LYNN — Last season, the English baseball team came into the Nipper Clancy Tournament needing two wins to qualify for the Division 1 North state tournament. Fast forward to 2019 and the Bulldogs, 11-5, have already checked that goal off their list.
But that doesn’t mean they can sit back and relax now.
“There’s always a chance to improve your seed based on your record but that’s not our focus,” English baseball coach Doug Mullins said. “We want to represent the city in a positive way. At the end of the day it’s a tournament. You want to win any tournament you’re in, especially one like this where there’s a lot of history on the line.”
It starts with a win over crosstown rival Classical Friday night (7) at Fraser Field. The Bulldogs have dropped both of their games against the Rams this season, including an 8-4 loss last Friday.
“Anytime we go up against them we don’t want to lose to them,” Mullins said. “We were glad we drew them. We’re looking forward to the rematch. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Clancy or any game during the year, anytime we’re on the field against them we want to beat them. We’re looking forward to it.
“It’s been frustrating for sure,” Mullins said. “They’ve made more plays than us, they’ve played better than us. We don’t want to look back on our previous struggles with them. We know if we bring our best effort we can compete with them. Right now, all that matters is this game against them. Nothing else that happened before matters in our view.”
Offensively, the Bulldogs are led by Jomar Moreta, Erick Ubri, Jose Morel, Juan Subervi and Andy Duverge. Moreta and Duverge get things started at the top of the order, setting the table for Ubri, Morel and Subervi to bring runs home.
“Hitting is very contagious,” Mullins said. “We’ve had a lot of games where we can spread the ball all around the park. We’ve had a few games where it seems we can’t buy a run. We have guys that can make things happen offensively. We know we have a good enough offense where if we come with the correct approach we have a good chance at being successful.”
Julien Silvestrie leads the pitching rotation. Moreta and Subervi have also done well as starting pitchers. Ethan Labbe and Anthony Mateo have emerged as the go-to arms out of the bullpen.
“The main thing is just about everybody we throw out there has thrown strikes,” Mullins said. “We play pretty solid defense. It doesn’t really matter who I give the ball to, we have confidence they’re going to pound the strike zone and give us a chance to make some plays behind him.”
Mullins learned of Clancy’s legacy from his playing days at Classical for former Rams coach Jim Tgettis. He has shared the message of Clancy’s legacy with his current Bulldogs throughout the week.
“We talk about everything that this tournament’s about,” Mullins said. “I never knew Nipper personally but the message came down to me. What this means to the city, you want to represent the city well. It’s a tournament that you have marked on your calendar every year if you’re a baseball guy. We want to perform in a respectful way that makes our city and our school happy.”
