Dana sets high standards for defending CCL co-champ St. Mary’s

St. Mary’s baseball coach Derek Dana is seeking a strong encore performance from his team, which won a Catholic Central League co-championship, captured a Clancy Tournament title and reached the Division 3 North semifinals in 2009.Click here for a photo gallery.”The kids understand what I talked to them about,” said Dana, who is entering his third season as Spartans coach. “Obviously, you have to make the tournament. We always shoot for the league. The Clancy Tournament is a Lynn tournament with a lot of history. We take a lot of pride competing.”The state tournament is the ultimate goal. We want to go far. How far? We’ll find out.”Dana will have a chance to gauge his team in four scrimmages this preseason, including one against English this past Saturday. The Spartans will also hold scrimmages against Swampscott, Salem and Classical. The regular season begins on April 7 with a league game against Bishop Fenwick at Fraser Field. The Crusaders shared the CCL title with the Spartans last season.St. Mary’s features some depth, as five seniors (three of whom started last season) and seven underclassmen return from 2009.Angelo Codispoti, Alex Glover and Justin Sharkey are the senior tri-captains this year. Codispoti, a catcher, won CCL all-star honors last year, as did the aptly named Glover, a centerfielder. Sharkey is a left fielder.Pitcher Michael Scanlon and utilityman/third baseman Cam Mulvey round out the five returning seniors. Scanlon, a 6-4 right-hander, is coming off an elbow injury early last season.”We’re hoping he has a good year,” Dana said. “He’s strong, healthy and ready to go.”Other returning players include four juniors – pitcher/third baseman Matt Turmenne, shortstop/pitcher Jeremy Tranfaglia, first baseman Brendan Mannion and second baseman Ryan Barrows – and three sophomores, right fielder Alex Fiste, outfielder Nick Day and backup catcher Chris Palladino. Fiste earned CCL all-star recognition after a freshman season in which he batted .500.Fiste was one of many Spartans to excel at the plate in 2009. Glover batted .440 and Sharkey was a .300 hitter with some key contributions. Codispoti, meanwhile, was the Clancy Tournament MVP and “came on real strong with the bat,” Dana said.”If younger guys come up and contribute, we’ll keep moving,” he said. “Last year, we had some success. We’ll see.”On the mound, Turmenne and Scanlon look to lead the staff this season. Turmenne started six games and went 4-1 last year.One challenge for Dana is replacing his infield from 2009, which included league MVP and all-star Joe Kasabuski (who was also a standout pitcher); all-star shortstop Ryan Beliveau, who doubled as the team’s top pitcher in 2009; third baseman Yano Petruzzelli; and first baseman Anthony DiSciscio.However, the coach noted, the outfield is returning, as is Codispoti behind the plate. Tranfaglia and Barrows got playing time in the infield last season when Kasabuski and Beliveau pitched.”They (Tranfaglia and Barrows) might be a little ahead of the pack,” Dana said. “There’s a lot of competition for starting positions. I think the team is pretty tight. We’ll see what happens.”The coach called his team numbers “strong.” Seventy-five to 80 players are trying out for 50 spots thus far on the varsity, junior varsity and freshman teams. St. Mary’s also has a junior high program that began on Friday.Dana said that the Tremont Street school has a sizable Lynn contingent.”The bulk of the team is from Lynn,” he said, noting that Peabody, Gloucester, Salem, Winthrop, Revere and Saugus are also represented on the Spartans’ roster.”They’re good kids,” he said. “They’ve worked hard. The season’s coming. It’s great to get outside so early.”