Young Guns

Pridetime Reporter:  Christopher Clemens 

Last season the McMahon varsity baseball team was exceptionally young, carrying ten underclassmen and three of them were starters.
“I really enjoy having a young team. They come to the field every day eager to play and learn, they bring a certain energy to the team,” said John Cross, head baseball coach.
Although the team finished 7-14 last season, the season was not a complete loss. They only missed states by a game and there were many bright spots. Such as Sophomore, Now Junior James Stefanowicz performing at a high-level game in and game out, ultimately earning Second Team All-FCIAC, an honor that is very rare for underclassmen.

This, however, is not the first time the Senators have had great talent at a young age. Bryan Daniello, Former 2012 Gatorade player of the year, was on varsity all four years of his high school career leading his Sophomore and junior year team to a combined record of 30-16.Daniello won multiple awards including, Gatorade player of the year, back to back FCIAC player of the year, and back to back all-state honors.Another past player is former Senator, Edwin Owolo, who played four years of varsity baseball and ended up playing baseball at Harvard.
Having a young team can be hard though and last year’s record shows that. The team was shutout three times and scored less than four runs eleven times last year, There is no doubt that lack of experience definitely played a part in that.
However, if next year’s struggles come,  Senior, Ethan Blattman, hopes he can provide a helping hand, “I definitely have a bigger role on the team...What I do is when the young players struggle during the season, I remind them just how good they are and never let them get too down on themselves.”
There is always light at the end of the tunnel. Due to those who saw playing time last year, The team will have even more experience and can ultimately take what they learned from last season and apply it to this years season.
This year’s sophomore class is not without their successes.  Jack Fitzpatrick, a freshman last year, Hit a homerun at the varsity level last season, one of two Senators to do so last year. Kory Morton, a Freshman last year, also pushed the Senators to a huge win over the Trumbull Golden Eagles last year with the game-winning double. Brian Ehlers and Cooper Grilo also started a few games last year along the way so there's no doubting that this young core has shown flashes of greatness early on in their young careers.
The youthful senators will look to open their season on a strong note, against the Norwalk Bears at Mcmahon on Saturday, March 31st.

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