SWAMPSCOTT– When new Swampscott baseball coach Joe Caponigro begins his first season at the helm of the Big Blue program, he’ll be more than pleased to pencil senior first baseman Ryan Graciale into the middle of his batting order. And when it’s all said and done for Graciale at Swampscott High, Salve Regina baseball coach Eric Cirella will be happy to pencil him into the Seahawks’ order.
Graciale, who batted .498 last spring with five home runs and 30 RBI, committed to the baseball program at Salve earlier this week.
“It felt great,” Graciale said of making his commitment official. “During the summer it was pretty stressful just having that feeling of looking for where I belong. I got noticed by Division I and Division II schools as well but I felt Salve was the right community for me. Now that this is all over it’s a huge relief.
“The campus is beautiful there, you can’t go wrong with that,” Graciale added. “It’s right on the water. The baseball program’s great. It’s one of the best Division III programs in the country. I felt it was the right fit for me.”
Caponigro, who assisted former Swampscott coach Jason Calichman last spring, worked closely with Graciale during his junior season. He said Graciale’s swing stands out above many of the right-handed hitters he’s worked with as a coach.
“Ryan really works at it,” Caponigro said. “He’s put a lot of hard work in during the offseason, getting his body in shape and getting stronger. He just loves baseball. He’s an excellent high school hitter. I’ve been coaching for a long time and I don’t remember seeing many right-handed hitters that can swing like him. He can hit for average and power. He’s worked tirelessly to work on his defense. He’s an excellent first baseman.
“Coach Cirella’s got himself a quality baseball player but a better kid,” Caponigro added. “He comes from an excellent family. He’s a coach’s delight.”
A three-year Big Blue varsity player, Graciale will join a Seahawks team that finished 25-15 last spring. Salve ousted Endicott from the Commonwealth Conference Tournament but watched its season close after two consecutive losses to Western New England in the conference’s championship series. The Seahawks were CCC champions in 2016 and 2017.
“They’ve been ranked nationally in the past couple years,” Graciale said. “Every year they bring a great recruiting class. I know a bunch of kids that go there so I hope to have a fun time there. They play in a great conference.”
Although his high school stats speak volumes about his level of talent on the diamond, Graciale feels the college field will bring its share of challenges. He said he’ll approach his college career with a clean slate and acknowledged that he’ll have to work hard in order to earn playing time.
“I’m going to have to earn my spot right from the gate,” Graciale said. “Nothing’s guaranteed or handed to me. I’m going to have to keep grinding the way I have to hopefully earn a starting spot during my freshman year. Also the schoolwork, I feel as though I can balance that out pretty well with sports and academics.”
A two-sport athlete, Graciale’s also a member of Swampscott’s golf team. The Big Blue recently finished their regular season at 12-4-1 and qualified for the Division 3 North state tournament, which begins next week.
“This golf season, we’ve had a great year,” Graciale said. “We’re 12-4-1 with the state tournament coming up. We have a great group of kids.”
Aside from the upcoming tournament, Graciale’s also looking forward to closing his Big Blue baseball career on a high note. Swampscott projects to return a solid core of last spring’s team.
“This year should be fun,” Graciale said. “Coach Cap’s been a great coach at English. He helped out last year and I think he’s going to help us succeed this year. We lost Brett Benoit at third base from last year’s team, he’s one of my best friends and he’s at Salve now. We lost Luke Marshall, Spencer Perkins and Dave Quill. We’re bringing back Jonathan Oriakhi, Dylan January, Drew Olivieri, Zach Elwell and Max Pegnato. We should have great leadership coming back for this season.”
