English success riding on its seniors

If experience is the key to success, the English High baseball team should be in good shape considering it has 10 seniors returning from a team that finished 14-6 last year.Click here for a photo gallery.”These kids have been playing together for a long time,” English coach Joe Caponigro said. “We’re just hoping their experience can lead us this year.”English will have a few big holes to fill. The Bulldogs lost their No. 1 pitcher, Jonathan Surette, second baseman Estaban Paula, shortstop Richard Arias and right fielder Anthony Ortiz to graduation. They’ll also be without senior pitcher Mike Gonzalez, who is eligible to play but is not on the team this year.”They were all impact players,” Caponigro said.That’s the bad news. The good news is that the Bulldogs have plenty of talented seniors returning, including pitchers Sam Hill, who won three games (3-3) last year in eight appearances; Gabe Smith, who went 1-1 in seven appearances and also plays third base, and Pat Cullen.”In Surette (who is now playing at Bridgewater State College) and Gonzales, we lost 88 innings and 10 wins on the mound. That’s hard to replace. We’re just hoping these guys who have some pitching experience on the varsity level will step up. We’re also looking for some other guys to step up and fill the gap,” Caponigro said.Among the other returning seniors are Eric Bransfield, who played first base last year, but may be in the outfield this season; left fielder Brendan Carritte; centerfielder Brian Maynard, shortstop Dani Vicente and catcher Roberto Reyes.Also likely to figure in the mix this season are junior Junior Santos, who plays second base, and sophomores Randale Lora (pitcher and outfielder); Bilo Segura (a middle infielder); and Matt Burnham (pitcher).Caponigro said the freshman class looks very strong. He said a couple of players are getting a long look, including Ben Boden (pitcher, first base); Martin Merritt (third base, pitcher) and Melvin Cabrera (catcher, outfielder).Last year, the Bulldogs started out 7-0 and at one point were 11-1 before finishing at 14-6. They drew St. John’s Prep in the tournament and lost 12-7.”I think that we’ll hit the ball OK,” Caponigro said. “But we’ll only go as far as the pitching and defense takes us. Last year was a perfect example. We started out hot, pounding the ball, but at the end of the day, when you play against the iron, you have to play defense and throw strikes.”English is scheduled to scrimmage Malden on Wednesday and head for the Cape on Friday, where the Bulldogs will play a couple of games in Nauset. On the way home Sunday, the Bulldogs will stop in Plymouth for a scrimmage.Caponigro’s coaching staff includes Joe Raffa and Erik Fields (varsity assistants) and Joe Conlon (junior varsity). Chris Oram, who played for Caponigro his first year at English (2004), will coach the freshmen. Caponigro said he had about 80 players turn out for tryouts and he kept 50.