By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WAKEFIELD — The 2025 Wakefield High baseball team has goals. That’s nothing new. In fact, a couple of goals might be old.
Last year, the Warriors won the Middlesex League Freedom Division championship for the second straight year, finishing 16-4 in the regular season and earning a No. 9 seed in the Div. 3 state tournament.
That’s goal number one — at least chronologically — for the Warriors this year.
In terms of ranked importance however, Wakefield’s new goal of postseason success might reign supreme.
Winning in the 2025 state tournament is a goal born from a first round, 9-1 loss to No. 24 Tewksbury at Wakefield’s home Walsh Field. The Warriors certainly want a shot at redemption.
Of course, they’ll have to cross that bridge if and when they get there.
“We’re hoping to build off of the success that we had last year,” said Kevin Canty who is starting his 8th season as head coach at WMHS. “We are returning two of our main pitchers in Marc Gagne and Jack Pennacchia. They will lead our pitching staff and with Jack, Aidan Bligh, Charles Gagne, Cam DePrizio and Andrew Nemec leading us offensively, we’re looking for a similar regular season with hopefully better results in the postseason.”
Wakefield has plenty to replace from last year’s squad including All-Stars Steven Woish (Freedom MVP, CF) and Jack Stromski (P) but the depth and talent returning has Canty and his staff excited for 2025.
Gagne, a senior, was an All-Conference All-Star last year and the ace of the staff. The lefty racked up 8 wins with a 1.77 earned run average and 47 strikeouts in 44.1 innings.
Senior Jayvith Chea is another returning All-Star this season. He played all over the infield last year and led the team in batting average at .417 and on-base percentage at .533. He had 24 hits, 17 runs scored and 13 steals.
Pennacchia (P/1B) is the third returning All-Star for the Warriors. He was just as impressive on the mound as he was at the plate. He had a team-leading ERA of 1.55 in 33 innings, earning 5 wins. At the dish, he hit .367 with an OBP of .523. He led the team in walks and was second in slugging.
Bligh, a junior, has held down the third base job since his freshman year. He will be counted on in the heart of the batting order this season.
Seniors DePrizio and Charles Gagne will patrol the outfield again this year. They bring strong defense and plenty of hitting along with chaos on the base paths.
Nemec, a catcher, enters his senior year with years of varsity success and will be another middle of the order presence that Wakefield will count on to drive in runs.
Juniors Nik Dhingra and Dylan McDermott also gained experience last year and will provide depth in the lineup.
On paper, the Warriors look like the team to beat once again in the Freedom Division.
Wakefield went 8-2 against fellow Freedom squads last year with both losses coming to 2nd place Burlington. Wakefield went 13-3 against the entire league while the Red Devils were 9-7.
Burlington should be strong again with returning All-Stars Seamus McMakin, Daniel Crossman and Nolan Berkeley.
Wilmington, 3rd in the Freedom with an 8-8 league record, returns All-Stars Ayden Balter and Connor Lovell.
Melrose, 4th in the division at 7-9, brings back All-Star pitcher Dylan Harrington.
Lexington (15-5, 12-4 in league) and Woburn (15-5, 11-5 in league) should be strong again in the Liberty Division this year. The Warriors will get a great, early-season test against the Tanners and returning All-Stars Ryan Lush, Jack Lee and Avery Powers on Monday, April 7, 4:15 p.m. in the home opener at Walsh Field.
Wakefield’s first game will be on Wednesday when they visit Arlington at 4:15 p.m. The Warriors beat the Spy Ponders 4-1 in the season-opener last year.