PEABODY — There’s no question that the Peabody baseball team has the talent needed to make a deep postseason run. The challenge for the Tanners this season, as they aim to avoid an early state tournament exit, is to stay even keeled from start to finish.
Last season, Peabody finished at 14-9 and fell to Cambridge Rindge and Latin in the first round of the Division 1 North tournament. It was a tale of two seasons for the Tanners, who went 5-0 to start the year and cooled down in the second half.
“We were playing very well,” Tanners coach Mark Bettencourt, in his 14th season as Peabody’s head coach, said. “We won our first five games, tripped on two and then went on another nice run. Then we just hit a wall. We lost a game to Braintree, one to Gloucester and one to Malden Catholic. We came out hot as pistols and then we hit a wall. When you play good teams, that’s capable of happening at any time.”
Peabody defeated some of the state’s better teams, like St. John’s Prep and Xaverian, but closed the regular season on a sour note. Those question marks carried over into the state tournament, where the Tanners fell short in the first round for the third consecutive season.
With a new season quickly approaching, Peabody’s approach is to keep things evenly keeled throughout the season in hopes of playing consistent baseball.
“The seniors on this team, having the regular season and ups and downs that we’ve had, I feel they get emotionally drained towards the end of the year,” Bettencourt said. “We’re talking about keeping things evenly keeled. There’s too much over-excitement for big wins and too much ‘jump off the bridge’ for bad losses. We have to find that level of play where we’re playing consistently day in and day out. We have to be Peabody High and play at our level.
“For some reason the state tournament brings a lot of anxiety to our program,” Bettencourt added. “We played Cambridge very tight last year. It’s not a physical thing, I think it’s a mental thing. We’re working on that this season.”
The Tanners return a talented nucleus this spring and it starts with senior shortstop Jake Gustin. A Division I commit to Bryant, Gustin was the MVP of the Northeastern Conference last season.
“Jake’s someone we’ll rely on offensively and defensively,” Bettencourt said. “We’ll go as he goes. He’s the heartbeat of our infield.”
Captaining the Tanners alongside Gustin are senior outfielder Jake Irvine and senior catcher Eric DeMayo, who sealed his future plans by committing to play Division I football at Wagner.
“There’s really no pressure for Eric,” Bettencourt said. “He loves football but the passion for baseball is still there. With no worry about where he’s going next year hopefully that takes some weight off his shoulders. He’s going to control a young pitching staff.”
Also returning are four other seniors in first baseman Trevor Lodi, outfielders Evan Mullin and Michael Martinez, and second baseman Cole Cuzzi.
On the mound, senior left-hander Alex D’Angelo will be tabbed to lead a young Tanners pitching staff. D’Angelo threw a perfect game for Peabody last season in his first varsity appearance.
“Alex is one of the kids who has some experience,” Bettencourt said. “Being left-handed has some advantages. He keeps runners close and he’s a strike thrower. The first thing we talk about is strikes. Alex did a good job at that last year.”
Other returning pitchers are junior right-handers Joe Gilmartin, Jonathan Poligone and Eddie Campbell, and junior left-hander Joe Zito.
Although Peabody has been limited to practicing indoors, Bettencourt likes what he has seen from his team thus far.
“When you have kids preparing away from you, it makes things easier when they come to you,” Bettencourt said. “They all look good and they all look ready to go.”
Chemistry projects to be one of Peabody’s strengths this season.
“One thing about our baseball team that I enjoy is the kids that we have are great kids,” Bettencourt said. “They’re very coachable. The chemistry in our program happens very early, generally. We’re still in our tryouts. Even when I played, there’s a chemistry in baseball like no other sport. I enjoy coaching them. They’re a pleasure to coach and they always work hard. They want to win and the understand the tradition behind Peabody High baseball.”
As for the NEC, Bettencourt expects the conference to provide tight battles throughout the season. The addition of GBL teams, along with experienced coaches, makes for a competitive conference.
“The league’s impressive because we’re not familiar with the GBL teams,” Bettencourt said. “The addition of those teams brings a little mystery. Now that it’s the second season we know a little about them. There are some good coaches coming out of that league. It makes the league that much more competitive. There aren’t a lot of easy games.”
The Tanners open the season April 9 at Revere.
