The Conant baseball team is off to a scorching start and looks to be one of the top contenders in Division III once again this spring.
Monday’s 10-0 run-rule win over Newport improved the Orioles to 4-0, as their strong pitching staff, stingy defense and capable offense have them on the good side of a 44-4 run differential thus far this season under new head coach Joe Derosier.
“Pitching’s definitely going to be our strong suit this year,” Derosier said. “Pitching and defense, and we’ve actually started the season off hitting the ball well.”
Derosier took over the head coaching job from Justin Schultz after serving as assistant last year and youth coach to many of the current Orioles. Schultz brought his boys Hunter and Gavin down to The Winchendon School this year, but even with those transfers, Derosier’s team is looking just as good as the squads that made it to the semifinals each of the past two years.
Senior Kaiden Charron (4 IP, 8K, 0 BB) got the shutout win – his second victory of the season – on Monday; pitching is the Orioles’ biggest advantage this spring, as seniors Braeden Dion, Chance Derosier and Charron have all won games this spring, with Garrett Lambert (2 IP, 3K) and seniors Drey Seppala and Kaden Kirby pitching well in relief.
“We’ve got a good group of seniors,” Derosier said. “Senior leadership is a big one. And then that group of sophomores right behind them, they’re filling right in.”
Conant has scored at least 10 runs in every game so far this season and won by the mercy rule on Monday, yet they’ve left runs on the table, which they certainly did against Newport. The Tigers are winless, but nothing is inevitable, and the Orioles didn’t help themselves out on the base paths, as they were caught stealing, missed signals from third and got caught in a line-out double-play. Nonetheless, they were up 5-0 by the fifth inning and then piled on five more in the sixth to win by the 10-run rule.Chance Derosier, who scored the winning “walkoff” run, had four RBI; Charron, Lambert, Nick Peck and Trendon Seppala each knocked in runs as well.
The Orioles have been tantalizingly close to the state championship game each of the past three seasons, but Derosier has made sure his team’s not thinking too far ahead this year, so they’re taking it one game at a time this year, shrugging off the weight of expectations.
“We haven’t even talked about it,” Derosier said. “Not even bringing it up…They know they’ve got a target on their back, I mean, they’ve been to the semis the last two years. They know they’ve got a target on their back, but that’s what makes it like a game like this with bad base running or just coming out flat. They’ve got to know that it doesn’t matter what the team’s record is, they’re going to get their best, their best pitcher, their best effort.”
It’s early yet, but as of this writing, the Orioles were one of four undefeated teams in DIII, along with Bishop Brady (the team that upset Conant in the semis last year), Gilford (winners of both football and basketball championships this year) and Monadnock (five straight finals appearances, four wins).
The Orioles were set to play at Winnisquam (2-1) Wednesday afternoon and host Derryfield (2-2) on Friday.