LYNN — The regular season is almost here and Marblehead and St. Mary’s met on a cold Monday evening at Fraser Field to get a scrimmage in to get both teams ready for Opening Day.
Both head coaches Mike Giardi (Marblehead) and Derek Dana (St. Mary’s) believed the scrimmage was good to get a look at “live pitching” and to compete.
“It’s good to compete against another team. Getting on the field seeing some base runners and seeing who wants to be here to compete,” Dana said.
“We learned some things. Just seeing live pitching is good for the guys and we saw some things we liked from players and things we need to work on,” Giardi said.
Giardi stated that he couldn’t turn down the opportunity to play St. Mary’s, once his old teammate gave him a phone call.
“Derek and I have known each other for years. We played with each other on a summer league team back in college,” Giardi said. “He said he could get Fraser Field for a scrimmage and even though it’s cold out, we have to get our work in.”
The scrimmage saw both teams rotate players across the field to help the coaches determine everyone’s best position.
The Spartans are coming off of a season where they made it to the Final Four after a great playoff run. This year, however, Dana said the team is starting at “square one” as the team lost a few key players but is also returning players with tournament experience.
“We got a lot of kids coming back. They’re young in age, but they were around last season and have state tournament experience,” Dana said. “Last year’s team is gone, we are starting back at square one. We got to get everyone back up to speed, but we have a couple of more weeks to do that.”
Dana said his team is returning 14 players from the team that reached the Final Four.
“Returning we have Michael DeMaino at shortstop, Shea Newhall at first, and Jaiden Driscoll at second base,” Dana said. “On the mound, we have Josh Doney and Jake Peterson, we’re expecting junior Jack Zimmerman to be in the mix along with sophomore Brady Crawford and junior Shea Newhall all helping out on the mound.”
However, Dana acknowledged that the Spartans have to “replace” the production that was lost from key players Tommy Falasca and Tad Giardina.
“We have competition all over the place which is good. We have to replace Tommy Falasca at third base. Tad Giardina in center field,” Dana said. “We lost junior Cam McGonagle who was our leading hitter from last year. He’s getting surgery and will be out for the season.”
For the Magicians, hitting will be the key for them this spring.
“We got a lot of athletes so we just need to find spots for them. Our biggest thing is who’s going to hit? If you can hit, you can crack the lineup, if you crack the lineup it’s going to be big for us,” Giardi said. “We have some guys who are a little raw and a couple of guys we haven’t seen much yet but we’ll get there.”
Marblehead lost some solid pitchers in Drew Whitman and Ian Maude, but Giardi is hopeful that others will step up.
“Last year Whitman was good for us and pitched well for us. Ian Maude also was on the mound and chewed up a lot of innings for us which was huge,” Giardi said. “[Chris] Cannuscio did a great job last year for us, and this year we’re expecting big things from him. He started today and did a really nice job.”
Giardi also highlighted Brooks Keefe and Bodie Bartram as players who he expects to take a step up.
“Brooks Keefe has been kind of all over the place for us. We had him at shortstop, we had him at third and the outfield,” Giardi said. “The same thing with Bodie Bartram, he’ll be everywhere. Bodie is going to be a solid player with us. Jacob Scogland played a little first and third. Hopefully, we’ll find a good mix for everyone.”
For the Spartans, experience could be a factor in getting them back to the Final Four. A player on St. Mary’s was there when they won the title back in 2021.
“Isaiah Weston is really the only one who went the entire way. He was on the team as a freshman so he’s seen the full ride to make it all the way,” Dana said. “The rest of the guys made it to the Final Four, and they realize each game gets bigger and better and more fans each round. They understand what it takes to get there.”
