March 31, 2008 - In his first couple of years in charge, Guilford coach Pete Civitello sat with some of the members of his team at Yale Field watching the SCC Tournament, thinking how sweet it would be to have his team out there, under the lights in front of a big crowd.
But, of course, heading into the 2007 season, Yale Field, particularly in the finals, was reserved for the SCC elite: after all, Amity had won the conference title three years in a row, twice over Xavier, once over North Haven, all teams that were used to having success in baseball. And let’s face it, Guilford - at least in this century - wasn’t used to having success in baseball.
Of course, that all changed last string, as the Indians went on the improbable run to end all improbable runs (at least to people outside Guilford), capturing the SCC title (beating undefeated Amity), and winning the Class L title two weeks later, despite the fact it had been a decade since they won a tournament game. Oh, and Will Jolin capped it off by throwing a no-hitter in the finals, a 1-0 game in which Guilford left Pomperaug on the field in the bottom of the seventh.
To quote Vin Scully after Kirk Gibson’s sublime walk-off homer in the 1988 World Series: “In the year of the improbable, the impossible has happened.” All of which is nice, but 10 months later, the trophies have been put away, commemorative t-shirts have been banned from practice, and the Guilford baseball program finds itself in yet another new place: looking at everyone else’s guns pointed at them as the team to beat in the SCC.
“It’s part of the deal of being defending champions,” Civitello said. “We’ll just take it game by game and see what happens. We know we’re not going to sneak up on anyone. We’re playing a first-place schedule for the first time, and we’re probably going to see everyone’s No. 1. But I think we’re ready.” Guilford seems to be ready to attack the 2008 season with a quiet confidence and with good reason. Jolin, who threw the no-hitter in the state title game, returns before heading to the University of Florida next season. Although he has a big future ahead of him, Civitello doesn’t see any reason why Jolin will be limited this spring.
“Florida’s been pretty open to letting him do what he wants to do,” Civitello said. “They let him play hockey in the winter, so I don’t think there will be any restrictions in baseball. I’ve talked to (new Florida coach) Kevin O’ Sullivan a few times, and he’s been great.” Jolin didn’t have to wait long to be tested, as he opened the season on the mound against Amity Wednesday. While Jolin will get most of the attention this season, his supporting cast is what might push the Indians over the top. Dustin Miconi and Sam Greenburg made up as solid a double-play tandem as we saw in the state, and while Greenburg may miss a couple of weeks with an injured hand, Civitello has plenty of pieces to plug in.
The biggest shoes to fill are at catcher, where Mike Gell graduated, but Civitello likes what he’s seen from Matt Lundberg, who got some big-game experience in the fall on the football field. And the Indians know while we sometimes forget about the one-hit wonders, it’s a little tougher to forget those that have done it back-to-back.
“Last year was a great year, almost a perfect year,” Civitello said. “But this is a very important season for our program, too. It’s important to keep it going, to show that it wasn’t just one season. You can see the hunger is still there with these kids, and they still want to prove themselves.”
WE’RE STILL HERE, TOO: Meanwhile, all Amity did after that loss to Guilford in the SCC finals last season was go out and win the Class LL title for the second straight year, posting a 26-1 record in the process. Their resume, even discounting the pair of state titles, in the last four years is unparalleled: the Spartans are a whopping 96-11, with three SCC championships, and two berths in the Class LL semifinals. They are 35-1 in the Housatonic Division in that span, which features teams like Shelton and Sheehan.
In a sport that might be the most unpredictable of the bunch, Amity has won just about 90 percent of its games (in Major League Baseball, winning 60 percent of your games gets you a 97-win season). And, despite some big graduation losses, don’t expect the Spartans to drop very far this season.
“We’ve had good pitching and defense, and it’s always started with that,” Amity coach Sal Coppola said. “There’s a reason why the pros play best-of-7 in the playoffs, so I’m pretty amazed at the run we’ve had.”
Amity has also put to rest the notion that they had trouble in the big game after losing the state final twice in three years earlier this decade. “I don’t think it’s anything magical that the coaches did,” Coppola said. “We had some breaks in the games that we lost that didn’t go our way, and the last couple of years we’ve been able to fight through that.” With the graduation of its top three pitchers from last season, for the first time in a while, there are some question marks on the mound, but Amity appears to have the ability to reload rather than rebuild.
Coppola will look to seniors Jack Greenhouse and Mike Nich, both of whom have patiently waited their turn while Amity has been rolling through its competition. The Spartans’ lineup, on paper, is second to none in the SCC, featuring three Division I players in Brian Kownacki (Fordham), Jason Esposito (Vanderbilt), and Chris Migani (Quinnipiac).
The schedule, as always, is daunting (another reason why Amity’s run is amazing, they’ve played a first-place schedule every year), with Guilford, Xavier, and Fairfield Prep starting the proceedings, but you have to believe that at the SCC and Class LL Tournaments, the gold and black of Amity will be there in the end.
“We always start small,” Coppola said. “We don’t want to take anyone for granted in the Housatonic Division, there are some good teams there. We’ll take the SCC Tournament and state tournament when they come. We don’t ever want too look too far ahead, that’s when you get into trouble.”
AROUND THE HORN: Normally this is where I give you my predictions for the SCC season, but the order has been so bad in the last few seasons, I’m throwing in the towel and just let what happens happen. High school baseball is way to unpredictable for preseason prognostication. But you can check out the Power Rankings to give you a vague idea of where I think everyone is. But proceed with caution …
Even though there are no more professional baseball teams that call Yale Field home, the SCC will continue to use it, as it has for every year of its existence. It’s a great facility for high school baseball, and great for the SCC, we’ll just have to see what kind of shape it’s in a month after the college season ends. The first round, by the way, will continue to be held at West Haven High’s Piurek Field. Hey, now that no one’s using it other than Yale, can Yale Field bring back the William Howard Taft seat behind the plate? …
Even though Yale Field is great, the CIAC isn’t taking any chances and will play the state finals at Palmer Field in Middletown, which is also a great facility for high school baseball and is almost centrally located. You can’t really blame the CIAC on this one, remember last year a freak rain storm “rained out” the Class L title game when Yale Field could not put a tarp on the field because they did not have the staff to do it. That and the Class LL game were eventually moved to Bristol’s Muzzy Field …
Speaking of weather, the preseason was much more kind to baseball teams this year than it was when there was snow and ice covering most fields last year to start the season. Although it was cold, sometimes unseasonably so, most teams got the majority of their scrimmages in which should make for much crisper ball early in the campaign. Foran and Shelton will play the first night game of the season on April 25, it should be warmer by then …Check the schedule at www.sportingnewsct.com for live audio of SCC games throughout the season, including the SCC Tournament. Sportingnewsct.com will also have video of selected games throughout the season as well.
GAME OF THE WEEK Amity at Guilford, Wednesday, 3:30 p.m. - Of course, by the time most of you are reading this, the game is already over, but you won’t find a bigger game in the SCC this season, so we had to throw it here anyway. You can also add the intrigue of Will Jolin pitching against Amity, who actually got a few hits off of him in the SCC title game, despite that 7-1 loss, the only defeat of the season for the Spartans. If you missed it, don’t worry, they play again in about a month.
Editors note The Guilford Double play combination is Sam Greenberg and Ryan Brockett (not Dustin Miconi). Brockett is a Sr. Tri-captain, has played varsity middle-infield for Guilford for all four years.Miconi will play at 2B until Greenberg's return from injury. Brockett will play SS.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS : 7
Number of SCC teams that reached at least the state quarterfinals last season. Of course, we know that Amity and Guilford won the Class LL and Class L titles, respectively, in 2007, but can you name the others without reading ahead? The other five were: Fairfield Prep (Class LL); North Haven, Branford, and Jonathan Law (Class L); and Career (Class S).
POWER RANKINGS
1) Guilford (22-4; Last Year 2) – We‘ll see how they do with the target on their backs this year.
2) Amity (26-1; LY 1) – Meanwhile, Spartans might be relieved to lay low for a little while.
3) Xavier (14-9; LY 3) – Always a tough team to project in a very tough division to project.
4) Branford (14-11; LY 6) – Hard to believe they had 11 losses last year. Probably not in 2008. 5) Notre Dam
e (13-9; LY 7) – If they can get themselves some consistency, could move up the list.
6) Fairfield Prep (13-10; LY 10) -- Lineup is dangerous, if they get some pitching to match, very tough.
7) North Haven (13-9; LY 8) – Lots of young pitching, but it‘s pretty good young pitching.
8) Sheehan (13-9; LY 4) – Titans got it backward last year, but were still fighting until the end.
9) Career (16-7; LY 5) – East Shore Park is not much for baseball, but it‘s a nice park for hitters.
10) Jonathan Law (13-9; LY 11) – Lawmen almost quietly made a run to the Class L semifinals.
11) Shelton (8-13; LY 12) – Legion team made it back-to-back titles last year, see if SHS follows.
12) Cheshire (9-13; LY 16) – An abysmal start to last year, but finished hot and will look to continue.
13) Hand (10-13; LY 9) – Does Hand finish with about the same record every year or is it me?
14) West Haven (10-11; LY 15) – Very good chance to be 4-0 through the first four contests.
15) Foran (5-15; LY 17) – Everything went wrong last season, don‘t see that happening again.
16) Lyman Hall (5-15; LY 18) -- Should return to the state tournament with the schedule they have.
17) Hamden (8-13; LY 13) – Just couldn‘t quite put anything together consistently last season.
18) East Haven (9-12; LY 14) – Easties have a game scheduled the first night of SCC Tournament.
19) Derby (7-13; LY 20) – Had a lot of success early in the season, went away toward the end.
20) Wilbur Cross (7-13; LY 19) – Governors battled hard last season, especially at Rice Field.
21) Hillhouse (2-18; LY 21) – Have gone three years since their last SCC victory in league.
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