The varisty baseball team got a hop on the season with a seven-day trip to Florida during March break. The days were filled with practices and gamesto prepare the Wyverns; as a result, they opened the season with wins against Marianapolis, Taft, and Choate.
Twenty-nine players (seven seniors, six juniors, eight sophomores, eight freshman) took the trip to Port St. Lucie to focus on the fundamentals and work on plays. “The trip is great because we are able to work on plays in good weather and get the pitchers throwing,” said Head Coach Steve Cannata.
Although the group had to split into varsity and junior varsity teams, they were able to get seven games in on the trip, four varsity and three JV. “The games are very helpful because they allow the players to see real pitches and run through the plays,” said Coach Cannata.
When the Wyverns returned to school, they started their busy schedule with impressive wins against Marianapolis Preparatory School and the Taft School. “Some weeks we have four games,” said Coach Cannata. What makes the schedule so busy is that the Wyverns are scheduled to play each Founders League school twice.
In the season home opener against Marianapolis, the team won with a wide margin of 19-5. The Wyverns had strong pitching from junior Evan Moore, sophomore Wes Pierce, and sophomore Tim Cotter which helped seal the win. The team was also led by strong hitting from sophomore Jack Marshall, senior Co-captain Jimmy DiVirgilio, senior Co- captain Mark Pace, Cotter, and senior Noah Gibson who all had multiple hits to drive in runs.
Coach Cannata said that the captains are doing a great job. “The captains are really helping out the team by hitting well and driving in runs,” he said.
On Thursday, April 12, the Wyverns had their first game of two at Dunkin’ Donuts Park, home of the Hartford Yard Goats. Unfortunately, KO suffered their first loss of the season to Hopkins School with the score of 3-2 .For some, it was their first time playing at the stadium. “It was a great experience to play at such a nice field,” said sophomore pitcher Brandon Stake.
In the first inning of the game, Hopkins scored all three of their runs forcing the Wyverns to play catch up. DiVirgilio singled and Place doubled to allow Cotter to drive in a run with a sac fly. In the bottom of the second, senior Co-captain Tauber scored on a sac fly from Cannata to close the gap but still the game ended in Hopkins favor.
On Saturday, April 14, the Wyverns suffered another tough loss at home to Kent 5-2. Moore pitched three and a half innings, allowing only a single hit and throwing five strikeouts, but the Wyverns were not able to produce any runs. “We were playing pretty well, but we were not getting any hits that produced runs,” said Coach Cannata.
KO split their recent double-header against Trinity-Pawling School, winning 6-5 and losing 8-10. Their next game is away against Taft on Friday, April 27.
