The Heights Spring Sports Preview 2015

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john Gorman

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Birdball at bc

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allyson Frei

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Sports Preview

2015

in the

Queen of the

Out of the Swamp

Spring

Mikaela Rix and Kenzie Kent Plan to bring a National title to Chestnut Hill

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raising hope

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THE HEIGHTS| FEB. 26, 2015

SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW PLAYERS TO WATCH

CASTING CALL: BIRDBALLERS TO WATCH ALEC GREANEY | HEIGHTS EDITOR

CONNOR MELLAS / HEIGHTS SENIOR STAFF

The Doubles Machine Michael Strem 10

The Man on base blake Butera 3

The rookie Jake Palomaki 11

The Field general nick sciortino 7

The king of the hill mike King 34

“That’s what Strem does right: he’s a doubles machine.” On Sunday, Baseball head coach Mike Gambino reaffirmed the same statement he made before the start of the season: Michael Strem hits doubles.

At first glance, this may not be perfectly obvious—Strem hit 13 doubles last year, but that was only third most on the team, behind Chris Shaw and Joe Cronin. The difference? Shaw and Cronin started all season and topped 200 at-bats. Strem, on the other hand, finished with fewer than 100 at-bats.

Had he played the entire season at the same pace, Strem would have hit over 28 doubles—one more than last year’s national leader. As it stood, Strem missed finishing second in Division-I baseball in doubles per game last season (Strem finished with .48, just behind Temple’s Derek Peterson, who had .49) only because he failed to meet the minimum games requirement.

After two weekends of baseball, the first baseman is doing all he can to make sure no one touches his title. He has six doubles in just seven games, including two against LSU’s strong pitching staff. Gabriel Hernandez and Blake Butera are the only BC players to have more than one thus far.

Strem isn’t just legging out two-baggers. After hitting .239 last season, he burst out to a .379 average and a 1.024 OPS in the season’s first seven games, good enough for second and first on Boston College, respectively.

This is great news for BC’s lineup, which is structured around the highly dangerous Shaw. After giving their cleanup man little protection last season, the Eagles have a five-hole hitter in Strem, one who will make pitchers think twice before issuing a free pass to Shaw.

For Gambino, Strem’s performance comes as no surprise. “He continues to do what we’re all used to seeing him do,” the coach said. “He continues to flat-out hit.”

For Shaw and Strem to do any real damage from the middle of the order, BC needs men on-base before them. So far this season, the 1-2-3 leadoff trio has answered the call. Hernandez, Butera, and Cronin have combined to hit .310 and have combined for an on-base percentage over .380.

Of the three, Butera has been best at getting himself in position to score. The senior has never had a season OBP below .360, and led the team in OBP last year at .399. Through seven games, he has been a nightmare for pitchers, hitting .393 and getting on-base exactly half the time.

More than anything else, the key to Butera’s success has been his eye at the plate. He entered the season ranked ninth in BC history in walks with 90, and the six he has drawn already place him in a tie for third. He needs just four more free passes to move past Jeff Waldron

for the Eagles’ all-time lead.

“We all know what Blake’s going to do,” Gambino said. “It’s going to be a quality at-bat each time.”

Butera, who was selected as a captain for the Eagles this season, returned to his home state of Louisiana last weekend for Birdball’s series with LSU. He picked up four hits and two walks, getting on base when few others in the lineup could.

Overall, Butera has started for four years for Gambino and will continue to man second base this season. He is part of a very experienced infield for the Eagles, with Johnny Adams and Cronin also returning to the left side.

“They were raving about our infield defense,” Gambino said of the LSU coaching staff after the series. “They think that we could have a chance to have one of the top defensive infields in the country.”

BC tried out a few different designated hitters on its opening weekend before settling on freshman Jake Palomaki for the series against LSU. After looking slightly overwhelmed in the first at-bat of his Friday afternoon debut against LSU, Palomaki settled down. He picked up a five-pitch walk in his next at-bat before grounding and flying out. In the next two games, Palomaki went 3 for 7, accounting for almost a quarter of BC’s hits in those contests.

“I loved what I saw,” Gambino said. “He gave us quality at-bats all the way … It was a really good weekend for him.”

Palomaki attended Mount Paran Christian School in Kennesaw, Ga. In his senior season, he led his team to a 29-5 overall record while recording a .443 batting average and an OBP of .556, while

also tacking on three home runs and 18 RBIs. He earned the MVP award for his team, which reached the state finals.

Palomaki pitched and played infield for Mount Paran Christian.

This is something that Gambino, who doesn’t mind using players in both position and pitching roles, could utilize.

With such a veteran core manning the infield and with the outfield core hitting well above .300 thus far, Palomaki will likely see most of his time this season at the designated hitter slot, barring an injury or an extended slump.

If Palomaki can go 3 for 10 on a weekend against a top-five team in the country, there is reason to get excited about his ability to swing the bat against the rest of the league.

With BC’s lineup looking more and more solid, the team must focus on developing its pitching to match. While having strong, accurate arms is a key aspect of getting outs, an equally, often overlooked factor in the game is the effort of those who work behind the plate: the catchers.

The Eagles enter this year with two returning catchers: sophomore Nick Sciortino and junior Stephen Sauter.

“They both have experience back there, they’re both doing a great job back there, and they’re both continuing to get better,” Gambino said. “We have two very solid ACC catchers in the mix.”

Sciortino caught the majority of the games for BC last year, making 32 starts, while Sauter started 21 games behind the plate.

The two finished with similar, albeit disappointing, batting averages—Sciortino hit .192 while Sauter batted .196. Sauter also had

fewer errors behind the plate, finishing with fielding percentage of .988, well ahead of Sciortino’s .969.

With a year of college ball under his belt, Sciortino looks to reaffirm his role as the starter. So far this season both have been error-free, though Gambino did note that each has displayed lapses in focus on certain pitches.

With a new pitching coach, former minor league catcher Jim Foster, Gambino believes his catchers will receive invaluable instruction.

“To have a resource like Jimmy Foster, and for those guys to be able to work with him and learn from him—how to manage a staff, how to work with pitchers, how to get them through trouble, how to keep them focused when they’re throwing the ball well—it’s awesome to watch,” Gambino said.

There are many question marks floating around BC’s pitching staff this season. With the loss of 2014 ace Andrew Chin (who was selected by the Yankees in the 2014 MLB Draft), will John Gorman step up on Friday nights? Will Jeff Burke manage to get an ERA under 5.00? Can anyone, in fact, give BC at least five or six quality innings? Will a closer come out of the woodwork?

Experiencing a 16-run disaster last weekend against LSU can’t ease the minds of BC’s coaching staff, either. Through all the uncertainty, one man has given the Eagles consistent outings of late: sophomore Mike King. In his first season of college ball last year, King tossed 43 frames (fourth on the team, behind the three main starters), while maintaining a 2.93 ERA (second) and a .239 opponent batting average (fourth).

So far this season, King has allowed just one earned run and three

hits in 4 1/3 innings. He also had a multi-inning save against Xavier, though Gambino dismissed the idea of King becoming a closer for BC. “If he’s at the back of the game, it’s not going to be in the closer role,” Gambino said. “Because he can stretch out [to] a starter length. You know, he could be an old-school closer, like when [Dennis] Eckersley started closing three-inning saves, that kind of thing.”

King may also make it into BC’s starting rotation. He started three games for the Eagles last year, and though he was stretching out the length of his outings this season, he will likely see at least a couple starts.

Regardless of when he comes in to pitch, his coach is happy to have him out there.

“Mike King is pretty good—we all know that,” Gambino said.

SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW GORMAN 3

THE HEIGHTS| FEB. 26, 2015

A MAN OF MANY HATS Tom DeVoto | Assistant Sports Editor

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tanding a stocky, well built 6-foot-1 and 232 pounds, Friday night’s starting pitcher John Gorman is usually the first person opposing teams see before kicking off a series against Boston College’s baseball team.

Gorman is the staff ace. He takes the mound and leads his team into battle for the first game of every weekend go-around. The senior right-hander has been a part of many college baseball games, but his long journey to this point started only 10.4 miles away.

Growing up in Norwood, Mass., baseball was Gorman’s self-professed first love. He recalls spending days in his front yard throwing the ball with his father, Jack, when a neighbor made a passing comment that ended up being incredibly prophetic.

“When I was three, we were playing catch and I threw one way over his head as my neighbor was walking by,” Gorman said. “He made a joke, something like, ‘That kid is going to be in the majors someday.’ You can say that to any little kid, but it was just funny because baseball has given me so much.”

These days, Gorman has bigger concerns than hitting his father’s glove in the yard. After a few rough seasons in a row, BC baseball is facing an uphill battle to compete in the ACC, and a lot of the weight falls on Gorman at the front of the pitching staff.

Through two appearances this season, Gorman is 0-1 with a 6.30 ERA, part of the reason for BC’s early struggles—but he has taken on the biggest workload of the staff by far.

For the Eagles to turn it around, they’ll rely heavily on Gorman to set a positive tone early in his starts.

“I love the opportunity of getting to throw on Friday nights,” he said, “and having that chance to go win us the first game of a series, that means a lot to me.”

John Gorman is a starter.

not trying to play around out there,” he said. “I have an insane, competitive aspect to myself, especially in big situations. I’m going to attack the zone and make them beat me.”

John Gorman is a closer.

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hen the time to elect team captains came around, Birdball players had a fairly easy decision to make. Chosen by his peers, Gorman is in charge of watching over the pitching staff, while co-captain Blake Butera handles the position players.

Butera is soft-spoken and more of a leadby-example type of player, but Gorman likes to get his guys fired up. He admits that he talks a big game, but it helps his teammates feel involved and picks up the emotion in the locker room.

“I’m not really quiet, and I don’t like being in the background,” Gorman said. “I have so much energy and passion for the game, so I like to get the guys excited.”

And Butera can attest to that.

“John’s always the guy that’s yelling and getting everyone up before games,” he said.

“He provides energy with his voice, and that’s just what he loves to do.”

Current BC head coach Mike Gambino recruited Gorman while he was an assistant at Virginia Tech in 2009, then had to convince him to stay

and his partners in crime pulled one of the most classic dugout tricks on an unsuspecting Logan Hoggarth. Using a piece of gum as the glue, they mounted a plastic cup on top of his hat, and Hoggarth never suspected a thing.

The rest, as Gorman explained, was captured for the world to see.

“Logan went out to warm up the left fielder with the cup on his head,” Gorman said with a laugh, “and the broadcast comes back from commercial to catch him out there. They have a video of him trying to throw the ball he was using up to a kid in the stands, but it took him three tries to get it to the kid.”

“That couldn’t have come at a better time for us,” Gambino added with a smile.

“We scuffled a little bit going into NC State, and that helped us get our confidence and playfulness back. We won eight out of nine games after that.”

John Gorman is a prankster.

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he sun starts to fade behind heavy, gray storm clouds in Baton Rouge, La. on a windy Friday afternoon. The pitcher stands on

t e g to u t n e iv b , r f d l o s e i t s e n m e “H v hi i r r d e d n t s u t a o r b e j u st a e n h e i s ev eryo er.” h elp et b ett g m i h o n i b am g e k - mi

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orman was passed over in the 2014 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. That hurt him, but he didn’t dwell on it. He spent his summer playing for the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod Baseball League—a collegiate league officially sponsored by the MLB—before returning to BC for his final season.

A Massachusetts boy all his life—he attended nearby Catholic Memorial School— Gorman understood the value of getting to play against top-notch competition close to home, and he knew he had to take advantage.

“The Cape has a great reputation around the country, and I had a blast there,” Gorman said. “Being local, it’s been a dream of mine to play in the Cape League, so I had a lot of fun with it.”

For the Braves, Gorman came out of the bullpen as a closer, an experience that he says is radically different than that of a starting pitcher.

Whereas starters have to sustain their energy over an entire day, relievers just relax for the first six innings or so of a ballgame, then dial up the intensity to unsafe levels for the final stretch.

“You get a completely different adrenaline rush as a closer,” Gorman said. “I just get super energized at that one moment when I get called because that’s the attitude you need to have at the end of a game.”

Former players will often say that the hardest three outs to get in a game are the last ones, but that wasn’t much of a problem for Gorman in Cape Cod. In just over 17 innings pitched, Gorman gave up four earned runs for an ERA of 2.03. He compiled four saves, good for second-best on the team, and struck out 21 hitters while holding opponents to just a .200 batting average against.

Whether it’s the first out or the last out, Gorman approaches every hitter he faces with the mentality that he will not be intimidated by the opposition. He goes after every batter he faces, regardless of reputation, with the intention of using his combination of muscle and finesse against each and every player in the lineup.

“I’m

committed to BC after Gambino took the head coaching job on the Heights from Mike Aoki.

Gambino had high praise for Gorman’s work ethic, crediting him for turning BC into an extremely hard-working team all-around.

“He’s driven to get better himself, but he’s just as driven to help everyone around him get better,” Gambino said. “He’s not afraid to tell somebody, ‘what you’re doing is not good enough. We need more from you.’”

John Gorman is a leader.

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orman and his teammates like to enjoy themselves a little when they’re out on the field. Whether it’s video game tournaments or playing practical jokes on the freshmen—like telling them to retrieve the nonexistent “keys” to the batter’s box from the Red Sox before their inaugural matchup each spring—Gorman and the gang like to keep it light in the clubhouse.

The senior fondly recalled the funniest moment he’s been a part of during his time at BC, which happened last year during a road game against North Carolina State. It was one of just a few BC games that streamed online that season.

During a break in play, Gorman

then watches as the Tiger waves desperately at a curveball that bounces before it reaches the plate on his next offering. He then wastes a pitch just barely outside the zone— as most good pitchers do—before uncorking his fatal blow.

With the bill of his gray BC cap pulled down just above the eyes, the pitcher winds up and unleashes a heater that paints the edge of the corner down and away.

The Tiger can do nothing but sit with the bat locked on his shoulder as the fastball’s momentum halts with a thud of the catcher’s mitt.

The pitcher twists his body and pops his head up just in time to see the umpire punch out the helpless Tiger. He pumps his fist as he struts off the mound and returns to the dugout, destined to ring up another hitter.

John Gorman is ready. 

top of a heap of dirt in the center of the infield in the bottom of the third inning, two outs already recorded. With hunched shoulders and a menacing glare, he stares down his next victim, a Louisiana State Tiger clad in a bright yellow jersey straight out of the 1990s.

He sneaks a fastball at the knees past the hitter on the first pitch, and

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The Heights| Feb. 26, 2015

The Heights| Feb. 26, 2015 5

Spring Sports Preview Feature

Raising Hope Mikaela Rix and Kenzie Kent Aim to lead BC through the acc en route to a National Championship

“She’s just bigger, stronger, faster, smarter than every other player out there.”

michael Sullivan | Sports editor

Acacia Walker on Mikaela Rix Photo Courtesy of Christopher Tran / Connector

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ikaela Rix’s grin couldn’t be wider.

Thousands of fans for North America’s oldest sport applaud in awe of an amazing performance. Although the Screaming Eagles Marching Band has dispersed for the summer, the Boston College faithful sing and clap along to “For Boston” in proud support of their girls. She stands on a small podium at PPL Park in Philadelphia, screaming out in elation as she lifts the 2015 NCAA National Championship Trophy over her head.

That’s how the senior captain of BC women’s lacrosse plans to spend her summer break. It’s a dream painted up by the

two-time Tewaaraton Award nominee— given to the best NCAA women’s lacrosse player—after three years of disappointment.

In her freshman season, Rix and the Eagles finished with a winning record, but were not granted a tournament bid. The following year, the first under head coach Acacia Walker, BC made the big dance, but a weak defense plagued the team in an opening round loss to Dartmouth.

Walker’s Eagles finally broke out in 2014, solidifying themselves on the national lacrosse spotlight with a program best 15-6 season. Once again, BC dominated on the backs of Rix and acclaimed attacker Covie

Two-Sport Wonder

Stanwick. They finished first and second on the team in both goals and assists, combining for 165 total points. Although the team struggled in ACC play, BC still earned a No. 7 berth in the NCAA Tournament, eventually falling in a tough 11-9 loss to No. 2 Syracuse in the quarterfinals.

And so another year passed without Rix winning it all.

It’s an odd situation for a player who has been winning her entire life. The senior midfielder captured four state titles playing for her local high school in Garden City, N.Y., a Long Island town where winning championships in lacrosse is an expecta-

Kenzie Kent may be highly touted on the lacrosse field, but it’s on the ice where she’s succeeded so far for the Eagles.

Kent has propelled herself to the first line of Katie King Crowley’s No. 1 women’s hockey team, slotting in at third among all freshmen in points scored.

7 goals 29 Assists 36 Points Arthur bailin / heights editor

tion, not a dream.

“I think it’s a really big privilege,” said Rix’s former teammate and Vanderbilt senior lacrosse player Gabby Nesi. “You go through Garden City and you may not be playing all the time and you may have a really hard practice. But if you think about it, yes, you could be starting anywhere else, but to be a part of this team that has such history and is so good at what we do, it’s honestly an honor.”

Rix showed the same outstanding skill-set in high school that she possess now. It’s a package that Walker, who unsuccessfully attempted to recruit her as the assistant coach of UMass-Amherst in 2011, has long admired.

“She’s just bigger, stronger, faster, smarter than every player out there,” Walker said.

Rix falls in a long line of successful Garden City lacrosse players to make it big in Division I, highlighted by her mentor, Becky Lynch, Tewaaraton finalist for the University of North Carolina in 2012. Her drive to win knows no bounds—Rix once called out a player on the opposing team for wearing an illegal bracelet during a state championship game.

But Rix’s Eagles haven’t garnered that same success she had in high school. Despite the team’s incredible talent, the Eagles lacked that one last plug to the national title puzzle.

Until now, that is.

Enter the missing piece of BC lacrosse: freshman sensation Kenzie Kent.

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ave for men’s basketball and hockey, rarely can a true freshman bring a team over the edge and into legitimate national contention. She finished her prep school career as a two-time finalist for the Heather Leigh Albert Award for the nation’s top high school women’s lacrosse player as well as a three-time U.S. Lacrosse High School All-American. And that’s just in lacrosse—Kent, a star midfielder, also played varsity soccer and hockey, the latter of which she continues to play at BC.

Walker has seen Kent as a one-of-akind talent for years. Her informal recruiting started around the age of 10, when Walker would constantly tease Kent that one day, regardless of where she coached, Kent would play for her.

“I’ve always dreamt of coaching her,”

Walker said, calling Kent “the best kid in every sport she played.”

Kent, like Rix, brings a championship pedigree to BC, having won the 2012 New England Independent School League Championship while playing for Thayer Academy. Kent’s drive to win and improve her play goes past family allegiances.

Kent played with her sister Callahan in high school, a sophomore goalie at Vanderbilt, before transferring in her junior year to Thayer’s rival, the Noble and Greenough School. Callahan’s best high school moment came in the annual rivalry game against the Nobles, when, for the first time, she squared up in goal against her sister. The younger Kent came out on top, scoring a plethora of goals and leading Nobles to a victory.

Haley Mullins—Harvard freshman lacrosse player, Kent’s best friend and high school teammate—describes Kent’s play as very creative, the same word Kent used herself. When the ball is in her stick, Kent controls the field as she maps out how she’ll attack the net. The game moves slowly enough for Kent that she can envision her goals well before she makes her final strike.

While Rix’s collected personality brings a calm aura that she imparts on her fellow Eagles, Kent’s vibe is different. She’s more of a free spirit, choosing to have fun instead of getting overly competitive and serious before a game.

She’ll generally fool around a lot during practice, too. Mullins and Kent would constantly challenge each other to develop innovative scoring plays. They were even bold enough to attempt switching sticks in the middle of an attack before one of them eventually fired on the net.

“It just never worked,” Mullins said, “but we’d always end up laughing.”

Given her role as a freshman, Kent feels her only option is to lead by example, not just in her actual play but with her attitude.

She rarely gets down and never blames her teammates on a botched play.

“She’s not a hardo,” Mullins said with a chuckle.

Kent shares her passion for lacrosse with her sisters. When Callahan switched to goalie in high school, Kent and her mother helped her adjust by constantly taking shots on her. Everything Callahan taught Kent she

relayed to her younger sister Addison. Kent loves playing with and teaching Addison all the skills she has learned.

But the matriarch of the Kents, Jen,

fuels the family’s love for the sport. Jen was a three-sport star at Colby College, including serving as a two-time team captain in lacrosse. She also coached her daughters’ club teams, helping them refine their skills beyond the backyard, while also serving as assistant lacrosse coach of the Eagles for the last seven seasons. Jen is only one of Kent’s many connections to BC—she has three uncles and an aunt who are alumni.

Like Kent, Rix imparted her wisdom on her younger sister Morgayne. Throughout their childhood, Morgayne always

Outstanding Scholar-Athlete Award last season—just as she did in Garden City.

Morgayne keeps all of Rix’s old report cards to inspire her to try to get a leg up over her older sister in at least one thing. “We always joke around about it how Mikaela is the most athletic and how we don’t know what me and my other sister [Marguerite] are,” Morgayne said.

Morgayne only pauses before taking her sister’s lucky spandex.

Rix’s superstition—or as she prefers to call it, her routine—of wearing the same spandex, headband, and socks for each game dates back to her high school days. “[It’s] more of a mental check for myself that it’s the same playing field every time,” she said.

“I’ve always dreamt of coaching her.”

Acacia Walker on Kenzie Kent considered her older sister a role model.

Their parents, though incredibly supportive, weren’t the types to force Rix to play with her little sister—she always offered. Regardless of blistering cold winds or relatively intense heat (for Long Island, at least), the two sisters trotted out to the Garden City practice fields each day to refine their skills. They took shot after shot at the wall, aiming for an imaginary goal. According to Nesi, after all of that practice, Morgayne now models her playing style after her older sister, a key to the younger Rix’s success. “I wish I had a big sister like Mikaela,” Nesi said.

Rix’s influence on Morgayne extends beyond the field. The younger Rix admires her sister’s unmatched motivation. “Every time she sets her eye on something she always does whatever she can to achieve it,” Morgayne said. “She had the goal to make the U-19 Team and she did that, she had the goal to play college lacrosse and she did that.”

The Eagles’ middie also excels in the classroom—she won BC’s Junior Class

Although many sisters share clothes, Morgayne didn’t want to mess with her sister’s mojo, even if she wanted the luck to rub off on her as well. “I knew that if I took it, I’d probably be shot,” Morgayne said.

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he Eagles come into the year ranked No. 6 nationally by Inside Lacrosse—under any other circumstance, this would be a good sign.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, the Atlantic Coast Conference in women’s lacrosse is akin to the dominance of the SEC West in football. Of the Top 20 teams, seven play in the ACC, including three of the top five— Syracuse, North Carolina, and Duke.

Walker, who is attempting to make BC into a women’s lacrosse powerhouse similar to Northwestern—where she was an assistant under Kelly Amonte Hiller for four consecutive national championship teams between 2005-2008—understands the challenges of playing in such a difficult conference. She believes the ACC is the nation’s premier league and that matching up against these

strong teams week after week will, in the long run, benefit her girls.

Eventually, the Eagles will have to win some of those more difficult conference games. Despite having the program’s best record last season, BC had trouble competing with these top-notch forces, as the Eagles finished an uneven 3-5 in the conference.

Most of the struggles came from the BC’s one-sided approach last season. The Eagles were built on their phenomenal offense, led by Rix, Stanwick, and Sarah Mannelly and complemented by Brooke Blue and Moira Barry. With an abundance of offensive weapons, BC moved the ball around extensively, creating space to bombard opposing goalies—the Eagles averaged more than 13 goals per game in 2014.

When going up against top teams like UNC, Syracuse, or Maryland, BC’s offensive attack got stifled by opponents’ stout defenses. Against the Eagles, the opposition often clumped close to the crease, preventing BC’s goal scorers from driving. As a result, the Eagles managed only nine goals three times and 10 goals once in four games against those three opponents—all losses.

That’s a problem for an Eagles’ defense that is up-and-down, at best. Although Walker’s team shined in transition defense, BC struggled to force turnovers and generate heavy pressure, allowing offenses to settle down and set up in the zone.

While the Eagles’ top three—Rix, Stanwick, and Mannelly—remain on the Heights, Blue and Barry have since graduated. In their place, BC will need midfielders Caroline Margolis and Tess Chandler to build off the flashes of talent they showed in 2014. That still would only put the Eagles in the same place as last year, with five offensive weapons.

hat’s where Kent comes in. If the freshman midfielder can live up to her unbelievably high expectations, she will give BC a sixth offensive threat. That only adds headaches for opposing defenses to continue to cover all of the Eagles—chances are, it’d be extremely difficult to put a point man on each one. Perhaps it could also mask the BC’s deficiencies in front of goalie Zoe Ochoa, who also stands to improve this season. If that all falls into place—and, yes, it’s

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a big if—the Eagles could be the most lethal goal scoring attack in the country.

But the lacrosse team should worry about Kent’s position as a starting forward for BC’s hockey team. Katie King Crowley’s squad gears up for the postseason this weekend, and at 30-1-1, looks poised to make a championship run deep into March.

This has prevented the two-sport star from participating in a formal practice for Walker’s team, and even Kent admits that she hasn’t had the opportunity to train on her own as much as she’d like for the lacrosse season.

Walker, although not particularly concerned about her marquee recruit’s preparedness, expects Kent to contribute the second she can join the team. Kent’s teammates also fear on her behalf—many are in disbelief that she can juggle two varsity sports, especially one with as long of a season as hockey.

The freshman downplayed any worry, expressing confidence in her ability on the

Two-time TewaarAton Nominee Three-Time All-ACC Honors 175 Career Points

field. “Lacrosse, unlike hockey—that’s hard to pick up—but lacrosse is a little easier for me,” Kent said. She claims she’s made friends with her teammates off the field, although whether she will have the same chemistry on it remains up in the air.

In addition, expecting Kent to live up to these lofty goals is a lot to ask of a freshman. With 36 points—seven goals and 29 assists, the third highest total among freshmen—Kent has climbed her way to Crowley’s top line, suiting up alongside Alex Carpenter and Haley Skarupa. But joining a team midseason in a different sport is no guarantee for greatness, no matter how naturally gifted she is supposed to be.

While holding the trophy above her head, Rix spots her family in the audience.

She tries to wave, but needs help to keep the trophy aloft. Kent is there atop the podium to give her a hand. At least that’s the plan. n

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SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW PLAYERS TO WATCH

THE HEIGHTS| FEB. 26, 2014

2015 LACROSSE

STARTING ATTACK, MIDFIELD, DEFENSE, AND GOALIE

SARAH MANNELLY

ACHIEVEMENTS

CLASS: Junior

TESS CHANDLER

HOMETOWN: New Canaan, CT

ACHIEVEMENTS

CLASS: Sophomore

HIGH SCHOOL: New Canaan

HOMETOWN: Hopkinton, MA

Recorded 19 points in 11 games last season

HIGH SCHOOL: Hopkinton

Recipient of Boston Globe and Boston Herald All-Scholastic Award

POSITION: Midfield

POSITION: Midfield

Averaged nearly 2.5 points per game in 2014 Her 51 points were third on the team last year

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COVIE STANWICK CLASS: Senior HOMETOWN: Baltimore, Md.

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HIGH SCHOOL: Notre Dame Prep

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POSITION: Attack

14

9

ACHIEVEMENTS Tewaaraton Award Nominee

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ZOE OCHOA CLASS: Sophomore

Led BC in points with 91 last season

25

21

17

8

HOMETOWN: Longmeadow, MA

Finished in the top 10 in goals nationwide in the past two years

HIGH SCHOOL: Longmeadow POSITION: Goalie

CAROLINE MARGOLIS

ACHIEVEMENTS

CLASS: Junior

Appeared in 8 games in 2014

HOMETOWN: Raleigh, NC

Posted a .408 save percentage in 2014, for an overall record of 3-1 Started final four games of last season, including the NCAA Tournament

HIGH SCHOOL: Ravenscroft

ACHIEVEMENTS Scored 21 points in 21 games last year Earned US Lacrosse All-American honors in 2011 and 2012

POSITION: Midfield

2015 SCHEDULE

STARTING LINEUP

2/14 @ No. 18 Johns Hopkins 2/18 @ UMass-Lowell 2/21 @ Vermont

No. 2

Name stephanie Sabatini

position attack

2/28 @ No. 2 Syracuse

5

tess Chandler

midfield

6

sarah Mannelly

midfield

8

covie Stanwick

attack

9

mary kate O’Neill

midfield

10

carly bell

midfield

14

kate rich

attack

16

molly erdle

defense

17

mikaela rix

midfield

21

caroline margolis

midfield

25

rachel igoe

defense

32

zoe ochoa

goalie

4

kenzie kent

midfield

The No. 2 Orange will present the first big challenge for the Eagles. Syracuse returns record-breaking attacker Kayla Treanor, who had 117 points in 24 games for the Orange last season. Last year, the Orange took down the Eagles at Newton Campus Lacrosse Field, but No. 6 BC will have an upset on their minds when they travel to New York.

3/3 3/7 3/11 3/14

@ Holy Cross vs. No. 12 Notre Dame vs. No. 15 Louisville vs. Connecticut

3/21 @ No. 3 North Carolina

The Tar Heels barely snuck out of Boston with a win during the regular season last year, toppling the Eagles by a score of 14-13. Attack Alli Messinger scored five goals and an assist in that game. UNC solidified its dominance in lacrosse over BC with a win in the ACC Tournament, this time by a four-goal margin.

3/25 vs. Colorado 3/28 vs. No. 9 Virginia 3/30 vs. Southern California

4/4 vs. No. 4 Duke

The Eagles edged Duke on the road last season, handing the Blue Devils a 13-11 loss on their home turf. Covie Stanwick and Sarah Mannelly each turned in dominant performances, scoring five goals apiece in the victory over the Devils. Now BC will have a chance to win one in front of the home crowd as Duke takes a late-season trip up to Chestnut Hill.

4/7 4/11 4/18 4/24 5/2

vs. Harvard @ Virginia Tech @ New Hampshire ACC Championships vs. Boston University

SPRINGS SPORTS PREVIEW FEATURE 7

THE HEIGHTS| FEB. 26, 2015

FINDING THE STRIKE ZONE Jack Stedman | Associate Sports Editor

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“I’m trying to get them a little confused, and not sure where it’s coming,” Frei said.

shley Obrest laughs when Allyson Frei starts to answer the question, knowing the list of schools that were interested in her freshman pitcher is going to be lengthy. Frei begins—Penn State, Florida State, Arizona State, North Carolina—but only gets as far as Virginia before being cut off by her coach.

“She was recruited by everybody,” the Boston College softball coach interrupts with another chuckle, giving the highly abridged version of Frei’s answer.

Frei does not say much of her years at High Point Regional High School in Branchville, N.J. After rattling off a few accomplishments—N.J. Gatorade Player of the Year, record for most strikeouts in state history, two state championships—she simply states that it was a “fun career.”

The response is part humble, part matter of fact— none of those things matter anymore. It wasn’t just a fun time, it was a fun career. But that career is over. A far more challenging one has already begun in Chestnut Hill.

, p U m E ’ i e r F n w o D Sit ’Em

ea lly r a g n i y a g are pl “w h en w e r w h en w e a r e i n a b i ,o h er.” o t n g o o d t ea m r u t o i n g to g e r a e r est w b O y ja m, e l h - as

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he Eagles began to hit an early season stride earlier this month, going 4-1 in their second tournament of the year down in Georgia.

Frei, however, was dealt her first major challenge of her fledgling collegiate career In the last game of the weekend against Binghamton, she was shelled in the first inning, giving up five runs. Yanked from the game, Frei immediately went to work analyzing her pitching on the sidelines. While she was tweaking her release away from the action, hot bats from BC tied the game and then put the Eagles ahead until the Bearcats reclaimed the lead in the sixth inning.

Putting in the extra effort away from the in-game action, a determined Frei fixed the poor mechanics that plagued her in the first inning, cleared her head, and told her coaches that she was going to throw the ball better. And she did.

With the game close, she returned to the circle and finished the game without allowing any runs. The box score may have been ugly, but the “W” next to her name—a reminder of an overcome obstacle—is all that mattered.

“We didn’t even think twice about putting her back in,” Obrest said. “When the game is on the line, when we are playing a really good team, or when we are in a big jam, we are going to turn to her.”

jumping right back into an analysis of Frei’s performance this year.

Frei can serve a cold, hard dish of whiffs and backward K’s on a nightly basis. And she’s whipping them up in a 24-hour diner, as she has taken up the majority of work for the pitching staff.

Radiating a quiet confidence that has helped her out in the early part of the season, Frei has helped BC to an 11-3 record and its best start since 1998, when the team made it to the NCAA Regionals. Through 14 games, Frei is 9-2 with seven complete games and 76 strikeouts.

“She was brought in here to pitch some big innings,” Obrest said. “She’s in good shape and she’s strong so she can do that.”

Yet Obrest knows that Frei hasn’t been completely happy with her game. Understanding the big adjustment period, Obrest and Frei are eager to get back to the drawing board, to dissect the numbers from the past couple of weekends, and get better from there.

Frei and the Eagles are especially looking forward to conference play, which starts with Florida State, a team that went to the College World Series last year.

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side from dealing with a new environment and distance from the comforts of home, a college softball player has to deal with a big jump in the level of play from high school. Every physical and mental aspect of a player is pushed to the limit as they adjust to a new strike zone and smarter, stronger players at the plate.

“A good pitcher coming in is used to having 10 strikeouts a game and going at hitters,” Obrest said. “But now we are throwing a scouting report in front of them, saying, ‘Hey this is what this kid can hit and this is how many home runs they had last year,’ so it’s a lot, it’s tough.”

Frei’s decision to come to BC—she equally highlighted both the school’s academics and athletics—fits with the nature of this beast, in which knowledge of scouting reports replaces some of the pure athleticism necessary to succeed.

A few pieces of paper, filled with every minor statistic and the smallest of player tendencies, suddenly becomes a part of Frei as a pitcher. Her relaxed pose on the rubber, followed by a burst of movement and swing of the arms, won’t bail out Frei every time. She now has to spend just as much time in the film room as she does on the field, and for the next four years, her brain will become her best friend.

As 20-strikeout games fade into the memories of a glossy high school yearbook, the only thing left to remember is whether the No. 2 hitter likes her pitches inside or outside.

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enior outfielder Annie Sommers, under the artificial light of the Alumni bubble, crosses her fingers in the shape of the hashtag as she recounts her tweet from a fall game against Boston University, during which bench players took control of the official BC Softball Twitter account.

Mid-game, Sommers posted a tweet that read, “Ally with a BIG K! #freiemup #sitemdown,” signifying that the freshman had sent yet another Terrier back to the dugout after three strikes.

“We were trying to figure out different hashtags for the girls, and Ally strikes a lot of people out, so it was pretty easy,” she says. “It just kind of stuck.”

The catchphrase is a common sight on BC’s Twitter feed. It highlights all the dominance of Frei as a pitcher. It reminds you of every time she mows down another hitter.

But it masks the whole story of a silent struggle to adjust to life in a completely different universe.

“The biggest challenge is finding the kind of pitcher I am in college,” Frei says, showing few signs of nerves, “because I know it’s not going to be the same as it was in high school.”

High Point Regional is in the rear-view mirror, and the daunting world of college softball is here and now. Tackling the game head on, Frei continues to devour scouting reports and work toward perfecting her powerful release in hopes of finding her new identity. 

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rei’s ceiling is very high. The freshman is not the type of pitcher to just go up and down or side to side with her pitches. She is going to hit every inch of the strike zone, and her game plan is never to go to one spot more than others.

She throws a lot of different pitches, enabling her to switch things up on a whim, a trait that is essential in a game largely dependent on scouting. Frei might have to pitch in nine different places for nine different batters and must prove that she can consistently keep things mixed up at this high level.

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mid the chaos of the Conte media suite during a basketball game, Frei and Obrest share a laugh and quick smiles while discussing the more serious matters of the game. For a moment, the radio calls between security and managers fade into the background as Obrest sits back, thinking of the greatest feeling in the world: a strikeout.

Frei dealing with a hitter inside and then outside, having her think one way, and then completely fooling her for a strike is the epitome of her game. For a pitcher that averages a little more than one strikeout per inning, the best feeling in the world happens a lot.

“You can have some fun with it,” Obrest adds, before

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EMILY FAHEY / HEIGHTS SENIOR STAFF

the Pitching Staff

the Senior Leaders

The Head coach

The Returnees

The Young Guns

Alongside Frei, fellow freshman Jessie Dreswick and sophomore Jordan Weed make up a strong pitching core for the Eagles. Weed continues to prove she is a reliable starter and second-incommand, and will pitch the majority of innings when Frei rests. While Dreswick has not pitched this season, all three can pitch on any given day.

The Eagles only feature two seniors, compared to the six freshmen and five sophomores. First baseman Chelsea Dimon returns from injury—having played no games last year—to provide BC with leadership and experience alongside outfielder Annie Sommers.

While Sommer remains a part-time player, Dimon has played well at first.

Ashley Obrest’s journey to build up the program has taken place over the course of four years.

Taking over the helm in 2012, Obrest led the Eagles to their first 20-win season in over five years. After a sophomore slump, she guided BC to a 30-23 season last year and now has the Eagles off to a blazing hot start in 2015.

Outfielder Megan Cooley, who led the Eagles in batting average and runs last year, returns for her junior year.

Fellow junior Jessie Daulton bolsters the middle of the infield, while outfielder Taylor Coroneos has had a blistering start to this season, second only to Murphy on offense. She has also pitched a few innings this year.

A promising freshman class has shined early on in the season.

Freshman 3B/C Jordan Chimento, outfielder Annie Murphy, and SS/2B Chloe Sharabba are pacing the Eagles offensively.

Through the first 14 games, the trio are hitting for a combined .337, three home runs, and 31 RBI’s.

8

THE HEIGHTS| FEB. 26, 2015

SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW FEATURE

out of the swamp T

1he Boston College baseball team lands in an orange New Orleans sunset and boards a bus headed for Louisiana State University’s gorgeous 10,326-person baseball facility, a bit more than an hour’s drive from Louis Armstrong airport. It’s Thursday, Feb. 19, and after starting the year off 2-2, the opportunity to play a three-game series against No. 4 LSU means the unranked Eagles can test themselves against one of the premier, talentrich teams in the country.

But first, they conduct a thorough analysis of the indigenous wildlife.

“There’s gotta be a gator roaming underneath here somewhere!” calls out a player from somewhere in the back of the bus.

A bird whips by the window. “Gators can fly in Louisiana!” says another in a terribly forced backwoods accent.

The bus begins to pass over miles of swamp.

“This is where we find gators, boys. Pay attention!” booms an unmistakably loud Chris Shaw, the Eagles’ best player and leader by virtue of confidence, stature, and volume.

This BC team has two intangible, binding traits: a resilient sense of family and a collective pride intrinsically tied to Pete Frates, a former BC captain diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease) in 2012 at the age of 27. As far as college teams go, they are impressively unified. The players thrive in each other’s presence and demonstrate widespread respect—it sounds simple, but this couldn’t be taken for granted over the past few seasons. It certainly doesn’t exist for every other team at BC. From the coach to the captain, the Eagles believe the strength of this baseball family can lead them to success.

In a way, it already has.

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1our days separate BC from the start of the 2015 season, and two weeks remain before the LSU series. Yet another vengeful blizzard is dumping snow on the frozen tundra that serves as BC’s baseball field. The Alumni Stadium practice bubble, which has to be abandoned in high winds and snow for fear of collapse, is visible outside the window.

BC and the University of Miami are the only schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) without permanent indoor practice facilities or concrete plans to build them. And the latter hasn’t seen any snowfall in over 38 years.

BC head coach Mike Gambino, one of two people waiting out the storm on Conte Forum’s fourth floor, sits in his office, bundled in Under Armour sweats from his boots up, thrilled to be getting work done. It’s been five years, but he remembers every detail of the day that could end up saving his job.

He was out west when he got a call from Frates. A former star and friend of Gambino, Frates was still two years away from a diagnosis of Lou Gehrig’s Disease. In 2014, Frates’ championing of the Ice Bucket Challenge raised millions of dollars and unprecedented awareness for ALS. But at the time, he was just playing ball for the Blue Sox in Lexington, Mass., a men’s team made up of post-grad guys who ad played college or minor league ball, a few college kids, and one high school sophomore

connor mellas |heights senior staff

named Chris Shaw.

“Dude, you gotta see this kid,” Frates told Gambino over the phone. “Kid’s playing some first base and outfield for us, but you should see this kid’s swing, you should see this kid’s power.

You gotta come see this kid.”

Gambino landed at Logan Airport a few hours later, got in his car, and drove straight to the field in Lexington where the Blue Sox were playing. He watched from a distance as Shaw hit soft toss in the cage. Eventually, Frates walked over.

“Please tell me that’s the kid you asked me to come see,” Gambino said.

“Yeah, that’s him.”

The crown jewel of Massachusetts hitters landed right in Gambino’s lap thanks to Frates’ call. Five years later, Shaw is a college junior, hitting cleanup and playing right field for BC. Coming in at 6-foot-3, 254 pounds, he will likely be a first-round pick in the Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft this June, and scouts name him as a contender for the best college hitter in the country. He’s a preseason All-American pick, and looks the part.

Gambino says that Shaw is BC’s most powerful batter since Sean McGowan, who was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the third round 16 years ago. He’s the kind of player who can almost ruin a batting practice with how far and hard he can blast a ball.

“For my money, I’ll take him over any bat in the country,” Gambino says.

Shaw is the Eagles’ most formidable, visible, and vocal weapon, but he can’t do it alone—no matter how good Shaw is this year, he needs help.

“I don’t think people realize how good offensively guys like Blake [Butera], and Johnny [Adams], and Joey Cronin, and Mike Strem are,” Gambino says.

“There are going to be times when Chris is going to carry us, because he can do that. He can win a game for you. Chris is going to do that, but most of the time, it’s going to have to be those other guys.”

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1he seventh-inning stretch comes and goes, and it’s back to the game—the bloodbath—at hand. The Tigers are flattening BC’s hitters with whack-a-mole mallets and reducing the bullpen’s best efforts to a tragic game of pinball. It’s the third and final game of the series, and LSU carries an 11-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh. By the time legions of fans in purple flood the parking lot, the Tigers will have tacked on five more runs in the eighth, chased off seven BC pitchers, and bashed the Eagles for 21 hits. This third loss of BC’s Baton Rouge series lasts three hours and eight minutes. “Feels more like eight hours and three minutes,” says a sports information director in the press box.

Dark blue clouds stretch across the warm Louisiana night sky. Gambino pores over a freshly printed stat sheet. He walks out of the dugout at Alex Box Stadium and immediately blames himself for the carnage, saying that he knew BC was unfocused in pregame warmups, and he should have fixed it before the bayou beatdown began.

“We played two good games yesterday, had the chance to win two baseball games,” Gambino says. “The first one got away a little bit at the end, but it was a close ball game. The second one we had the chance to win at the end.

Today was my fault.”

It’s harder to find any moral victories after a 16-2 loss. Gambino’s biggest critics, failing to see past the box scores of games one and two (8-3, 7-4), will call an otherwise competitive and promising weekend a nuclear meltdown, chalking it up to more of the same from BC, which has posted records of 22-33, 12-40, 22-34, and 17-34 under Gambino.

But they would be writing off the arduous gains the program has made. Finally, after four frustrating seasons, Gambino has an infield composed of ACC-caliber talent, a burgeoning superstar, and a united locker room.

“This team has a chance to be really good,” Gambino says before leaving the field. “But if we don’t do the things that we are capable of doing and have the ability to do and focus on those things, then we’re that.”

“That” being the same old BC baseball team that hasn’t made the ACC tournament since 2010—heavy on promises, light on wins.

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1he ball rockets off an LSU bat straight for the gap between third base and third baseman. Cronin explodes to his right, diving into the dirt. In a flash he’s up, instinctively gunning for first base. He tosses a perfect one-hop bullet to a full-stretch Strem, and the umpire cocks his arm and closes his fist. Out. Abandoning first base, Strem breaks to his right and flails for a ball skipping toward the outfield. He can’t get there in time—it’s out of his range—but Butera flies along the edge of the infield to back him up. Senior pitcher John Gorman races to cover first, and Butera’s throw beats the runner by a millisecond.

Adams hurls his body toward second base, landing face-first in the clay but snagging a furious grounder on the hop. In one, smooth motion, without using his free hand, the shortstop flips the ball to Butera to force the out at second.

“I think we’re going to have the best defensive infield in our conference,” Gambino said prior to LSU. “And it’s a pretty good baseball conference.”

Gambino might be right. On defense and at the plate, BC has the potential to contend with any team in the country. That’s not what the players want to talk about, though. “[The team is] just full of those guys that have bought into our mindset here of just grinding away and playing hard,” Butera said. “It’s a full team now, full of those guys.”

Shaw tied BC’s success late last season to the birth of the Eagles’ growing sense of unity.

“Honestly, I think that the biggest contributing factor to that success was just the clubhouse, like how we came together off the field,” Shaw said. “It became such a tight-knit family during that time that we were starting to pound teams.”

The Eagles earnestly believe that the greatest difference between 2015 and the last few

unsuccessful seasons is the unity in the clubhouse. On the surface, this blatantly contradicts the individualistic nature of baseball. There’s no magic formula connecting a tight locker room with a winning record—it can keep players from getting at each others’ throats during slumps, but will only get them so far on the field.

The Eagles’ sense of family is readily apparent, though, and anchored by their relationship with Frates. From the freshmen to the seniors, BC players eat together, go out together, and live together in mixed-grade rooms. They support Frates with stickers on their helmets, a flag in their dugout, and red FrateTrain wrist bands.

Frates sends them messages regularly, and told the team he was expecting a baby by letting them know they were going to all be uncles.

Frates is BC baseball.

“The hard part is you don’t want to overplay that hand, but at the same time it’s something that you can always go back to,” reliever Luke Fernandes said. “It’s always been said that when he was here he was the hardest worker, he was the best teammate, and now he’s continued that even though he’s not on our roster.”

On a logical level, family and pride should mean nothing in a sport dominated by recruiting, and there are few better reminders of that than the state-of-the-art locker rooms and finely manicured grass at LSU. Like the other Olympic sports at BC, baseball doesn’t charter flights, and due to the lack of artificial turf, snow and rain can render BC’s home field unusable for half of the season.

The bright lights in Baton Rouge illuminate a multi-million dollar complex nicer than most minor league ballparks, while back in Chestnut Hill, Shea Field doesn’t even have lights. The average BC student spends considerably more time tailgating for football games on the infield than watching baseball games.

Gambino’s recruiting continues to improve, but his resources do not. His goals have no ceiling, but unless he can convince the northeast’s top prospects to play on borrowed home fields, his results might.

But then again, family is exactly what delivered BC’s greatest talent of the 21st century.

“Pete obviously played a big role in me coming here just because of how close I was with him in high school,” Shaw said. “He pretty much helped my recruiting get started. And plus, my mom was one of seven, and five of them came here, and my grandfather came here. Pretty much a no-brainer for me. I grew up loving BC.”

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1arly in the afternoon on Friday, Gambino reads a message to the team from the Frates family on behalf of Pete. “Be passionate, be genuine, be hard working, and don’t be afraid to be great!”

A few hours later, the Eagles take the field against the Tigers in front of thousands of LSU fans, and for long stretches of time, they look exactly like the team Gambino keeps promising is coming. But a few wild pitches, an incomprehensible obstruction call, and freaky errors—like Gabriel Hernandez’s throw from centerfield bouncing wildly off the mound—absolutely kill BC in key junctures. If the Eagles

can eliminate the mistakes, their defense will be formidable. Right now, Gambino still needs to figure out his bullpen. If one of his starters blows up—Nick Poore only lasted an inning and two thirds on Saturday—the relievers will struggle to go an entire game against top talent. Justin Dunn, Mike King, or Jesse Adams may end up being the answer as the third weekend starter instead of Poore, but Gambino needs whoever is in there to last more than an inning or two.

Assistant coach Jim Foster, who arrived from the University of Rhode Island in August, is constantly working to improve the bullpen.

Calling Friday’s pitchers over after dinner that night, a hulking Foster leaned over a dirty white tablecloth littered with scraped-clean plates of pasta and empty Gatorade bottles, and discussed the day’s positives and negatives.

“That’s when the real coaching happens,” Foster said. “Not right after the game, cause the emotions are running high, but the real teaching moments happen when you can get them at a team dinner like that or on the side. That’s when it really sinks in and you can connect with them.

I think we’re making some good strides.” *Nobody says a word. The only sounds on the bus are dull beats leaking through headphones, and restless shuffling around in seats. The atmosphere following a 14-run loss is not much better than that of a final exam held on a Saturday. Gambino instructs the team to shower up and be ready for dinner in half an hour.

Players, coaches, family, and friends of BC baseball fill up the patio at Mike Anderson’s, a popular seafood restaurant in Baton Rouge.

When the Eagles travel with 40 they eat for 60, and tonight there’s enough food for 100. After dinner, the entire team takes a picture as Butera holds up a No. 3 Frates’ t-shirt. Back at the hotel, Foster calls a pitcher’s meeting. “Running shoes on!” jokes someone from the back of the bus.

Perspective breeds resilience, and with Frates at the heart of BC, there’s no shortage of perspective for the Eagles. BC is 2-5, but the season is very young, and painful lessons are better learned early on. On the way to the airport Sunday afternoon, the chatter returns. The bus crawls along with a flat tire, and rueful refrains of Garth Brooks’ “Callin’ Baton Rouge” erupt periodically. “I didn’t see one damn alligator!” complains Shaw.

In less than a week, BC will head down to Florida for another series of tests and plenty of chances to hawk gators from the team bus.

“I truly believe this is the year we’re going to do something good for the school and for the program,” Shaw said before the start of the season.

Gambino’s Eagles believe. They believe that Shaw can be great, and that Cronin and Strem can protect him. They believe the bullpen will come around, and the worst times are in the past. They believe in Frates. They believe that the talent in their dugout and the unity of their clubhouse will make them a very good team.

Now, it’s time for them to convince everyone else. 

CONNOR MELLAS / HEIGHTS SENIOR STAFF