Stanner Field had all the telltale signs of spring on Saturday. The baseball diamond was bathed in warm sunlight, the park across Manton Street was crowded with little kids and Mister Softee’s infectious theme was the soundtrack for a preseason game against Cardozo.
Archbishop Molloy is embracing everything that spring embodies, especially a fresh start to the baseball season.
“I think we’re a little more optimistic than usual,” senior third baseman Phil Loprete said. “We’re playing well and we all get along so that’s great.”
That wasn’t the case last year.
The Stanners were infected by in-fighting among its classes and parents which culminated with four senior starters benched until the fifth inning of a CHSAA Class A intersectional outbracket playoff game after missing two days of practice following the prom. Earlier in the season, senior pitcher Chris Franzese shut himself down after controversially throwing 198 pitches in a 14-inning loss to Monsignor McClancy.
The Stanners made headlines for all the wrong reasons and the end result was an earlier-than-usual postseason exit following a 4-1 defeat to Regis.
Most of the returning players were on the same team in the summer – the Storm Baseball Academy – and they are joined by underclassmen who captured the CHSAA ‘A’ junior varsity title last year.
“Things are a lot different,” senior pitcher John Duggan said.
“We have very good team chemistry,” added Loprete.
Duggan, the ace of the pitching staff, will play at Division I New York Tech next year. He chose Tech over Concordia and Molloy College. Loprete, who drew interest from Hofstra, St. John’s and Fairfield, will play at C.W. Post, a short walk from Tech’s Old Westbury, L.I. campus.
“We’ll see each other around,” Duggan said.
But first, Loprete and Duggan have unfinished business at Archbishop Molloy.
“I think we all just play well together and we feel like we have a chance to win every game,” Loprete said. “We have good communication, we talk a lot.”
Legendary coach Jack Curran also likes what he’s seen from his team thus far.
“I think we have a pretty good team,” he said. “I think we have a lot of depth in pitching. Whether they’re all that good, I don’t know, but we have a lot of guys and we have a good infield, good catching. We’re pretty good up the middle.”
Behind the plate is strong-armed junior C.J. Gerdowsky, one of the stars of the JV championship squad. Also moving up to varsity is Jonathan Ramon, who won a pair of playoff games last year, including a complete-game shutout against Xaverian on just 65 pitches. He also hit a critical two-run double in the championship game.
“Ramon will definitely help us in the lineup, he’s one of our better hitters and he’ll definitely help us on the mound, too,” Duggan said.
Loprete will also see some time at first base and senior second baseman Stephen Lopez and junior shortstop Sal Ciccone both return from last year’s squad. Senior Patrick O’Grady will start in left, while Curran said the other two outfield positions haven’t been resolved yet.
Junior Dean Sadik will pitch and DH and senior Vin Gatto will also see time on the mound.
“I think we’re decent,” Curran said. “We should be pretty good. If our pitching holds up we’ll be OK.”