New faces on Swampscott baseball team

SWAMPSCOTT – The Swampscott High baseball team will have plenty of new faces in the lineup this season.View Photo GalleryThe Big Blue lost eight player from last year’s 10-12 team including six seniors and two who transferred to prep school. Coach Jason Calichman will be looking to fill the holds left by the graduation of his No. 1 pitcher and shortstop Trevor Massey, who is now at Tilton Academy. The entire outfield, which was comprised of Robert Serino, Corey Carmody and Mike Lan graduated, and two players, starting catcher Ryan January and starting second baseman Nunzio Morretti transferred to the Salisbury School and Tilton, respectively. Calichman also lost some pitchign with the graduation of Alex Zuchero.Considering he lost his starting outfield, shortstop, second base and top pitcher, Calichman is is pretty upbeat.”I have a great group of guys who care about the game and are working hard. I’m excited about this year,” Calichman said.Calichman hasn’t split the team yet and is still deciding who is going where, but there are some players he’ll definitely be counting on including Al Wallach, a senior righty who was the Big Blue’s No. 2 pitcher last year. Junior Greg Collier plays infield and does some pitching, as does Ryan Cresta, a third baseman and pitcher.”I’m still trying to figure out the pitching,” Calichman said. “We have some young arms that might help us out.”Senior Brendan McDonald will be back on first. He gave the Big Blue some power at the plate. Senior outfielder Kyle Waters and Tom DiPietro, an outfielder who transferred from New Hampshire, are also in the mix as is Matt Hubauer, who caught from the junior varsity last year and will likely be behind the plate for the varsity this year.Calichman had 58 players show up for tryouts with 45 in the program. The numbers at the freshman level are good (22).This is Calichman’s second year as head coach. The Big Blue got off to a slow (2-5) start last year, but ended up making the tournament. They won their first game, 5-4, against Watertown in eight inning before losing to North Reading, 6-1.”Last year we had a 2-5 start. A lot of teams would have quit, but we ended up making the tournament and winning a game,” Calichman said. “We need that type of team.”In addition to its Northeastern Conference schedule, the Big Blue has two games against St. John’s Prep and one against Masconomet.”They’re two of the top teams in the state. To get where we want to be we need to play good teams and we need to beat them,” he said.Swampscott also has a non-league bout with Northeast Regional. The Big Blue open the season Monday, April 7, at 4 p.m. against St. John’s Prep at The Prep.Calichman has back his assistant coaches from last year, Brendan Nolan and Kevin Rogers. Rogers and Calichman played together at the University of New Hampshire and Nolan at Boston College. Gavin Softic is coaching the junior varsity and Rob Hopkins and Rick Adams coach the freshmen.