By Kevin Askeland
MaxPreps.com
Baseball in the Northeast typically gets off to a late start with most states waiting for the snow to melt. However several states, including Maryland, are in full swing with one team, Calvert Hall, ranking among the nation’s best in the first month of the season.
Maryland
Wins haven’t come as easily for the Calvert Hall Cardinals as they did last year. In 2007, every Calvert Hall team from the varsity to the freshman squads went undefeated, pointing to a possible national championship season in 2008.
In fact the Cardinals held the No. 1 national ranking at one point in March after opening the season with a 2-0 record.
However a trip out west to the Anderson Bat National Classic resulted in losses to El Dorado of Placentia, Aptos and Cottonwood of Utah. and the Cardinals returned home to Maryland to being conference play with a 5-3 overall record.
That didn’t matter in Calvert Hall’s most recent outing against Mount St. Joseph, however, as the Cardinals erupted for 15 hits in a 14-3 win over the Gaels, who were ranked No. 4 in the rankings.
Every player on the Calvert Hall team got a basehit, led by Joe Robak’s home run in the fifth inning and Patrick Blair’s homer in the first. Baltimore Sun Player of the Year Kevin Lingerman led the offensive attack with three hits, including two doubles with four RBI.
Since the win over the Gaels, the Cardinals have strung together three straight wins, defeating McDonogh 5-1, Loyola 9-0 and Boys’ Latin School 4-2 to raise their record to 9-3.
New York
Class 2A champion Utica Thomas Proctor opened its season on Monday with a 6-2 win over Fayetteville-Manlius. Proctor got a complete-game win from Sean Redmond, who didn’t give up a run until F-M finally broke through with two runs in the seventh inning.
The outing was the first for Redmond and Proctor since finishing 23-5 last year with a Class 2A championship over North Rockland. Redmond pitched a complete game in the finals to get the win.
New Jersey
Don Bosco Prep starts the season atop the New Jersey state baseball rankings after beginning the season 2-0. The latest victim for the Ironmen was Bergen Catholic, which lost 10-0 on Monday. Eric Pfisterer tossed a no-hitter for Don Bosco, striking out 12 batters and walking only one.
Pfisterer was also a standout at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI. Steve Proscia added two hits, including a double, and scored three runs.
Seton Hall Prep, which finished the 2007 season ranked No. 2 in the Baseball American national rankings with a 32-1 record, is already 2-1 on the season. Sacred Heart fell to Columbia, 9-7, on April 3.
Delaware
St. Mark’s and Caravel, the two finalists from last year’s Delaware state championship game, are off to solid starts in 2008. Caravel, the runnerup last year, is 4-1 with four straight wins before falling to Pennsylvania’s Malvern Prep 8-2 on Saturday. Caravel had posted a doubleheader win over Leonardtown of Maryland and also knocked off Salesianum, a semifinalist from last year, 4-2.
St. Mark’s, meanwhile, is 3-1 with a loss to Indian River and an 8-3 win over St. Elizabeth on Tuesday. The Spartans could be the favorite to win it all again this year thanks to a number of returning players and a stellar record in the Delaware state playoffs. St. Mark’s has won four of the last five state championships.
Massachusetts
The regular season began play last Friday, although many teams were unable to play due to poor weather. Tewksbury Memorial and Boston College High School top the preseason poll in the Boston Globe and look to be the teams to beat in Massachusetts this year.
Rhode Island
Ryan Westmoreland had an impressive opening day for Portsmouth, Facing Barrington, Westmoreland struck out 20 batters in a 9-0 win and allowed just one hit. He also belted a home run and had two doubles and four RBI in the win. Westmoreland was Rhode Island’s Gatorade Player of the Year in 2007. Portsmouth is off to a 4-0 start, including a 22-0 win over Rogers on Tuesday.
New Hampshire
The snow is beginning to thaw in New Hampshire allowing baseball teams to head to the diamond.
Upsets were the norm in last year’s state championships with No. 10 Merrimack winning the Class L championship, No. 8 Hollis/Brookline winning the Class I crown and No. 4 Prospect Mountain winning Class M. Only top-seeded Lisbon, which had to get past No. 10 Derryfield in the Class S finals, played true to form with the seedings.
According to the Manchester Union Leader, Merrimack, Trinity and Nashua South are among the favorites in Class L while Hollis/Brookline and Plymouth will challenge in Class I. Class M could belong to Prospect Mountain again, however Campbell of Litchfield has a strong pitching contingent back on the hill.
Class S is a tossup with Derryfield returning the most starters from last year’s team that reached the state finals.
Washington D.C.
St. Johns’, which was ranked among the top teams in the country in the preseason by Baseball America, is No. 2 in the latest D.C. area poll in the Washington Post. St. John’s, which was No. 1 last week, trails Paul VI Catholic of Virginia, which is 10-0. St. John’s has an 8-2 mark
St. John’s lost a pair of games at the Phil Nevin National Classic in California in late March, falling to eventual champion Crespi of Encino, 8-6, and also falling to Seminole Ridge of Loxahatchee, Florida, 5-2. St. John’s bounced back to beat St. Mary’s Ryken 11-0, O’Connell 10-0 and Bishop Ireton 10-2.
Connecticut
The baseball season got underway in Connecticut last week. The Hartford Courant has a complete look at the teams to watch for the upcoming season.