Coming off of its second consecutive Division 2 state championship victory last July, the St. Mary’s baseball team is refreshed, reloaded and ready to chase after another title.
But first, the Spartans will need to battle back from losing a group of key seniors and find a way to score enough runs in a pitching-dominated baseball landscape.
“It never gets any easier, and while we have guys coming back from that title team, they still have to go out there and prove it,” said St. Mary’s coach Derek Dana. “We lost a lot of senior leadership from last year’s team, and now other guys will have to step up.”
Luckily for St. Mary’s, there’s a sizable group from last year’s state title team (11 total players, five of them starters) that is returning — and that group is led by senior ace Aiven Cabral.
A Northeastern University commit, Cabral was nearly unhittable on the mound in 2021, allowing just five runs on 32 hits in 64 2/3 innings of work. He went 8-0 and also notched an impressive 106 strikeouts on the year, earning him Item Player of the Year and Catholic Central League Pitcher of the Year honors in the process.
Cabral also did it with the bat, knocking in eight RBI over the course of the year and holding down the No. 3 spot in the order.
“Aiven has done it since his freshman year, and we’re excited to see his growth and where he can take his game this season,” said Dana. “His work ethic and preparation rubs off on the other guys because they see how much success he’s had already.”
Outside of Cabral, the Spartans are returning basically their entire pitching staff from 2021. Upperclassmen like Tommy Falasca and John Nowicki, along with sophomore Eric Bridges — who burst onto the scene with a great freshman campaign last year — will anchor the rotation behind Cabral.
“Our guys have pitched in a lot of big games, with John coming up with a couple of big saves in the tournament and the title game and Eric getting red-hot down the stretch,” said Dana. “Having all of those guys coming back is great and should keep us in every game.”
On the other side of the field, Dana knows that runs will be at a premium for all teams this year — as his pitching rotation isn’t the only great staff around.
“Looking around the league and beyond, there is a ton of great pitching this year — especially from the No. 1 guys,” said Dana. “We’re going to have to do a lot of different things to scrape together runs, and that’s from moving guys over to running the bases well and everything in between.”
The new season also brings the first taste of the new state tournament format to baseball. Last year, St. Mary’s had to battle through the Div. 1 North bracket and win the North title before moving on to win the state title. This season, it’s going to be a statewide format from the start and power rankings will be taken into account.
That being said, the Spartans will be working their way through yet another incredibly tough schedule, both in the CCL and in non-league play. With multiple matchups against top-10 teams like Austin Prep, St. John’s Prep, Milton and others throughout the year, Dana knows his team will be tested day in and day out.
“There are absolutely no gimmes on the schedule, not even close,” said Dana. “You always want to play the best competition, and I think we’ve done a really good job of scheduling those teams. That’s the best way to prepare yourself for what’s going to come in the state tournament.”
As far as practice is concerned, the energy has been incredibly high in the opening days of camp. More than 50 players came out for tryouts this year, and Dana says that his group of four seniors — Cabral, Ryan Fraher, Jason Donohue and Zach Fisher — has been leading the way.
“We’ve had excellent energy to start things out, and it all begins with those guys,” said Dana. “They’ve been around for a long time now and they’ve been paying attention. They’ve seen what we expect and how we expect things to get done, and they’ve really been leading from the front so far.”
The Spartans will work through the next week and a half of practices before opening up the season on April 4 against Malden Catholic.
