1997, a 15-2 loss at South Burlington. After today's game, we still haven't won a game before April 30 since 2000. Hopefully the Spaulding game, which is on the 29th, will change things. In fact, CHS hasn't lost on April 29 since 1997, to Spaulding since 1994 or at home to Spaulding since 1988 (4-0). Wow. See everyone who can make it at practice tomorrow at 10 a.m. Don't forget to be checking the practice schedule. It's there for reference in case you guys forget what time practice is.
April 21, 2003
According to the Metro League Web site, our game against Middlebury on May 31 is indeed at Centennial Field and will be played at 4 p.m.
April 19, 2003
Scoring changes from yesterday...after little-to-no deliberation on my part - mostly pressure from the players - I've decided that the play where Drew and Aaron ran into each other is an E-8 (error on Mason) and not a double, and Drew's two-run bunt single is a sacrifice with an E-3 on the play, but the RBIs are still credited. So without that hit, Drew is still looking for his first hit on varsity.
April 18, 2003
After more than a month of practices, the season finally began today, though not exactly in the way we had envisioned. We lost, 3-2, at South Burlington when they scored with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning. Jared Lowe threw a gem, however, allowing only seven hits on 121 pitches while pitching all day in a strong wind. He struck out three and walked six and worked out of a couple jams thanks to sharp pitching and some tough defense; he ended up with four assists in the field. First baseman Joel Bissonnette led the offense, going 2-for-2 while also walking twice. The first inning of the season provided a tense moment after left fielder Drew Sumner and center fielder Aaron Mason collided while chasing a fly ball that got caught in the stiff wind. Drew was fine except for losing his contact in his eye, and he re-entered in the second inning once he found it. In his first varsity at bat in the third inning, he laid down a perfect suicide squeeze. It turned into an infield two-run single when Dusty Fregeau scored from second on the play, and we had a 2-0 lead. It didn't last long, though, as the Rebels scored twice in the bottom of the inning. We threatened many times, which was good to see, but we left a runner on second during each inning of the game and never scored after our two-run outburst. In the past few years we have had a tough time offensively at the beginning of the season, so today was a positive start to the season. While we only had four hits, we drew nine bases on balls. On the last play of the game, one of the Rebels smacked a single to right and the runner from second scored just ahead of the relay throw from Joel, who had received the throw from right fielder Aaron Thibault. I'll have little mini tidbits on everyone this year, I'm sure, so I'd better sneak this one in for Aaron before he gets demoted to JV: Today, he became just the fifth CHS freshman to play varsity baseball in the program's 28-year history! It was mostly because we needed another player and he could play the outfield and pitch, but he did a fantastic job. Besides cleanly fielding the final hit of the game and coming up with a throw that almost stopped the run from scoring, he walked twice and grounded out, moving a runner from first to second base. All in all, it was a good varsity debut. Check out the Odds & Ends page for more on freshmen on varsity. We had five other players make their varsity debuts today, including Drew and Mason: junior Taylor Newton, who singled for his first hit in the fourth and also walked and stole a base; junior Kyle Burkhard, who played first base for an inning while Drew found his contact and Joel shifted to left; and sophomore D.J. Edwards, who played third base. It was a good game considering this team hasn't been able to play many good games in April over the past few years. We're now 2-12 in the past three Aprils, and don't forget we started 0-4 in 2001 and 0-7 last year. This season already appeared much more promising. As for today's loss, take into account what was going against us: First, we never win at South Burlington. The team is 2-14 alltime at SBHS, where the team hasn't won since I was a senior! And, to be honest, we almost blew that game in the seventh, too. We won that game, 9-7, but have lost 7-6, 4-3 (in eight innings), 8-4 and 7-0 at SBHS since then. In fact, the only other time we've won there was in 1988, a good 14-7 spanking. The second thing that was going against us today is our record when beginning the season on the road: This was our 10th loss in 11 games! I think we need to begin scheduling our first game at home or something. Oh, another tidbit before I go: Dusty became the 15th player in CHS baseball history to start on three different opening days and the fourth to start at the same position during those games (catcher). Also check out the statistics. They've been updated, but you might need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view them. I've added a link for that at the top. See everyone tomorrow at the car wash at the middle school (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.). We have a scrimmage next Thursday against BFA-Fairfax at home before playing Burlington on Saturday at 11 a.m. and really getting into the season. Have a good vacation this week, guys. See everyone at practice.
April 15, 2003
Well, I think this will be the last update before our schedule Friday game. Today we got outside and played a scrimmage with CVU - the first varsity scrimmage since 2000! No kidding! Anyway, senior pitchers Jared Lowe and Dusty Fregeau looked really sharp and we also got some nice defensive plays from our outfielders and junior shortstop Mike Wasko. Dusty also launched a two-run homer into the woods at CHS. We usually don't even have time for a tuneup for the regular season, so this was good for the team, even if neither team was completely taking the game as seriously as a regular-season game. The season starts on Friday at 4 p.m. at South Burlington! See everyone there! And for those who don't know, the team only needs six wins to reach 200 alltime in the program's history. Let the count down begin.
April 8, 2003
Hey all, another update. We're still inside, for those of you in warm-weather climates who haven't had to suffer through another late Spring. Also, we're down to 10 players now that junior James Limoge has quit. Uniform numbers were handed out today, check the roster for numbers. I don't know what's going on this weekend, but we are scheduled to play a scrimmage SOMEWHERE, either at MMU or in New Hampshire. We'll see, though. Stay tuned.
April 3, 2003
Update time: no car wash this Saturday, no trip to New Hampshire Sunday, no varsity practice planned, as of Thursday afternoon, until Tuesday afternoon. We are scheduled to play at MMU next Saturday, April 12, and hopefully we'll either play them or travel to New Hampshire. But we're looking at a hat trick for cancelled New Hampshire trips, which Coach Phillips has planned each Spring since 2001. We've never gone.
April 1, 2003
After much deliberation on how to play a sick and twisted April Fool's joke, I've decided just to have straight up news today. All I really have is that seniors Dusty Fregeau and Drew Sumner and junior Mike Wasko were named captains yesterday. Congrats to those guys. I believe Mike is only the fourth junior to be named captain, but the second during Coach Phillips' varsity tenure. Travis Clairmont '02, Scott Benoit '89 and Shea Lamphere '88 were the other three that I know of. In fact, Lamphere was a captain for three years, according to Coach Saddlemire's records.
As for the weather, it should be at least 35 the rest of the week with highs in the 40s. Oh yeah, as for the sick April Fool's joke? It's supposed to snow straight through from Thursday to Tuesday. Don't believe me? Check weather.com for the most up-to-date forecast, but that was what was posted as of 2 p.m. on Tuesday, April 1. We're still schedule to play in New Hampshire on Sunday.
We also have a fundraiser on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. where we'll be washing cars at the Middle School ... or, at this point, shoveling driveways. And if everyone could sell an ad that would help a lot. If you need info, e-mail Coach Kessler. I can tell you now that full-page ads are $150, half pages are $100, quarter pages are $50 and quarter pages for "Friends of the program" - parents and former players - are $25.
March 30, 2003
Look outside. It's a winter wonderland. Yay. Guess we should stop scheduling that New Hampshire game, eh? It should all be gone in a week or so, but I guess we'll inside for a while. Also, the full JV roster is up.
March 29, 2003
Tryout week has ended, and right now we have 10 healthy players on varsity and 16 on JV. We have three prospective sophomores who could rotate a little between the two teams, which would a first while I've been with the program. However, it might be necessary, as we are lacking depth at some positions. BTW, 10 players would be the fewest ever to play for a Lakers team. Twelve played in 2000, though the 12th - Jason Compagnon - was a sophomore JV callup who only pinch ran. As it is, we'll likely see between 12 and 14 guys play for us this season, though not all at once. Junior Kyle Burkhard has an injured ankle and we don't know when he'll be back, so he's really the 11th guy on the team. As it is, we have six new faces on varsity already this season, including Burkhard: senior Aaron Mason, juniors Matt La Roe, James Limoge, Taylor Newton and sophomore Shelby Nolin. Captains will be announced next week, and the final roster will likely be set. Hopefully by this time next week we'll have good enough weather to travel to New Hampshire. The weather is supposed to get chilly before warming up.
March 18, 2003
Welcome to spring, even if there's no guarantee we've seen the last of this winter's snow storms. Pitchers and catchers have been reporting this week as baseball has officially gotten underway at Colchester High School.
I have updated the practice schedule according to what Coach Phillips printed on the most recently revised schedule. As always, this schedule is subject to change at a moment's notice, so drop by the site every now and then to doublecheck that day's events. Also, if you check out the schedule you might notice some things have changed. The Essex game scheduled for May 1 has been moved to the 2nd, but it will still be played at CHS at 4:30 p.m. The Saturday game on May 3 at Harwood will begin at 3 p.m. due to SATs being held that morning. Also, Coach Phillips said one or both of the games on May 29 and 31 might be played at Centennial Field. Stay tuned for further details. Finally, varsity scrimmages have been added to the schedule. For those of you unaware, the varsity squad has not participated in a scrimmage since 2000. Seriously. We've planned to go to Contoocook, N.H., to face Hopkinton High School for the past two years, but it fell through each time. Well, this season we've decided to schedule Hopkinton once again. This time we plan to play on Sunday, April 6. If that falls through (again!!!), we have scrimmages set for April 12 at MMU and April 15 versus CVU. After our regular-season opener on April 18, we're schedule to have eight days without a game, so an April 24 scrimmage versus BFA-Fairfax has been slated.
As an FYI to any underclassmen who might check out the site, all of the practice schedule stuff I post is for VARSITY only. Coach Mongeon will fill you guys in on JV practices.
Here's a fun (if not somewhat unpleasant) fact for the day to keep in mind: we haven't won a game before April 30 since 2000 (0-11), largely due to our inability to get outside and play - let alone practice - before our regular-season openers. On April 30 each of the past two years we've picked up our first victories, this after going 1-5 on April 30 in the previous six attempts. Chew on that until opening day.
Congratulations to the basketball team on reaching the state championship. You guys should all be very proud of yourselves and your team. The things that has made me most proud about wearing a uniform that says "Colchester" is that we're representing a town, not a union school district. You guys definitely made this town proud this season. Good luck in the future.
March 7, 2003
Hey all. Baseball begins soon - less than two weeks from now, in fact. Pitchers and catchers report on March 17, for those who didn't know. The practice schedule for the next few weeks is up and running, and the full schedule will be available within a few weeks. We have a couple tentative scrimmages scheduled, included a game against CVU and a *possible* trip down to Hopkinton, N.H. (knock on wood).
As for the media guide, turns out no one will get their own page for bios. I've decided it makes more sense to split pages, even for the guys who have lengthy bios. I think it will work better that way. If anyone wants to convince their parents to buy some ad space, it's $25 for friends of the program (1/4 page), and for businesses it's $150 for a full page, $100 for half and $50 for a quarter. Let me know if they're interested. I'm still working on getting local businesses to buy space.
Also, congratulations to the boys basketball team on making the Division I state semis. Joel, Jared, Dusty and Matt are all on that team and I'm figuring all plan on playing some ball this spring. Good luck to you guys.
February 13, 2003
Hey all, Happy (much belated) New Year! Many things are going on right now: I'm working on a media guide for the baseball program for my senior seminar project at Saint Mike's. But don't congratulate me on graduating just yet; I need to complete 12 more credits after this semester. It's nine semesters for me, folks. Who knows, maybe this means I'll be back to coach next year, too. For the media guide, I know I've told most of the seniors about it, and I have been sending them questionnaires for the media guide for their individual bios. Guys who have varsity experience will get their own full page, and guys who haven't played varsity yet will share pages. If you have received an e-mail from me, please reply! I'm trying to get this done quickly so I may begin the editing process. Also, if any of you ballplayers read this and are going to be playing varsity, e-mail me at javy@sover.net and I'll send you a questionnaire. I'll be in touch with everyone soon, anyway, either over the phone or at practice next month.
I'm also including ad space in the media guide, which I'll be selling off (I hope) to local businesses. Prices will run between $50 and $150, and "friends" of the program (current/former players and parents) can buy ad space for $25. Any money is helpful. So not only do I get a grade on this project, but I also am pushing heavily to raise money for the program.
Thirdly, I'm changing some of the design to the Yearly History pages, so some pages may look different than others for a while. I'm going to try to find time for that over the next couple of months.
I hope everyone's looking forward to baseball. It's almost here, finally. Of course, I'm saying this as it's -20 degrees with wind chill outside, but it can't last forever. See you guys in March.