Nashua Telegraph: Rivier Baseball on Mission for Winning Season
The following is an article from the 3/19 edition of the Nashua Telegraph. Online version can be found here: Rivier University Baseball on Mission for Winning Season
BY Tom King, Staff Writer for the Nashua Telegraph
NASHUA – The Rivier University baseball team is mad as heck and it won't take it any more.
"We're sick and tired of losing," Raiders coach Anthony Perry said, "and we don't want to be doormats any more."
The Raiders went 3-27 in 2014 and didn't have a single senior on last year's roster, but that bodes well for this year.
They went 2-5 on their Florida tour, which may not seem like a lot – but it was the best spring-break trip the program has had.
When Perry says the Raiders are sick of losing, he means it. Rivier has had six losing seasons in a row. The last non-losing year was 2008, when a Bill Maniotis-coached team went 16-16, 8-6 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference. It was also the best season since the program's inception in 2000.
This year? They have a chance for a winning season, or at least will be more competitive.
"The difference is the leadership," Raiders coach Anthony Perry said. "We didn't have a single senior on the roster. Last year, with a lot of sophomores, I considered ourselves in a sophomore slump. This year, we want to get off to a good start."
This is the season that Perry, now in his fourth year as coach, has been pointing to. His first full recruiting class is rounding into upperclass form. The Raiders seem strong up the middle, it may just be an issue of improving offensively and getting pitching depth.
The Raiders are strong with Nashua South alum JJ Montello, one of a half-dozen seniors on the roster, playing second base. Junior Taylor Black, the team's only All-GNAC player last year, will man short. Centerfielder David Cusack, who was recently named GNAC Player of the Week, is off to a .364, two homer, six-RBI start.
Montello is a huge key, hitting leadoff, and was leading the team hitting .370 at last look.
"He's the catalyst," Perry said. "He'll be a spark to our offense. He's a kid who worked his tail off in the weight room and in practice."
Senior Michael Scanlon, who can catch and play third, has walked seven times and had four hit-by-pitches already. Jeremy Ball, a junior outfielder out of Swanzey, is also back. So is sophomore first baseman Adam Arkell.
Of course, pitching will be important. Senior starter Alex Mears of Salem, who transferred in last year, has a gamer type mentality that Perry loves. He's 1-0 despite getting touched up for seven runs in that start.
"Stats only tell you so much," Perry said.
Spencer Aguiar, a junior out of Malden, Mass., will be big coming out of the bullpen and as an occasional starter.
"He's the kind of guy who has the mentality to just come in and get outs," Perry said, while also talking up junior lefty Jonathan Chotkowski of Tewksbury, Mass., who is just getting some innings in after recovering from injuries.
Perry was happy with what he saw in Florida. With plenty of snow still left on the ground, he'd probably be wondering when the next time he'd see his team play again, but the Raiders have games this coming weekend in Waldorf, Md., against Gallaudet University, coached by former Nashua Pride player Curtis Pride, and St. Mary's (Md.). The next New England game the Raiders have scheduled is March 25 at Fitchburg State.
"We're getting closer (to clear fields)," Perry said. "Being a New England college coach, you have to be resourceful and know where the good turf fields are. Of course it usually comes down to money (to rent fields), and the Division I and II schools have more money than we do."
Right now, Perry is more concerned with getting more wins than he's had in the last three years. And there's a very good chance that will happen.
