St. Mary’s entered the season as one of a handful of contenders for the Division 3 state baseball title.
Through six games, nothing has happened to dispel that notion.
The 6-0 Spartans have beaten a pair of future Div. 1 college pitchers (Scott Longo and Andrew Shute) and a bonafide high school ace (Matt Burt) in the process.
“Pitching has been the No. 1 reason for our success,” said St. Mary’s coach Derek Dana. “We’ve got two No. 1 guys (Josh Doney and Jack Zimmerman) who are very good pitchers who will go on to pitch in college. They always want the ball and they give us innings. Jake Peterson has been with us for three years, he’s been in some big games as well.
“Cam McGonagle wasn’t with us last year because of an injury he suffered during hockey, but he was our leading hitter as a sophomore and will pitch for us as well as Jackson Finn.”
St. Mary’s isn’t just a job for Dana – it’s his life.
A star player at St. Mary’s where he was part of state championship teams in 1987 and 1988, Dana went on to play at UMass and was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 28th round of the 1991 MLB Draft. He spent four years in the minors before returning home and becoming the head coach at his alma mater 18 years ago.
“This school means a lot to me,” said Dana, who has guided the Spartans to three state titles in his tenure. “I love this place, I love everything about the school. (Athletic director) Jeff Newhall does a great job, he gives us everything we need which makes things a lot easier.
“The kids know the past and understand that, but we want them to be part of something now.”
Because of the deep and talented rotation, St. Mary’s doesn’t need to bang out 20 hits on a daily basis in order to achieve success. The Spartans have relied on timely hitting from the likes of Michael DeMaino, Jared Paone, Josh Doney, Kyle Doney and McGonagle to stay perfect through six games.
“We’re not hitting the way we would like, but I can see that we are having much better at-bats than we did last year.” Dana said. “We’re a year older and the approaches at the plate are much improved.”
Diamond dandies
Xaverian baseball coach Gerry Lambert joined the 300-win club earlier last week when the Hawks defeated Hopkinton, 7-1. A 1988 graduate of Xaverian where he played for Bill Porter, Lambert took over the program in 2002 and has guided the Hawks to three state titles as well as four sectional titles in his 22 seasons at the helm.
Staying with the Catholic Conference, coaches in the league aren’t paying lip service when they say on any given day, any team in the league can beat the other. That happened last Monday as winless Catholic Memorial knocked off defending state champion and previously unbeaten BC High 4-2 thanks to a key two-run double by Richie Curran.
Holliston dialed up Dr. Longball early and often against Millis. Evan Engel, Sam Schoenberg and Ben Maiorano each homered twice and combined for 14 RBI as Holliston cruised to a 15-2 win.
Whitman-Hanson’s Taryn Leonard is no stranger to going yard herself. The Panther standout belted a pair of home runs in an 18-5 win over Hingham, giving her 20 for her career.
Bishop Feehan’s Mylee Ramer took matters into her own hands against St. Mary’s. She struck out 14 and homered twice, including a grand slam, in a 14-8 win to improve to 6-0 on the season. The Shamrocks have a key nonleague showdown against King Philip slated for Patriots Day.
All-Scholastic junior pitcher Elsie Testa of Abington keeps putting up impressive numbers. The reigning South Shore Tobin Player of the Year cracked the 300-strikeout mark for her career in a 9-2 win over Cohasset. Last year, Testa struck out 189 batters in 152 innings and finished with a miniscule 0.88 ERA.
(If you have any notebook ideas, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at donato.ventura@bostonherald.com)
