By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

After finishing last season with a 9-8 record, earning themselves a berth in the Division 3 State Tournament and bringing back almost the same exact team Coach Ryan Hippert expected his Tri-County baseball team to pretty much the same this year. Unfortunately the Cougars fell short of those expectations wrapping up the season with a 7-12 record.

During the frustrating season, the Cougars lost three one-run games, another four games by either two or three runs and blew to games in which they were leading, including a game against Bartlett in which they were up by three going into the seventh inning. 

“We missed the tournament by two or three games. I was disappointed as a coach as this was one of the better teams that I’ve had here at Tri-country; we just didn’t have enough,” Hippert said. “I was hoping to do at least the same as last year having returned many players from that team, I was an expecting to compete for the state again.”

Despite already playing in a tough Mayflower League, Hippert decided to schedule some tough non-league games this year to prepare his team for the post-season but believes those games may have hurt his team’s chances.

“We played competitive baseball all year long with only 2 lopsided losses, everything else was extremely close,” the Tri-County Coach said. “We finished third in the Mayflower League, but I think I’m going to have to reassess our non-league opponents next year.”

While Hippert himself will not use the fact that Tri-Country is building a new school and the baseball team had no home field to practice or play on as an excuse, it had to take its toll on the players.

The Cougars were forced to practice wherever they could get an open field, and during the season, they probably found themselves practicing on 8-10 different fields. As for a home field, they were able to secure a diamond at Field of Dreams in Plainville. 

On the field this year junior Dylan Maw, now a three-time Mayflower league All-Star, was the team’s ace on the mound. He was able to eclipse the 100 strikeout mark this spring. He now has 133 strikeouts over his three seasons with the Cougars. According to Hippert, Maw pitched the majority of TC’s innings and was also the team’s top hitter.

In addition to Maw, sophomore twins Noah and Michael Roche were key components on the team. Noah was the team’s number two pitcher, who picked up a couple of wins for the Cougars, behind Maw and patrolled centerfield, while his brother Michael found his spot behind the plate and was named to the All-Star team this year for his work. 

“Michael was a bright spot for the team this year,” said Hippert. “These two are baseball junkies and are some of our better hitters (both hit in the .300’s) and fielders.”

Freshman Gavin Sullivan started the entire year for the Cougars at the hot corner and got better as the season went on. Hippert noted that the first-year varsity player will be a nice player to build the team around in the future.

“I am happy that we will have Gavin for another three years, and, along with Dylan, Noah and Michael, it gives us a strong foundation to build upon,” the coach said. “All four of them will be playing during the summer, so they’ll be improving upon their skills.”

Other athletes on this year’s roster who made an impact were left-fielder Owen Maw, shortstop Sean Trusevitch and second baseman Cam Cummings. All three had been with the varsity program for the past three years. Trusevitch and Cummings were the teams fourth and fifth pitchers.

Looking to next season, Hippert will be returning four of his five top bats and although he is losing a handful of seniors from this year’s squad he believes that he already has the talent on the roster to step in and fill the vacancies.

“I am excited about next year. We should be very competitive once again and shouldn’t fall off,” he said. “The goal will once again be to compete and make the state tournament. Our JV team had a successful season, and there are a couple of young kids from that team that could fit right in.”