Classical Baseball 2006

Classical Baseball Defeats Saugus
By Jonathan Weiner / For The Daily Item of Lynn, Monday, April 17, 2006

    The Lynn Classical baseball squad was apparently fueled by the heartbreaking memories of last Wednesday's loss to Saugus when the Rams took the field against the Sachems on Saturday morning at Fraser Field.
     Classical held an 8-4 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, before Saugus pushed across five runs in the bottom of the frame to beat Classical, 9-8, earlier in the week.
     The clubs switched roles in Saturday's matinee, with the Sachems scoring twice in the top of the third, and Classical tying the game in the third. The Rams scored the game's final three runs in the fifth to take a 5-2 victory.
     Centerfielder Dave Waldron reached on an infield hit to lead off the fifth, just beating the throw by shortstop Billy Sheehan. Waldron stole second, then came around to score the eventual winning run on a single by second baseman Dan Richard (2-for-4, three RBI). Richard advanced to second on the throw to the plate. Catcher Mike Chakoutis followed with a perfect bunt down the third base line that put runners at the corners. First baseman Mike Jesoraldo's sacrifice fly to center brought Richard home with the fourth Classical run, and Chakoutis would later add the final run, crossing the plate on a sacrifice fly by pitcher Bryant Gauthier to close out the scoring.
     "We executed very well in that (fifth) inning," said Classical coach Jim Tgettis, who saw his club move to 2-1 (2-2 overall). "Waldron (2-for-4, two runs) and Richard had big days for us, and the sacrifice flies (in the fifth) were also big. We were doing the little things."
     It looked as though Saugus would enjoy another good day at the expense of the Rams. Chakoutis, who was Classical's starting pitcher, loaded the bases on a pair of walks and a hit batter with two down in the top of the first. Yet he fanned first baseman Joe Deminski to thwart the threat. The Sachems (1-3) also had another opportunity to do some damage in the second when they again loaded the bases with two down on a fielder's choice, single, and error. However, Chakoutis induced centerfielder Dave Ferriera to bounce out to end the inning.
     "We had a great situation in those two innings (with the bases loaded) to do something, and a base hit would've helped," Saugus coach Pat Petrone said.
    But Petrone saw his club open up the scoring in the third to take a 2-0 advantage. Third baseman Mike Ghika hit a shot down to third, where Sean Walleston made a great stop, diving to his right to keep the ball from going into the outfield. Ghika beat out the throw to first, and went to second on teammate Frank Pellino's single. Pellino would be erased on a fielder's choice that moved Ghika over to third and put Deminski at first. Catcher Tyler Calla then doubled to left, scoring both runners.
    The Rams evened the game in the bottom of the inning. With one down, catcher Greg Clapp reached on a fielder's choice, then went to third on a bloop single by Waldron. Richard, who fouled off several pitches trying to work the hit-and-run with Waldron attempting to break from first, singled to center to bring home both runners and to tie the game at 2-2.
    "It was a nice at-bat by Dan," Tgettis mentioned. "We wanted to try to stress finding good pitches to swing at, and Dan did that very well, working the hit-and-run with Dave."
    With one out in the fourth and a 1-0 count on pinch hitter Kevin McBride, Tgettis brought over Gauthier from first to pitch, and moved Chakoutis behind the plate. Gauthier allowed just one baserunner (a fifth inning double by Pellino) the rest of the way, picking up the victory.
     "Classical got the hits when they needed them," Petrone said. "And the kid in relief (Gauthier) did a great job."

 

 

Our Spring Baseball Trip         by Jason Richard, April 3, 2006


Hi, my name is Jason Richard and I am currently on the annual Lynn Classical
baseball team trip to Washington D.C. We departed from school on March 30th at 8:00
AM. Everyone was very anxious as we waited for coach to give us the ok to put our bags
on the bus. When he did, we were all obviously ready to go. Our first destination was
ESPN studios in Bristol, Connecticut. We were going to take a tour of all the different
 buildings on their campus. When we finally got there it was definitely not as big as I
 expected but construction was going on all around so it looks like they are going to be
 really big soon. When we went into the front of the building there was a big plasma TV
that was surrounded by 8 other smaller TV screens that were showing all of ESPN' s
different networks at the same time. We all waited there for our tour guide for about a
half hour which didn't bother us at all as we were all busy watching Sportscenter. When
we finally got to go in,  we first walked into a hallway that had black and white pictures of
different athletes with their autographs on them. We then were headed to the newsroom,
so we took the elevator upstairs. As soon as we walked into the newsroom at least 6 of us
pointed out Baseball Tonight's Brian Kenny, and ESPN NEWS Michael Kim. Probably
2 minutes after that as we were walking through a hallway looking out the windows at all
the satellites, another big-time Sportscenter anchor walked right through our tour. It was
Linda Khon who I later found out was covering the NCAA Women's Final Four right
here in Boston. It was truly a thrill seeing those people because we see them almost
everyday on TV. After all that we finally got to go and see the different studios and sets.
It was really amazing to see all the things there because we were watching Sportscenter
right before the tour started and while on the tour we were watching the 6 PM
Sportscenter being created right in front of us. As we headed out and got on the bus we
all noticed ESPN NFL LIVE's Chris "Mort" Mortensen. Visiting ESPN was definitely
my highlight of the trip.

We then headed to New Britain, Connecticut.
We were going to New Britain to engage in scrimmage with the New Britain
High School Hurricanes. Although I did not get to play in the scrimmage, I did get to
workout a bit with some of the younger players hitting in the batting cage and doing some
drills that we do before games. During the game I kept track of the pitch count for each
pitcher and warmed up the right fielder during a couple innings. The game was tough. I
feel that our defense could have been a little better because we did make some mistakes as a
team but considering it was only our second scrimmage of the year and first on our trip it
was ok.  That's why we were scrimmaging .
We departed Beehive Stadium, the home of the New Britain High School
Hurricanes baseball team, for Winchester, Virginia. Winchester is where our hotel was
located. It was a long ride but we made a few stops along the way and when we finally
reached our Best Western hotel the team was all split up into fours and assigned to
different rooms. As soon as I got into my room I fell right asleep so that I'd be ready for
our big breakfast and scrimmage in the morning. When we woke up we went to the
dining room and ate. To eat there was your usual scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage
and apple side dish but there was also grits. I mean I've always heard of grits in movies
and that people in the south loved them but I wasn't so sure if I'd love them. I'm not one
to go and try a lot of different kinds of food but these grits were actually pretty good.


After breakfast we all headed off to our scrimmage at James Wood High School.
Our first scrimmage at James Wood High School was against a team called the
Gators. It made me think of the Florida Gators and them making their run at the NCAA
Championship which they did last night. During that game against the Geigel Gators I
coached first and entered in the last inning to play right field. After our game it was our
JV teams turn to play. We, the Varsity team, first ate and then went up to the hill that's
right next to the field to practice and have a little fun. We caught some fly balls and
played some circle ball. After the JV game we went back to the hotel and showered so
that we could go out because we had some free time. A group of us decided it'd be a
good idea to go to the mall, which was right around the corner. I got some Chinese food
and then went to walk around with the rest of the team. When we returned to our rooms
we still had some time to hang out with each other for a couple of hours but only within the
rooms, which was fine. The next day we were due to play a double header. It was a
beautiful day. I coached first again  and then entered into the game to play left
field. During the second game both teams hit the ball a lot. We scored about 15 runs that
game, everyone was hitting the ball. After that game we were exhausted. I mean some
of us had just played 2 games. When we headed back to the hotel to get ready to go to
Cluggy's Family Amusement Center where we played lots of basketball and hit in the
batting cages they had there. It was really fun playing ball with the team because right
when we went back we were all glued to the TV watching the Final Four.


The next day was another big day. First of all it was opening day for the Major
Leagues and it was also the day that we were due to visit the US Naval Academy in
Annapolis, Maryland to take a tour of the Academy itself and to watch a scrimmage
between two great Patriot League teams, Holy Cross and Navy. Before all of that we had
a surprise stop that coach had not told us about. I noticed on our way the Washington
Monument from a distance while we were on our way to the academy and when some of
the others started to see where we actually were we knew that we were making that
surprise stop in Washington D.C. When we got off the bus my teammate Mike
Jesoraldo, my younger Brother Danny Richard and I first took some great pictures of the
U.S. Federal Reserve Building. We then walked towards the Washington Monument and
realized we couldn't get any real good pictures of it from up close. So we took some
pictures of the Washington Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial from there. The next thing I
wanted to see was the Vietnam Wall Memorial. I had always heard of how many people
were killed, I mean I had studied it this year in history, but not until I saw the wall itself
did I truly believe it. It was really breathtaking seeing all those names. 

We met up with a few other teammates and grabbed something to eat and got back to the bus to Annapolis.
When we got there the game had already started and was in the 5th inning. Holy Cross
was winning 1 - 0 going into the bottom of the 7th and the pitcher started to struggle. He
hit a batter and gave up a couple hits and Navy walked off on a single to left field and
won 2 - 1. It was a great game to have had the chance to watch so that we could see
what baseball is up close at the College level.
The team then headed to the gift shop and visitors center and then went to visit the
Crypt of John Paul Jones. Jones, who we learned was the 1st great U.S. Naval
Commander, died at the age of 45 in Paris, France. His remains were eventually sent to
the United States. They were very well preserved in alcohol and straw for a very long
time. A Marine honor guard stands duty whenever the crypt is open to the public. He
was standing there the whole time, silent and without a movement in his body except for
the occasional blink and breath. We all then went outside took some team pictures and
returned back to the hotel to enjoy our last day.

 The next morning the team got up early
ate breakfast and got ready to checkout. We had one more practice back at James Wood
High School and then we were on our way back to Lynn. With me being a senior and
this being my first trip it was truly a great experience. I mean we got to go to ESPN, visit
our nation's capital and play some baseball. .I've always heard from friends and
teammates that have enjoyed this trip before but this year was my year to finally take it
all in and I did just that.

 

  

                                                                                Classical's John Powell runs a drill during practice on Wednesday. Reprinted from The Daily Item of Lynn                                                                                                                                        ITEM PHOTO / REBA M. SALDANHA

There are always questions that need answering at the start of a new season, and in the case of the

Classical High baseball team, most involve pitching. Coach Jim Tgettis has a strong group of

returning position players from last year's 8-10 team, but how it all comes together will depend in

large part on how the pitching develops. "When some of these kids break out and how we do with

our pitching will determine the degree of success we have," Tgettis said.  "We don't have players

 whose No. 1 position is pitching, although they do possess some pretty good athletic ability."

Tgettis is counting on his four returning seniors, Andrew Richard, John Powell, Dave Waldron and

 Mike Jesoraldo, to form this year's nucleus. .

Richard, a righty pitcher; saw some time on the mound last year.  Jesoraldo played fIrst base, but

 look for him in right field this season. "He hit three or four home runs last year," Tgettis said.

"He's a pretty good hitter. We're looking for him to drive in some runs."

Waldron, a center fielder, has been on varsity for four years. He has a strong arm, runs well and gives

 the Rams some excellent defense, Tgettis said. Powell will be in left field. Like Jesoraldo, he throws

 righty and bats left.

Junior Sean Fitzgerald played some third base last year, but Tgettis is looking at him for fIrst this

 season. Sophomore Dan Richard, who started every game as a freshman, is at second.

"He has quick feet, quick hands and nice bat control," Tgettis said.

Junior Matt Church plays shortstop and, along with Waldron, will see some time on the mound.

Three players are vying for third at this point, Shane Clemens, Luis Castillo and Sean Walleston.

Mike Chakoutis is hoping to take over behind the plate, replacing Rick Myette, who graduated.

"He has a strong arm and he's very heads-up. He's a smart type of player," Tgettis said about

Chakoutis. Greg Clapp, a junior, did a littlie pitching last year with a couple of complete games under

his belt. Brian Gauthier is also competing for a pitching spot.

"Some of the kids got important experience last year," Tgettis said. "I feel we have a good

defensive team. We'll have to score runs, but 1 know we'll be very competitive."

The Rams leave for Washington, DC next Thursday.  This is the 10th consecutive year Tget-

  tis has been doing the trip, which combines baseball with  sightseeing. The Rams will play a game

against New Britain High School in Connecticut, and then head down to James Woods High School

 in Winchester, Va., where they'll play games against the host team as well as teams from Hempstead

 and Greensburg-Salem, Pa, where they'll play an Intra-Squad game and watch Navy play Holy

 Cross.

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