By Tucker Paquette
@tpaquette17
On the heels of an uneven 2024 campaign, the Springfield College baseball team feels optimistic as it enters a new season.
The Pride went 16-21 last year, a record bogged down by a 2-10 stretch over their last 12 games. One common theme in the Pride’s losses last year was innings spiraling out of control – a few runners would get on base, and before long multiple runs would score, creating what baseball coaches call crooked innings.
To second-year graduate assistant coach Arlo Pike and first-year graduate assistant coach Mark Nofri, minimizing the damage in adverse situations and understanding the natural ups and downs of a baseball game will be essential for the Pride.
“Worst case example, go[ing] down five runs in the first inning, not give up,” Pike said. “I understand it’s a long game, but it just takes a couple of at-bats to start changing the mood a little bit.”
“When something does go bad this spring, it’s guaranteed to happen, it’s baseball,” Nofri said. “It’s a sport of failure. Being resilient towards it and sticking together and coming out on top and really flipping the script from last year to this year.”
Springfield has already been dealing with some adversity, even before this season begins. Longtime head coach Mark Simeone has been away from the team since September for family reasons, forcing Pike and Nofri, among other assistant coaches, to step up.
The Pride have been rallying around each other amidst Simeone’s absence, while still keeping him in mind.
“The guys obviously miss him and we miss him, realizing that we’re all we have and really taking that and embracing that,” Nofri said. “We’re all we have and take that mindset for the season.”
While they are without their head coach, the Pride possess many elements of a successful club – including their starting pitching. While the Pride lost several members of last year’s rotation, including Connor Caverly, who led the team in innings pitched and strikeouts, they have the arms to string together quality outings and accumulate wins.
One key returner on the mound is junior starting pitcher Nate Kelleher-Mochak. After a 2024 season defined by notable improvements on the mound, Kelleher-Mochak is excited for what’s in store for him and the rest of the team’s staff this spring.
“We’re trying to throw strikes, get ahead of guys, get people out,” Kelleher-Mochak said. “We want to work the inner half of the plate and be able to use our off-speed pitches to get guys out. We got some new guys to come in and bring that same energy.”
Pike agrees that an aggressive mindset of going directly after hitters will serve Springfield’s pitchers well.
“The main thing is just competitiveness, willing to attack hitters throughout the lineup,” Pike said. “And then hopefully having some younger guys in the bullpen step up as well.”
In addition to older, more experienced players such as Kelleher-Mochak, junior infielder Jack Dunaisky and senior outfielder Michael Lepere, the theme of younger players taking on increased roles is commonplace across the roster.
In the lineup, Pike and Nofri pointed to sophomore infielders Chris Balchius and Nate Garafalo, as well as sophomore outfielder Adam Crocker as some players the team believes are primed to make an impact on the diamond.
“Those are the core guys that we got on top of some other kids that are going to have to step up and fill a lot of innings and fill a lot of roles between kids that we lost last year,” Nofri said.
To Kelleher-Mochak, the opportunity to get younger players into the mix is exciting. He thinks if they can stack quality performances, the rest will take care of itself.
“I think the experience they gained last year as freshmen or sophomores definitely helped them be ready now for their time to be in that role and help the team,” Kelleher-Mochak said. “The main thing we’re looking for from the young guys is consistency. Just be consistent and go be the same guy every day. Try to give us your 100% every day and that’s going to help us win games ultimately.”
Springfield opens its season on Saturday with a home doubleheader at Archie Allen field against Western New England. This presents the first opportunity for the Pride to turn the page from last year, something both Nofri and Kelleher-Mochak emphasized.
“We’re really excited to get started,” Kelleher-Mochak said. “We’re gearing up, it’s almost there. It’s like Christmas morning for us.”
(Photo courtesy of Springfield College Athletics)