Baril seeks to stay away from "rebuilding" talk

If there’s one word Swampscott High baseball coach T.J. Baril does not want to hear about this year, it’s “rebuilding.””We’re staying away from talk of a ‘rebuilding season,'” Baril said. “That would be a huge insult.”Swampscott graduated eight seniors from last season’s team that went 11-9 before gaining momentum in the postseason and reaching the Division 3 North semifinals, losing to Newburyport. One of those graduates, Hunter Gordon, is now pitching for Boston College.”It’s a tough thing to come back from,” Baril said. However, he called the idea of his team taking a year off an “insult.”If Baril is looking for some positives, his team has practiced outdoors five of seven days, “ahead of where we usually are,” he said. He also cited strong defense and a pitching staff with three, count ’em, three, lefties.”Definitely defense,” Baril said. “Twelve guys are fighting for four infield spots, which is a luxury we haven’t had in the past.”He added, “In high school baseball, if you can make a play, it should more often than not keep you in games. It’d be shorter innings for pitchers, giving them no extra outs, and the percentages go up.”Speaking of pitchers, the Big Blue will feature a trio of lefties on a six-man staff. Senior Casey Collins and sophomores Vic Meninno and Frank Legere are all southpaws.”The last five years, we only had one lefty pitcher,” Baril said. “This year, we have three, which we’re looking forward to.”When it was suggested that adding a knuckleballer to the staff would particularly confuse opposing lineups, the coach quipped, “I’m sure that would work.”Senior Matt Barbuzzi, junior Robert Faia and sophomore Mike Walsh are the right-handers on the Big Blue staff.Justin Massey, Alex Patkin and A.J. D’Agnese join Collins and Barbuzzi as returning seniors, with Barbuzzi, Massey and Patkin serving as captains. Justyn Fischer-Block and Jake McDougall comprise a trio of returning juniors with Faia.The regular season starts on April 9 at non-league Melrose. Swampscott plays Gloucester in its Northeastern Conference opener at home on April 16.To prepare, the Big Blue will scrimmage St. Mary’s on Wednesday at Fraser Field (3:30 p.m. start). Swampscott will have a twin bill scrimmage against Bishop Fenwick and Manchester-Essex on Saturday.Baril listed Big Blue goals this season as competing for the league title and a tournament position, as well as to “try to win every game we possibly can,” he said.He noted many of the players who graduated in 2009, such as Gordon, Steve Moran, Chris Cameron, John Pelletier, Shane Coffey and Mike Gillis, and said, “Those are all huge impact guys. But we have guys ready to step up and fill those roles.”