Baril steps down as Swampscott baseball coach, will take over at Masco

T.J. Baril has stepped down as baseball coach at Swampscott High to take the reins of the Masconomet Regional High School program.”We had some great teams at Swampscott and a bunch of great kids every year,” said Baril, who coached the Big Blue for the past seven years. “I’ll miss it a lot. It’s a bittersweet kind of thing. I wish I could stay 35 years in Swampscott.” However, he said, “I need to make the move.”He described several factors as being behind the move.”I started teaching at Amesbury this year,” he said. “It’s an hour commute to Swampscott. Masco is 15 minutes from Amesbury.”He added, “I have a young family. The Cape Ann League has a lot of Saturday morning games. My family can come to the games, which is really important to me.”Swampscott athletic director Jon Flanagan praised Baril’s handling of the situation.”T.J. was honest with me that there might be a situation for him that would be better for himself and his family,” Flanagan said. “He had a new job up on the North Shore and expressed he had some interest. At the same time, he had reservations and reluctance.”I encouraged him that if there was a better opportunity for you and your family, you need to explore it. He was open and honest.”Baril was officially offered the position on Thursday, and accepted it.It also sounds as if Baril will serve as a bit of an advisor to Flanagan in choosing a replacement; the job will be posted today.”I told him he certainly has a knowledge of baseball, which will be helpful,” Flanagan said. “I would certainly value his opinion.”Baril said, “I’m going to do everything I can to make sure the Swampscott program stays at a high level.”Baril, 35, has been a coach for 12 years, the last seven as head coach at Swampscott (where he succeeded Frank DeFelice) and the previous five as an assistant at Shawsheen Tech. His Big Blue teams reached the North semifinals “a couple times,” he said.”We definitely had some exciting tournament games,” he recalled, citing two victories that involved steals of home plate: a 2-1 win over Whittier Tech in which Swampscott swiped home to prevail; and a win over Austin Prep this past season where the Big Blue did the exact same thing ? and in extra innings to boot.As for the Northeastern Conference, Baril said, “It always was a battle to go up against Danvers. We built a strong rivalry with a lot of teams in the league. I’ll miss seeing the coaches, seeing the teams and making the bus rides.”He talked about breaking the news to his players.”It was tough to tell them we were leaving,” he said. “I made sure they understood it had nothing to do with them. I wished them the best of luck. I’m always open for them to call, bounce things off of.”Rich Tenorio can be reached at [email protected].