Updates after press time:
Melrose defeats Wakefield 5-1 (April 11)
Melrose falls to Reading 7-4 (April 10)
Melrose falls to Winchester 6-5 (April 9)
Published April 11, 2025
8-7 victory over Belmont is a nice start to spring
By CORY THOMAS
MELROSE—The 2025 Melrose High School Varsity baseball season got underway on April 2 at Belmont High School’s Brendan Grant Memorial Field. The calendar may have said Spring, but the weather sure felt like winter still. Nonetheless, the season got underway against Middlesex League foe Belmont, under the guidance of 6th year Melrose varsity head coach Scott Searles.
Hope springs eternal at the start of a new season, and Coach Searles said of his 2025 team, “This is one of the deepest teams I’ve had in my time coaching Melrose. The 2022 team had depth, but that was a senior loaded team, with twelve seniors. This year we have depth and balance throughout the roster.” The 2022 team was a state tournament qualifying team and that is where the current 2025 team wants to go, back to the state tournament! Searles admits, “We’re hoping to make a run at the tournament.” He added, “The key to this year’s team is our depth thanks to a strong group of underclassmen to go with our returning upperclassmen”.
After the 2022 team made their run in the state tournament, they graduated those twelve senior ball players and Coach Searles had a lot of spots to fill. That opened up opportunities for four sophomores the following year when Jaiden Aquino(P/OF), Brendan Doyle (C/INF/P/OF), Dylan Harrington (P/OF/INF), & Michael Thomas (INF/P) all made the varsity team and started to contribute when they made their way into the starting line-up. All four played prominent roles as juniors last year on the Melrose team that fell one game short of their goal of making it to the tournament. Searles hopes their experience will pay dividends this year, as all four are back as Senior Captains for Melrose in 2025.
The balance comes from a strong group of juniors, including pitcher Brian Capodilupo, Jack Casey, Cadel McKeown, Brendan Sestito, Ian McKeown, & Tyler Garipay. Capodilupo got the start in Belmont to kick off the season and he made the most of his starting opportunities. “I was able to have some success my sophomore year last year and I wanted to build off that success to start this year, a year we all hope will earn us a trip to the tournament,” he says.
Capodilupo battled the Belmont Marauders hitters and the weather, holding Belmont scoreless for the first two innings. Belmont would string some hits together in the 3rd inning to take an early lead, but Melrose battled back thanks to some of that depth Searles’ roster boasts. In the top of the 4th inning, junior Jack Casey & sophomore Nate Geer got the Melrose offense in gear with hits, followed by RBI’s by senior first baseman Reid Heidebrecht, Michael Thomas & Dylan Harrington, as Melrose took the lead 4-3. Senior captain Brendan Doyle delivered an RBI as well pushing the Melrose lead to 5-3 to close out the away half of the fourth.
Brian Capodilupo, staked to his first lead of the day, set down Belmont in order in their half of the 4th inning and the score remained 5-3 Melrose into the 6th. Capodilupo found himself up at bat with the bases loaded in the top of the 6th, and the talented junior helped out his own pitching cause when the big righty smashed a double down the line in left clearing the bases and extending the Melrose lead to 8-3. “That hit felt great and gave us some breathing room,” exclaimed Capodilupo. Belmont would rally in the seventh inning but Melrose hung on to earn the opening day victory, 8-7 to start their year off with an important Middlesex League victory.
Melrose’s home opener at Morelli Field was postponed a day due to rain, but the Melrose DPW Green Team got Morelli ready for game action on Friday, April 4, as Melrose hosted perennial Division 1 power, and highly ranked Lincoln-Sudbury. L/S wasted no time in showing what they could do as they scored five first inning runs against Melrose. Melrose answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the 1st to make the score 5-1.
More of Melrose’s depth was on display against L/S as sophomore Jameson Hickey entered the game to pitch in relief in the second inning and Hickey was able to keep the Lincoln Sudbury bats at bay as Melrose chipped away at the lead to get themselves back into the ballgame. In the 3rd inning Nate Geer added an RBI hit, Michael Thomas and Dylan Harrington also added RBI hits to make the score 6-4 Sudbury. Melrose would show a lot of heart & fight all afternoon. Undaunted by the talented visitors from L/S, even when Lincoln Sudbury added a run in the 7th inning, Melrose wouldn’t quit. Freshman Max Hoag started the 7th with his first varsity hit, and quickly stole second, Melrose would load the bases behind walks from Geer & Thomas, setting the stage for dangerous Senior & Wesleyan College baseball commit, Dylan Harrington. Harrington would battle in a gritty at-bat, at one point he lined a ball down the right field line that the lefty scorched & would have tied the game, at the least, but it was not to be, the ball landed just foul. But the battle Melrose put up spoke volumes against one of the best teams in the state. Melrose will be a tough out for any team all year long. Said Coach Searles, “I like the make-up & character of this team.”
Melrose jumps back into Middlesex League action the week of April 7, but the rain has postponed two games so far this week, Melrose plays at Winchester Wednesday, then hosts Reading Thursday and Wakefield Friday. Big week ahead for this ball club from Melrose.