Sports
Baseball Team Looks To Improve
The Sachems bring back their top pitcher and last year's league batting champ, as Winchester hopes to challenge for a league title.
Many baseball coaches believe that you build a team up the middle, which means positions like pitcher, catcher and shortstop are most important.
So is in good position as it starts the 2011 season—the Sachems return staff ace Jed Robinson, all-star catcher Ratthapoom Asdornvuttikrai and Babson College-bound shortstop Luke Pashos.
Robinson is a three-year starter who was a league all-star last season. A strong off-season has made the lefty even better and he's looking to leave an impression at Winchester before taking a prep year at Avon Old Farms.
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Asdornvuttikrai, another three-year player, is an exceptional hitter who led the Middlesex Leauge with a .491 average last season. The Clark-bound senior can hit for power and average and rarely strikes out.
Along with Robinson and Asdornvuttikrai, the third captain is Pashos, who started every game at shortstop last season and serves as the team's defensive leader.
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Connor Steckel and Dylan DiCecca will also be returning starters from last season's team, which went 11-9 in the Middlesex League and lost to Wilmington in the first round of the Division 2 state tournament.
Steckel is a first baseman and DiCecca plays the outfield; both players pitch as well.
Newcomers to the starting lineup include Matt Gehrig, who mostly was a designated hitter last year but will play in the infield this season; centerfielder Tommy Pine, who was on the team last year as a sophomore; and senior Brian Conley, who has been a bright spot in the outfield during preseason scrimmages.
The Sachems were strong offensively last season, something coach Dave Blanchard thinks will continue.
"We hit the ball pretty well in our scrimmages," Blanchard said. "We're trying to stress becoming a good defensive team and a good pitching team. We want to be as balanced as we possibly can be."
Winchester has made the playoffs in each of Blanchard's previous five seasons, winning the league title in 2008. It will take some improvement to get past Lexington and Reading, who both have a lot of players returning.
"They've emerged in the last 10 years or so as the really premier programs. We'd like to get into that discussion as well," Blanchard said. "It's a clean slate. We're going to shoot for the moon."
Winchester baseball
Last season: 11-10
Key players: Jed Robinson, Sr., P; Ratthapoom Asdornvuttikrai, Sr., C; Luke Pashos, Sr., SS; Connor Steckel, Sr., 1B/P; Dylan DiCecca, Sr., OF/P.
Key losses: Sam Novicki, IF.
Outlook: This team has the offense to challenge for a league title it last won in 2008, but it will need to shore up its pitching and defense in order to compete with teams like and . Novicki, last year's team MVP, is now an infielder at Merrimack, but there's plenty of talent remaining, including the all-star battery of Robinson, the lefty ace, and Asdornvuttikrai, the league batting champion.
Quote: "We're going to shoot for the moon,"—coach Dave Blanchard.