Pawprint

~ An Aggregate of Game Summaries and Supplemental Media Coverage ~

LEOMINSTER, MA

2015 Schedule

FCBL Standings

REGULAR SEASONWORCESTER@Worcester PITTSFIELD

NASHUA@NashuaBRISTOL

TORRINGTON@Pittsfield

@Martha’s Vineyard@Bristol

@WorcesterNASHUA

BROCKTON@Torrington

BRISTOL @SeacoastSEACOASTBRISTOL @Bristol

PITTSFIELDPITTSFIELD

MARTHA’S VINEYARDTORRINGTON@Pittsfield

NORTH SHOREWORCESTER@SeacoastNASHUA

@TorringtonMARTHA’S VINEYARD

WORCESTERNORTH SHORETORRINGTON@TorringtonWORCESTER@Pittsfield

@Worcester@Nashua@Pittsfield

TORRINGTON@Brockton

@BristolSEACOASTBRISTOL@Bristol

@North Shore@TorringtonSEACOAST@Seacoast

@Worcester@Martha’s Vineyard

BROCKTON@North Shore

@NashuaPITTSFIELD@Brockton

WEST Bristol BluesPittsfield Suns Torrington Titans WACHUSETT DIRT DAWGSWorcester Bravehearts

EASTMartha’s Vineyard SharksNashua Silver KnightsNorth Shore NavigatorsBrockton RoxSeacoast Mavericks

W-L6-55-55-55-62-9

W-L8-25-46-55-55-6

GB-.5.514

GB-

2.52.53

3.5

L105-55-55-55-51-9

L108-25-46-45-54-6

The Official Newsletter of the Wachusett Dirt Dawgs

JUNE 17, 2015

RESULT/TIMEL, 2-3L, 1-5

W, 12-1L, 5-14L, 3-5

W, 10-8L, 5-10W, 6-0L, 3-9W, 2-1W, 1-0

6:35 P.M.6:35 P.M.7:00 P.M.6:35 P.M.4:35 P.M.6:35 P.M.6:35 P.M.7:00 P.M.6:35 P.M.6:35 P.M.4:30 P.M.6:35 P.M.7:00 P.M.6:35 P.M.6:35 P.M.6:35 P.M.4:30 P.M.7:00 P.M.6:35 P.M.6:35 P.M.6:35 P.M.6:35 P.M.6:00 P.M.6:35 P.M.7:00 P.M.7:05 P.M.6:45 P.M.7:00 P.M.4:30 P.M.

11:05 A.M.7:00 P.M.6:35 P.M.4:30 P.M.7:00 P.M.

10:30 A.M.7:00 P.M.6:35 P.M.6:35 P.M.5:05 P.M.7:00 P.M.6:35 P.M.7:00 P.M.6:45 P.M.6:35 P.M.4:30 P.M.

DATE6/46/56/76/86/9

6/106/116/126/136/146/166/176/186/196/206/216/236/246/256/266/276/286/307/17/27/37/47/57/77/87/9

7/107/117/127/147/157/167/177/187/197/237/247/257/267/287/297/307/318/18/28/48/58/68/78/88/9

INDEX

Top NewsLatest on the DawgsSchedule/ResultsStandings/Stats

Other NewsDirt Dawgs DanceRecap of Game of Week

Dirt Dawgs MediaOutside the Dawghouse Live Stream BroadcastsTweet of the Week

Meet the DawgsPlayer BiosCoach Bios

1

2

2

3

Connect With Us:

Facebook Wachusett Dirt Dawgs

Twitter@Dawg_Pen

Dawgs LeadersAVERAGE

Chris StanfordKelvin WhiteJustin Silvestro

.471

.395

.342

HOME RUNSKelvin WhiteJustin Silvestro5 Players Tied with

RUNS BATTED INJustin SilvestroJon Kristofferson3 Players Tied with

321

1254

ERA (Min. 6 IP)Thomas MahoneyDave GriffinMatthew Cronin

WHIPMatthew CroninThomas MahoneyDave Griffin

STRIKEOUTSCharlie MurrayMatthew Cronin3 Players Tied with

0.711.001.18

1296

0.000.821.29

OVERALL: 5-6DIVISION: 5-3

HOME: 2-2AWAY: 3-4

An Ovation for the Rotation

Wahusett Dirt Dawgs/Facebook

(From left: Thomas Mahoney, Charlie Murray, Steve Colella.) In the team’s first 10 games, the Dirt Dawgs have already had three starters win honors for Futures Colle-giate Baseball League Pitcher of the Night. The pitchers went a combined 21 innings, allowed just one earned run and struck out 17 hitters in those three starts.

At 4-6, the Wachusett Dirt Dawgs have sputtered a bit to start the season, but there have been a variety of elite perfor-mances that signal a turnaround in the coming weeks.

The most promising achieve-ments have come from the mound, where three Dirt Dawgs pitchers have won league hon-ors for Pitcher of the Night less than two weeks into the regular season.

Charlie Murray put up the first of the three standout lines. In the Dirt Dawgs’ first win of the season, a decisive 12-1 victory over Pittsfield, Murray dealt seven scoreless innings. He conceded just three hits and struck out seven. His offspeed pitches threw off the clocks in batters’ heads like daylight sav-ings.

Five games later, Western New England’s Tom Mahoney joined Murray as a Futures Col-legiate Baseball League Pitcher of the Night. He also got the win over Pittsfield after striking out six and allowing just four hits over all six innings of the rain-shortened game.

Mahoney’s shutout came two days before Colella received the honor. In a 2-1 win against Bris-tol on June 14, Collella went eight strong innings for the Dirt Dawgs. He had Bristol hitters singing the blues, allowing just

five hits and one earned run while striking out four hitters.

Dirt Dawgs’ starters have av-eraged more than five innings an outing with an average ERA of 3.50 in their first ten games. This number would be even lower if it weren’t skewed by a couple starts.

The consistent pitching has kept the team in virtually every

game this season until its last at-bat.

The Martha’s Vineyard Sharks roughed up Murray in his second outing, but he was still able to provide the team with 5.2 innings.

Mahoney’s first appear-ance of the season for the Dirt Dawgs was in relief against the Bravehearts. He got out the sole

batter he faced. However, fol-lowing his performance against Pittsfield, it’s hard to imagine Mahoney won’t move into the team’s starting rotation.

Colella opened his 2015 summer campaign against Nashua June 8. Like Murray, he was able to fight through a tough outing to pitch 5.1 in-nings for the Dirt Dawgs.

Dirt Dawgs’ Duelers Drafted

Wachusett Dirt Dawgs/Facebook

Two former Dirt Dawgs relievers, Ben Libuda and Will Stillman, were selected in the 2015 MLB draft. Libuda is a 6’7” southpaw, and Stillman is a 6’4” right-hander.

Dawg Tracking: Early Observations

The Atlanta Braves and Bos-ton Red Sox both drafted a for-mer Dirt Dawgs pitcher June 10.

With the 15th pick of the 26th Round, the Braves selected Ben Libuda. With the 6th pick of the 29th Round, the Red Sox picked Will Stillman.

Stillman made six appear-ances for the Dirt Dawgs and Libuda made three in the sum-mer of 2013. Stillman had eight strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings. Li-buda, on the other hand, was known for his deadly accuracy, giving up just one walk.

The Futures Collegiate Baseball League had 28 players drafted into the MLB this year, the most in its history. There were 24 players taken in the 2014 MLB draft.

1. Power HoundsThrough the first ten games,

the Dirt Dawgs have the second highest slugging percentage and OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) in the FCBL. In other words, this team channels power like Voldemort with the Elder Wand.

The team has had more home runs, 10, than any team in the league. Only Martha’s Vineyard

has scored more runs this year.If the Dirt Dawgs keep send-

ing balls out of Doyle at the rate of a normal man’s heartbeat, they will be almost unstoppable.2. Rolling in Relief

Both Matt Cronin and Dave Griffin have started the season on a fine note coming out of the bullpen. Cronin has granted just one run in six innings of work and has struck out 8. Griffin put

out four impressive innings in his only appearance, allowing just one run. 3. Fielding Questions

Initially thought to be one of the team’s strengths, the Dirt Dawgs have struggled thus far in the field this season.

In the first ten games, the Dirt Dawgs made 26 errors for an average of 2.6 a game. These costly miscues could have been

the difference in several of their losses. Furthermore, the Dirt Dawgs have given up multi-ple runs on double steals when they prioritize throwing the man down at second over making sure the runner on third does not score.

Coach Gage will surely spend more time on defense and special situations with the team to remedy these issues.

The Latest from Dirt Dawgs Media~ Wednesday, June 17, 2015 ~

2

Meet the Dirt Dawgs Players~ Wednesday, June 17, 2015 ~

3

THE PACKJEFF #42 ANDERSON

JUSTIN #21BROCK

BEN #45 BROWN

PJ #34 BROWNE

AJ #49 CELENTANO

STEVE #40COLELLA

BRICE #22 ERICKSON

MATTHEW #49 CRONIN

DAVID #23 GRIFFIN

CHRIS #15 CHIARADIO

BEN #30 GIBSON

SEBASTIAN #26 DIMAURO

MAX #41 DITONDO

JASON #25 FATZINGER

ERIC #17 HASSEL

POSITION: 1B SCHOOL: Rutgers UniversityCLASS: JuniorHOMETOWN: Randolph, NJHEIGHT: 6’4”WEIGHT: 230B/T: R/R AKA: Scoopah

POSITION: SSSCHOOL: Franklin Pierce UniversityCLASS: SeniorHOMETOWN: Latham, NYHEIGHT: 6’0”WEIGHT: 180B/T: R/R AKA: Lucky

POSITION: SS/RPSCHOOL: University of HartfordCLASS: SophomoreHOMETOWN: Middlebury, CTHEIGHT: 6’5”WEIGHT: 195B/T: R/RAKA: Wikipedia Brown

POSITION: SP SCHOOL: Merrimack CollegeCLASS: SophomoreHOMETOWN: Rutland, MAHEIGHT: 5’11”WEIGHT: 170B/T: L/L AKA: PJ & B

POSITION: RP SCHOOL: St. Peter’s Univ.CLASS: JuniorHOMETOWN: South Plainfield, NJHEIGHT: 6’3”WEIGHT: 210B/T: L/LAKA: Salacious Celentano

POSITION: 2B SCHOOL: Seton Hall UniversityCLASS: SeniorHOMETOWN: Teaneck, NJHEIGHT: 5’11”WEIGHT: 180B/T: L/RAKA: Full Audio

POSITION: SP SCHOOL: University of Massachusetts, DartmouthCLASS: SeniorHOMETOWN: Leominster, MAHEIGHT: 6’3”WEIGHT: 210B/T: R/R AKA: Scuba Steve; Aquaman

POSITION: RP SCHOOL: University of Massachusetts DartmouthCLASS: SophomoreHOMETOWN: Framingham, MAHEIGHT: 5’10”WEIGHT: 200B/T: L/RAKA: Emcee

POSITION: OF/RP SCHOOL: University of HartfordCLASS: SophomoreHOMETOWN: Woodbridge, CTHEIGHT: 6’0”WEIGHT: 190B/T: R/RAKA: The Day After DiMauro

POSITION: OF SCHOOL: Franklin Pierce UniversityCLASS: SeniorHOMETOWN: Marshfield, CTHEIGHT: 5’10”WEIGHT: 175B/T: L/LAKA: The Dazzler; Sweet Flow

POSITION: CSCHOOL: University of Massachusetts LowellCLASS: JuniorHOMETOWN: Leominster, MAHEIGHT: 6’0”WEIGHT: 200B/T: R/R AKA: Catch 22

POSITION: OF SCHOOL: Fairleigh Dickinson UniversityCLASS: SophomoreHOMETOWN: Macungie,PAHEIGHT: 6’2”WEIGHT: 215B/T: R/R AKA: The Nightmare on Elm Street

POSITION: 1B/RP SCHOOL: Quinnipiac UniversityCLASS: SophomoreHOMETOWN: Segamore Beach, MAHEIGHT: 6’5”WEIGHT: 225B/T: R/RAKA: Babs

POSITION: RP SCHOOL: Curry CollegeCLASS: JuniorHOMETOWN: Hanover, MAHEIGHT: 6’0”WEIGHT: 175B/T: R/RAKA: Dave Griffin

POSITION: OF SCHOOL: Adelphi UniversityCLASS: JuniorHOMETOWN: Massapequa, NYHEIGHT: 6’1”WEIGHT: 195B/T: R/RAKA: The Ericonda

Anderson redshirted for Rutgers in 2014 and 2015. Even as a redshirt in 2015, he was a pinch hitter for three games and drew a walk in his debut as a DH. Before college, Anderson was a three-year varsity starter at first base for Delbarton and was named Morris County Hitter of the Year by Daily Record as a senior.

In his first year at the University of Hartford, Ben Brown pitched 14.1 innings in 10 appearances. The right-hander threw 3.0 innings, his most on the season, in a 5-2 win over Yale on April 1st. Brown also had 4 strikeouts on March 25th in a 7-3 loss to Fairfield. Opponents had just a .218 batting average against him.

The Dirt Dawgs welcome back PJ Browne for his second year on the team. As a starting pitcher in 2014, Browne started 4 games, finishing with a record 1-1. He had a ERA of 2.33, allowing 27 hits. Through 27 innings pitched, Browne had 14 strikeouts and 4 walks. He had a 3.27 ERA and a 3.5 strikeou-to-walk ratio this past season at Merrimack.

This past season, Celentano appeared in 14 games for St. Peter’s University, including four starts. He finished with a record of 1-3, pitching a total of 28 innings and recording 13 strikeouts. Celentano started two games and had 16 total appearances his freshman year. He had 16 strikeouts in 24.2 innings.

Colella posted a tremendous 6-1 record for UMASS Dartmouth. Colella had the second most strikeouts on his team (53) and conceded just 22 walks. In 62.1 innings of work, his ERA for this past season was 3.32.

Cronin joins his college teammate Colella on the Dirt Dawgs. Like Colella, Cronin had a great year on the mound for the Corsairs. Cronin posted a 2-0 record in 17.1 innings with UMASS Dartmouth. He struck out 15 and walked seven.

DiMauro played 20 games for the Hawks his freshman season, starting in 10 games. When the Hawks played Central Connecticut on May 12th, he went 2-3 with two doubles. He finished with seven runs, four doubles, and three RBI’s.

Ditondo is one of four Franklin Pierce players on the Dirt Dawgs roster this year, joining Brock, Stanford and White. DiTondo made the most of his 14 at-bats for the team this season, scoring six runs and hitting .286 with a .412 OBP.

Brice played and started in 27 of UMass Lowell’s games. He had 25 hits and scored 10 runs in his 91 at bats. Against LIU Brooklyn on May 14th, he had 9 putouts and a hit that brought in two runs to guide his squad to a 5-1 win.

Fatzinger played three years of high school varsity baseball. He was named to his All-Conference Team, All-County First Team offensive MVP in his junior year. As a senior in high school Fatzinger hit .431 with 39 hits, four HRs and 29 RBI’s!

Quinnipiac infielder Ben Gibson appeared in 40 games in his freshman year. He had 5 home runs, which was the second most on his team, to go along with 32 hits. When the Bobcats traveled to Manhattan on April 11th, Gibson went 3-5 with a home run.

Griffin had arguably the most superior season of all Dirt Dawgs players. Over 62.1 innings of work, Griffin posted a 7-1 record with a sublime 1.59 ERA. He had 5 complete games for Curry College. He struck out 52 batters and only walked 20 while allowing just 44 hits.

During the 2014 season, Hassel finished with the third best batting average on his team with .340, as well as drawing six walks for a .397 on-base percentage. Hassel was on the Northeast-10 Conference All-Rookie Squad. He received the NE-10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll Award this past year.

‘Can’t Touch This’

Brock had a massive junior campaign for Franklin Pierce. He moved into 11th all-time in stolen bases after recording 29 this past season. He also hit a whopping .327 with a .363 OBP. His team was 41-4 when he played. He finished with 4 HRs, 25 RBIs, 38 runs scored and 49 total hits. He started every game at shortstop his freshman and sophomore years.

Chiaradio started 40 games this year for the Pirates. He had 25 hits on 127 at-bats. Chiaradio crossed the plate 17 times and hit home six teammates for the Pirates. He also had four doubles and a triple. Chiaradio started 47 games at shortstop and hit .247 as a sophomore.

Catch “Outside the Daw-ghouse,” with hosts Ra-chel Eagleton and Kimmie Wagner, on FATV every Wednesday at 12 p.m. Re-runs are on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. and Friday at 7:30 a.m. The videos are also posted to the team Face-book page. Here’s a recap of the first three episodes:

EPISODE 1: Rachel and Kimmie preview the up-coming season at Doyle Field. They detail events and the team’s schedule as well as interview owner John Morrison and manag-er Dave Gage.

EPISODE 2: Special guests include catcher Brice Er-ickson and first baseman Jeff Anderson. Erickson and Anderson share their thoughts on the first week of games and play jeopar-dy.

EPISODE 3: A summary of the first ten games and an update on Chris Stan-ford’s recovery. Episode 3 features first-baseman Ben Gibson and catcher Chris Stanford. The players com-pete in a lipsync battle.

It’s been the event within the event at Dirt Dawgs’ home games this summer and has been a building block of team chemistry. It has been a trade-mark of this year’s Dirt Dawgs team since opening night.

These boys can flat out dance.

Although the game of base-ball is often broken down into complex statistics, this year’s Dirt Dawgs prefer to break it down to the rhythm of a song.

The relief pitchers, known as the men in the pen, have provided hilarious and impres-sive dances for the fans to the songs blasted between innings from the sound system at Doyle Field.

On the Dirt Dawgs’ TV show “Outside the Dawghouse,” Ben Gibson and Chris Stanford showed their moves during a lip synching competition.

During downtime of Dirt Dawgs’ games, other players on the team haven’t missed a beat starting dance-offs and syn-chronized performances. Virtu-ally every member of the team has shown fans their moves this season.

Let’s hope it gets them in a groove.

Wachusett Dirt Dawgs/Facebook

Several Dirt Dawgs dance to the ballad “Teach Me How to Dougie” in what can only be referred to as a chorus line.

Dawgs Outscore Blues in Thriller at Doyle

Wachusett Dirt Dawgs/Facebook

Max “The Dazzler” DiTondo (left) and Charlie Murray participate in a dance-off between innings of a home game at Doyle Field. DiTondo won the contest by decision with a breakdancing moonwalk move that caught the attention of fans and scouts alike.

Facebook Wachusett Dirt Dawgs---Dave Winter will sit down with Coach Dave Gage to preview upcoming games. ---Alex McKinnon looks at scores and game summa-ries from around the FCBL.

Twitter@Dawg_Pen---Keep up with the action with live tweets of every Dirt Dawgs game.---Find out about the latest Dirt Dawgs promotions, events and more!

Websitewww.dirtdawgsball.com---Read summaries of each game under the featured news section. ---Order Dirt Dawgs mer-chandise and memorabilia at the pro shop.

Beyond the Fence: ADawgs Media Guide

OUTSIDE THE DAWGHOUSE

LIVE RADIO BROADCASTS

Can’t make it to Doyle on game night? Not a problem. Catch the Wachusett Dirt Dawgs on LiveStream from our website www.dirtdawgsball.com. Dave Miller (left) and Ethan Winter (center) provide the commentary and Stephen Marciello is the statistician.

OTHER MEDIA

The Dirt Dawgs (2-4) sound-ly defeated the Bristol Blues (3-3), 10-8, on June 10 for their second home win in three games. Below are some of the highlights of the Dirt Dawg’s home win:Fatzinger Dinger

Jason Fatzinger had the hit of the game. His grand slam in the sixth inning gave Wachusett a three run lead. The blast ac-counted for four of the five runs in the inning. He also added two singles, earning Player of the Game honors. He’s Got A Fever

Alex Lefevre also contribut-ed to the Dirt Dawgs’ overpow-ering offense. He has a fever this summer, and the only pre-scription is boosting his on-base percentage. He reached first on every at-bat. His batting aver-age is .500 and his OBP is .583. Average Going North

Chris Stanford seems like he’s hitting with a metal bat this summer. He swats balls as if they’re bloodthirsty mosquitos all over the park. He doubled, singled and walked twice in the game. After the game, he had a .429 batting average.

Wachusett Dirt Dawgs/Facebook

Teammates exit the dugout to congratulate John Fatzing-er as he celebrates a massive sixth inning grand slam that gave the Dirt Dawgs the lead for good against the Bristol Blues. The Dirt Dawgs scored five in the sixth to take a 10-8 lead, which they held for the rest of the game.

Dawgs Tweet of the WeekComing off of a 6-0 win at

Pittsfield, the Dirt Dawgs had to quickly recover and travel for their game the next day.

After a long drive and a fer-ry ride, the Dirt Dawgs finally arrived in Martha’s Vineyard for their June 13 contest.

When they arrived at The Tank, home of the Sharks, the sign to the left was posted out-side the ballpark.

Well, the Dirt Dawgs were able to find a way onto the field for the game, but couldn’t come away with the win.

The Latest from Dirt Dawgs Media~ Wednesday, June 17, 2015 ~

4

THE PACK

KURTIS #18 WHITE

TJ #28 SANTIAGO

ZACH #36 ZONA

JUSTIN #12 SILVESTRO

KEVIN #49 HASSETT

TYLER #8 HUDSON

JON #37 KRISTOFFERSON

JOE #27 NAPOLITANO

THOMAS #16 MAHONEY

CHARLIE #4 MURRAY

ALEX #9 LEFEVRE

POSITION: RP SCHOOL: University of Massachusetts AmherstCLASS: SophomoreHOMETOWN: Springfield, MAHEIGHT: 6’1”WEIGHT: 185B/T: R/RAKA: Mr. Has-It-All

POSITION: IF SCHOOL: Lafayette CollegeCLASS: SeniorHOMETOWN: Red Oak, TXHEIGHT: 5’11”WEIGHT: 190B/T: S/RAKA: Southern Comfort

POSITION: SS SCHOOL: St. Peter’s UniversityCLASS: SeniorHOMETOWN: Oak Ridge, CTHEIGHT: 6’1”WEIGHT: 180B/T: L/RAKA: The Flying Peacock

POSITION: CSCHOOL: University of ConnecticutCLASS: JuniorHOMETOWN: Mansfield Center, CTHEIGHT: 6’2”WEIGHT: 200B/T: R/RAKA: Fever Pitch

POSITION: SP SCHOOL: Western New EnglandCLASS: SeniorHOMETOWN: Granville, MAHEIGHT: 6’1”WEIGHT: 190B/T: L/L AKA: T-Money

POSITION: SP SCHOOL: Quinnipiac UniversityCLASS: SophomoreHOMETOWN: Charlton, MAHEIGHT: 6’4”WEIGHT: 215B/T: L/LAKA: Good Luck Chuck

POSITION: RP SCHOOL: Wake Forest UniversityCLASS: SeniorHOMETOWN: Concord,MAHEIGHT: 6’3”WEIGHT: 220B/T: R/RAKA: The Italian Stallion

POSITION: RP SCHOOL: Adelphi UniversityCLASS: JuniorHOMETOWN: Linden, NJHEIGHT: 6’4”WEIGHT: 230B/T: R/R AKA: The Pouncing Panther

POSITION: SP SCHOOL: Worcester State UniversityCLASS: JuniorHOMETOWN: Auburn, MAHEIGHT: 6’3”WEIGHT: 235B/T: R/R AKA: Zona Patrol

POSITION: 3B SCHOOL: Wheaton CollegeCLASS: SeniorHOMETOWN: Waltham, MAHEIGHT: 6’1”WEIGHT: 195B/T: L/RAKA: Full Service

POSITION: OF SCHOOL: Franklin Pierce UniversityCLASS: SeniorHOMETOWN: Nahant, MAHEIGHT: 6’0”WEIGHT: 170B/T: L/R AKA: The Franklin Piercer

CHRIS #50 STANFORD

POSITION: C SCHOOL: Franklin Pierce UniversityCLASS: SophomoreHOMETOWN: Quebec City, QuebecHEIGHT: 5’11”WEIGHT: 180 B/T: R/R AKA: The White Walker

Hassett had eight punchouts in 10.2 innings of work for UMASS this year. On May 10th, Hassett struck out the side in a scoreless inning in relief, striking out three batters versus Rhode Island. Hasset also retired all three batters faced against Boston College on April 1 two weeks after he made collegiate debut against Harvard on March 17th.

Hudson started 37 of the 39 games he played this season at Lafayette. He had 19 runs, 34 hits, 5 doubles, 1 triple, 3 HR and 11 RBI. During his sophomore year, Hudson registered nine multi-hit games in 35 starts as the third baseman. He batted .259 on the season with 19 runs batted in, nine runs scored, two doubles, a triple and two home runs.

As a freshman, Jon had 106 at bats in 40 games. He had 16 runs, 25 hits, and a batting average of .236. During Kristofferson’s sophomore year, he played in 52 games and tallied 37 runs, 67 hits, one HR, 17 RBI, and a .305 batting average. This past season, he led his team with 30 runs and recorded 51 hits, five doubles, five triples, and three HR.

LeFevre spent the 2013 and 2014 seasons at UConn Avery Point. At Avery Point, he helped win a pair of regional championships, the 2013 district championship and the 2013 Junior College World Series. As a freshman, LeFevre hit .371. As a sophomore, he hit .309 and was named First Team All- New England.

Tom Mahoney returns for a second season with the Dirt Dawgs. Mahoney started two games with the Dirt Dawgs in 2014. He pitched 12 innings in the two games, striking out nine, walking two and allowing 10 hits. Both of these games ended up with Ws for the Dirt Dawgs.

Quinnipiac’s Murray will be taking the hill this summer for the Wachusett Dirt Dawgs. The 6′4′’ southpaw started six of his nine games for the Bobcats this season and earned a 2-1 record. Murray had 21 strikeouts on the season. Over 29.1 innings of work, he let just 16 opponents cross the plate.

Napolitano appeared seven times in relief for Wake Forest in the spring, striking out four hitters in six innings pitched. He was also extremely effective in the nine games he was in the Demon Deacons lineup this past year. He finished with a .324 OBP, five RBI’s, five runs scored, six hits, four walks, and two doubles.

During the 2014 season, Santiago made nine starts in 13 appearances, going 2-2 with one save. Santiago was second on his team with over 60 innings pitched and had the third most strikeouts of Adelphi pitchers with 45. He helped Adelphi win the NE-10 Championship and represented 2014 Hampton’s Baseball All-Star Team.

This past year, Silvestro hit .405 with 2 home runs, 38 RBIs, 33 runs, and three stolen bases. He led team in average, OBP, slugging and hits. In his sophomore season, Silvestro hit .363 with 18 runs scored, 19 RBI, eight doubles, one triple, two home runs, and seven walks. As a freshman, Silvestro appeared in 16 games.

In his first year at Franklin Pierce, Stanford had a HR, 7 RBI’s, and a batting avg. of .313. He had 5 hits, 4 runs, 1 double, and 1 triple in 16 at-bats. His slugging was an otherworldly .688. Stanford earned his high school baseball team’s academic achievement award three times.

This is Kurtis White’s second season with the Dirt Dawgs. In 2014, he hit .274 for the season with 40 hits, 6 home runs, 28 runs scored, and 26 RBI in 44 games. Kurtis also pitched five innings, allowing zero runs with seven Ks. White was the Fan Choice to be on the West All Star Team in 2014.

This past season, Zona appeared in 10 games, starting seven contests. On May 3rd, he pitched one of his four complete games and posted 12 strikeouts in a win against Salem State. Zona went 4-3 with an ERA of 3.33. He struck out 60 hitters and only offered 24 free passes.

COACHES

DAVE HC GAGE

RAUL PC RIVERA

The Southern Vermont grad started coaching at 18 years old when he coached the Tri-County Bees, who qualified for two National Championships under Gage’s leadership. The team in 2010 to a 31-5 record.

His father David was a high school and collegiate baseball coach, and the San Francisco Giants drafted his brother last summer.

Before becoming South-ern Vermont’s head coach in 2013, Gage served as the starting second baseman and

captain for the Mountaineers. Gage was a career .305 hitter and holds Southern Vermont records for on-base percent-age, saves, and hit by pitches.

Gage was a coach for the Pittsfield Suns in 2012.

Rivera is a former Detroit Tigers pitcher. He currently serves as pitching coach at the New York Institute of Technology. He is return-ing for his second season as pitching coach for the Dirt Dawgs. Rivera brings a tre-mendous amount of baseball experience.

Rivera serves as a guide for the many of his players that hope to become profes-sional ballplayers. His goal this year is to build a strong work ethic in players and the confidence to persist until

they reach their goals. Rivera wants to develop

young pitchers into the best players they can become. He also said he looks forward to the challenge of facing com-petitive FCBL hitters again.