This season’s Pomperaug baseball senior captains are, left to right, Grant Wallace, Connor Sullivan and Brian Dagostino. (Ken Morse photo)
By KEN MORSE Special to the #MIDDLEBURY Bee-Intelligencer
The Pomperaug baseball team heads into the season looking to get its swagger back. The Panthers went 13-11 last season and saw a streak of five straight appearances in the South West Conference (SWC) championship game come to an end.
Pomperaug defeated Bethel 4-3 in nine innings to win the quarterfinal round of the SWC playoffs last season. Next up was Masuk in the semifinals, and the Panthers were on top 4-0 in the fifth inning. Masuk came back to knock off the Panthers 6-5, ending a streak of five straight seasons playing in the league championship game.
Grant Wallace spun six shutout innings, scattering six hits and striking out nine to lead Pomperaug to a 10-0 win over Torrington in the first round of the Class L state tournament.
Brian Dagostino keyed a five-run third inning as he went two for four with a double and three RBIs. Connor Sullivan made a diving catch in the outfield to preserve the shutout.
Pomperaug saw the season end early, dropping a second-round game 6-4 to Hand. The Panthers lost eight seniors from last year’s team, but come back with some strong leadership led by senior captains Wallace, Sullivan and Dagostino.
“The first goal is to stay healthy,” said Pomperaug head coach Mike Eisenbach. “Then we want to make the SWC tournament and qualify for the states.
“One step at a time, one game at a time. We definitely have some good senior leadership. Our pitching looks to be solid, and that’s what we will build the season around.”
In spite of the players lost to graduation, Pomperaug does bring back catcher Dagostino, a productive hitter in the lineup, along with All-SWC pitcher Wallace. Also taking a turn on the mound will be outfielder Sullivan.
“We have a solid core of six or seven guys who will be fighting to earn some playing time. We have some spots to fill with graduation, but we do have guys who gained some experience last year.”
Senior outfielders Matt Brophy and Sherman Mitchell will be in the mix, along with juniors Andrew Minchella and Josh McGettigan. Junior pitchers Nicholas Albano and Jacob Coviello will be looked on to add depth to the mound staff.
“It’s huge having a player like Grant Wallace back to provide senior leadership, and he has a lot of experience on the mound,” said Eisenbach. “Last year he wasn’t healthy all season, but we are looking for big things from him this year and to be a leader for us.”
It will take a little bit of everything to get back to the glory days of 2010 when the Panthers won the Class L state championship. From 2010 through 2012, Pomperaug put together a stellar 65-8 record.
Over the past three seasons, the Panthers have gone 42-30 and will need equal parts of a stable defense and some timely hitting to go along with consistent pitching if they are to contend for an SWC title.
The Panthers get the season under way on Monday, April 4, at Ridgefield and will have their first home game Friday, April 8, against Danbury.
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