THE WARRIORS welcome senior pitcher Tim Connolly back to the dugout after a strikeout against Arlington on April 7. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WAKEFIELD — Senior seasons are always memorable on the baseball diamond.
It’s just that this season means a little more.
“We have 13 seniors so that’s a huge part of (the excitement),” said Wakefield head coach Kevin Canty. “It’s a group that didn’t get to play as sophomores and didn’t get to play a ton as juniors with just 12 games last year so we have a lot of guys who are ready to go and want to get out there.
“We’ve played a lot of seniors so far. The seniors want to get their opportunity – they’re going to get their opportunity and we’ll go from there.”
The two seniors leading the way are captains Zack Kent and Nick Knowles.
“Two guys who earned it,” says Canty. “They’ve been great leaders.”
Knowles is Wakefield’s catcher. Kent plays shortstop and will pitch some high-intensity innings this season. Both will be relied upon to power the Warrior offense from the heart of the order.
That was certainly the case in Wakefield’s season-opening win in Lexington. Kent, an All-Scholastic All-Star and Freedom Division MVP last season when he hit for a .447 average with two homers, 15 steals and 15 runs scored, broke a 4-4 tie in extra innings by clearing loaded bases with a 3-RBI triple. Knowles later brought Kent home with a base hit in a 9-4 extra inning victory.
“It was a very good game,” said Canty. “We got to their reliever in the 8th.”
The seniors will look to build on a strong 2021 in which Wakefield went 10-2 in the regular season to win the Middlesex League’s Freedom Division crown. The Warriors fell to Danvers in the first round of the Div. 2 North Tournament.
The pitching staff will be led by two seniors: Luke Ickes and Liam Stromski. Both pitched in Wakefield’s win over Lexington in addition to Kent who closed it out.
Wakefield will need a third starter to take control. Seniors Nathan Ickes and Tim Connolly gave the team some quality innings in a 10-5 loss to Arlington at Walsh Field on April 7. Junior John Porter started the game.
“We need one of those guys to step up and be our third starter, especially when have three-game weeks,” said Canty. “We need to be able to get guys out, that’s what it comes down to.”
The Warriors nearly came all the way back from a 7-2 Spy Ponder lead in the bottom of the 5th when they plated three runs but a great defensive play and a couple base running mistakes ended the threat early. Don Dubuque singled to lead off the frame; Matt Elwell was hit by a pitch and Kent walked to load the bags, something the captain will see a lot this season as teams will try to avoid his bat.
Senior Jack Berinato had a rare RBI walk and Knowles brought home two when his laser to short went under an infielder’s glove. With one out and the bags loaded again, Nathan Ickes barreled one to deep center field but an incredible catch prevented the Warriors from tying or taking the lead and it led to a double play to end the threat.
Together, Wakefield knows they have the ability to take the league again this year and get to the new statewide Div. 2 tournament.
“Our first goal is to win this league,” said Canty after the Arlington game. “We’ve played two of the top teams so far and we battled both games; it was excellent baseball. We’ve made our mistakes, other teams make mistakes too, we just have to get better from those and learn from those.
“We know we have a lot of talent, we just have to consistently show it.”
The Warriors fell to 1-2 when they dropped an 8-6 contest on the road to Wilmington in their first Freedom Division matchup yesterday. Wakefield will look to get back in the win column tomorrow when they host rival Melrose, 4 p.m. at Walsh Field.
Ahead of the Warriors is a great opportunity: quite simply a chance to play more baseball than they have in years, as evidenced by their eight games coming up in the next two weeks.
“We have a team with a lot of guys returning from last year and as a group, maybe they didn’t get as many opportunities as they would have liked so we have to take advantage of them when we get those chances,” said Canty.