LYNNFIELD — As the countdown to the start of the spring season continues to tick down, things are starting to fall into place for the Peabody baseball team.
Coach Mark Bettencourt, who helms the football team in the fall, said the Tanners have shown consistency at the plate during a series of preseason scrimmages against live pitching. He’s encouraged by the number of “quality at-bats” his players have had.
“Offensively, hitting has been fairly spread out through the lineup. It’s been pretty consistent with guys up and down the lineup who have pretty good at-bats,” Bettencourt said. “We’ve had guys hit shots right at people and had guys who have hits that were bleeders, so you can’t really go looking at batting average. But quality at-bat wise, we’ve been very happy.”
But when it comes to pitching, Peabody has some big shoes to fill with the loss of last season’s Northeastern Conference MVP, Cam Connolly, who is off to a promising start for the Bridgewater State Bears. In four appearances, Connolly has posted an ERA of 1.80 with a record of 1-0.
Bettencourt said right-handed pitchers Max Silvia, a junior, and senior Joey Smith are expected to be the Tanners’ top starters. He said senior Dylan Annese, who also plays first base, “comes back with some experience” and junior Jake Crocker “is throwing the ball well.” Senior Joey Sinabaldi, who also plays third base, will likely also see action “out of the pen.
“After that, we’ll see,” Bettencourt said. “The big thing for us is throwing strikes. When we do that and get ahead in the count, we are varsity pitchers. If we don’t do that, we are basically causing our own troubles and problems.”
The Tanners will be led by three senior captains: Smith, who also plays right field, shortstop Jariel Tolentino, and first baseman Noah Crocker. Tolentino and Crocker return as Northeastern Conference All-Stars. All three are entering their third full seasons on the varsity squad.
Senior Zach Hartnett looks to start at catcher with junior Ethan Waybret in the mix as a backup. Waybret may also see action as a designated hitter.
Junior Luke Maglione will likely start at second base. Senior Sam Bollman also plays second. Jake Crocker looks to man the hot corner at third.
Senior Mike Murphy (left field), senior Jayden Cunningham (center field) and, when he’s not pitching, Smith return in the outfield. Senior Jayce Jean-Pierre, junior Pedro Flores, and sophomore Jordalis Sosa are also in the outfield mix.
With a new alignment in the Northeastern Conference, Bettencourt expects the Tanners will face a more challenging schedule in the Dunn division.
“We now have Marblehead, Masco, Beverly, and Danvers, so the schedule will be more difficult for us this year, but it should help us with the power rankings for our seeding in the tournament,” Bettencourt said.
Peabody opens the season at home Thursday against Masconomet, a team Bettencourt expects will be one of the strongest in the NEC.
“We’ll face the best pitcher in the league in our opening game against Masco, who will be very good again,” Bettencourt said. “Marblehead will also be good again and Beverly is always good.”
The Tanners have non-conference games against North Andover (twice), Lynn English, Somerville, Revere, Melrose, and Winchester.
The Tanners close the regular season in the annual James Geanoulis/Gary Linehan Tournament at Peabody High. They are scheduled to play Danvers in the first round at noon Saturday, May 25 with Wakefield and Andover squaring off in the other opening-round game (TBD). The championship and consolation games will be played Sunday (TBD).
“As always, that will be a very competitive tournament,” Bettencourt said.
The Tanners finished last spring 16-4, earning the No. 29 seed in the Division 1 state tournament. They defeated No. 36 Belmont, 4-1, in the preliminary round, only to be eliminated by No. 4 Braintree, 9-2, in the Round of 32.
Bettencourt said this year’s team has three goals: make the state tournament, compete for a conference championship, and win 15 games.
“That third goal is to win 75 percent of our games – that’s always our goal,” Bettencourt said. “Last year, we did it, but two years ago, we failed miserably. Every year we want to have the same outlook, even with the roster changes. We’re not a team that can go 20-0 without that high-end Pat Ruotolo-type pitcher or a Cam Connolly-type pitcher. We want to have that feeling with Max and Joey. That will be key this season.”
