LYNN — Smiles and good memories were the themes of the Classical baseball team’s annual end-of-season team dinner Thursday evening at Gannon.
The Rams said “goodbye” to a 2018 senior class that includes eight of its 17 players, while celebrating a season that included another trip to the state tournament.
All eight Rams seniors will continue their education in college next fall and Classical coach Mike Zukowski pointed to their future academic endeavors as the group’s most impressive accomplishment.
“This year’s eight seniors were a great group of kids,” Zukowski said. “Forget about their accomplishments on the field, I’m more proud of the fact that they’ll all be furthering their education next year. That says a lot about their character and the hard work they’ve put in since day one.”
Classical’s eight seniors are Christian Burt, Cesar Carrero, Sean Devin, Kevin Durant, Danny Lilja, two-time Northeastern Conference all-conference selection AJ Luciano, Chris Baio and Kevin McNulty. Four of the eight will play college baseball; Devin at Worcester State, Luciano at Mass. Maritime, Lilja at Dean College and Burt at Salem State. Durant will run cross country at Framingham State.
The 2018 season didn’t start the way Classical hoped it would. The Rams dropped their season opener to Division 2 powerhouse Masconomet and started the spring at 2-5 through their first seven games. From there, they recovered in time to finish at 11-9 and qualified for the Division 1 North state tournament.
Along the way Classical defeated both of its crosstown rivals, English twice in NEC play and St. Mary’s in the opening round of the Clancy Tournament.
“I was very happy with the way this team never gave up and always battled,” Zukowski said. “We could have packed it in early on in the season when we started 2-5 but we stuck with it, took our lumps and climbed out of the hole to qualify for the state tournament.”
The Rams were bounced from the state tournament in the first round after a 1-0 loss to Lincoln-Sudbury. Classical pitcher David Barnard, who was selected to represent Massachusetts in Sunday’s MBCA New England junior all-star game, threw seven stellar innings but the Rams couldn’t find their footing at the plate.
Despite the loss, Zukowski hopes the Rams can reflect on the 2018 season with pride. Zukowski said the lessons they learned on the diamond this spring are experiences they can carry with them through their future endeavors.
“I hope this year’s team can translate the experiences we had this season into life,” Zukowski said. “They have to realize that everything in life isn’t easy and it’s not always going to go your way, but there’s always tomorrow to be better. If they can carry that with them through life and try to live by it, I have no doubt they’ll be successful.”
The Rams return six juniors, two sophomores and one freshman from this spring’s roster next season.
