COURTESY PHOTO
Peabody native Tommy Parsons leads the Fitchburg State rotation with 48 strikeouts this season.
By JOSHUA KUMMINS
Baseball is a game of adjustments, but going back to starting games has been the easiest of adjustments for Fitchburg State’s Tommy Parsons.
After working out of the bullpen last season, the sophomore from Peabody is back in more familiar territory as he pitches at the top of the Falcons’ rotation to open weekends in Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC) play.
With the season in full swing back home in New England, Parsons sees progression in his own game and for the Falcons.
“It’s been a lot easier than freshman year (since I’m) starting, especially for me because the way I throw is getting in rhythms,” Parsons said. “When I get in a rhythm, that’s when I’m at my best.”
The Bishop Fenwick product delivered a big start and earned his fourth victory of the season on Saturday, allowing just three hits and one run as the Falcons opened an eventual doubleheader sweep of MCLA with a 6-1 win.
Parsons has been an anchor for the Falcons’ staff as his 39.2 innings pitched and 48 strikeouts lead the staff. He has given the bullpen some important rest of late as well, going a full seven innings in his last three outings.
Returning to a starting role ― in which Parsons feels most comfortable ― has given him confidence, and the results have shown.
“Relief pitching was difficult for me because if I didn’t get in that rhythm in the first inning, that would be a bad outing because I don’t have another inning to do well,” Parsons said. “It’s definitely been a lot easier this year. Mentally, I feel like I’m at my best on the mound.”
Head coach Kevin Barnaby knew what Parsons could provide to his pitching staff, but wasn’t sure if he would be able to make the transition to the starting rotation this quickly.
Parsons was slated in as a reliever during the fall season, but a couple pitchers Barnaby expected to have available transferred out of the program or were not eligible for the season. Thus, Parsons was thrust into the starting rotation and has provided a “stabilizing force” to start weekend series.
“Tommy was a very pleasant surprise,” said Barnaby, who was a volunteer assistant coach at UMass Lowell for two seasons before taking over at Fitchburg State. “We knew he had good stuff. I just didn’t know if he would be able to handle switching the role, but he’s done that seamlessly.”
Parsons spent much of this offseason developing an arsenal of offspeed pitches to complement his fastball, which he used as his primary pitch as a freshman.
In particular, working on improving his slider was a primary focus to his offseason work.
“My freshman year, I had trouble controlling a slider and would really just rely on a fastball. Most teams can just sit on a fastball, eventually adjust, and hit it,” Parsons said. “With my pitching coach Tom Landry, we worked a lot on my offspeed. I’ve started to develop a changeup which is coming along pretty well too.”
In addition to working closely with Landry, Parsons enjoyed a brief stint in the Futures Collegiate League at the end of this past summer. He made three appearances just before postseason play began in the second week of August.
Parsons’ time playing alongside top Division 1 talent with the Wachusett Dirt Dawgs ― a team Barnaby coached in 2014 ― was short, but it provided him with just another opportunity to improve his game.
“It was a short stint, but I definitely learned a lot,” Parsons said. “You learn a lot about how (D1 players) handle themselves before and during the game. You also see how important hitting a spot is, because most kids in that league can hit the ball anywhere.”
There is a lot to learn over the course of a college athlete’s first couple seasons, but Parsons made a quick adjustment this offseason and now finds himself working in a crucial spot each and every day.
Names and notes
- For the third straight week and fourth time this season, Lynn’s Katie Cuozzo was named the New England Collegiate Conference Pitcher of the Week for the Regis College softball team. Cuozzo compiled a 4-0 record and a 0.75 ERA in 18.2 innings pitched this week, striking out 20 batters and allowing just seven hits and two walks. On Thursday, she struck out a season-high nine batters against Southern Vermont and allowed one hit in a complete game victory. At the plate, she went 6-for-10 with a double, five RBI and four runs scored.
- Peabody’s Antonia Pagliuca hit the NCAA provisional qualifying time and is now ranked 15th in the country in the 10,000 meters after her performance for the Assumption College women’s track team at the Silfen Invitational this past weekend. Pagliuca broke her own Assumption school record by a minute and 44 seconds with a time of 36:31.83.
- Nahant’s Al Wallach pitched a gem and earned his first win of the season for the Framingham State baseball team, going seven innings and allowing just five hits in a shutout performance. The Rams won, 6-0, over Worcester State.
- Marblehead’s Kiley Fischer scored two goals on four shots in the Babson lacrosse team’s 16-3 win over Smith College.
- Bridgewater State lacrosse goalie Allie Forman, of Marblehead, had to make just three saves but earned the win in net for the Bears in their 19-4 victory over MCLA on Saturday.
- Lynn’s Ben Bowden tossed two strong innings in relief for the Vanderbilt baseball team this week, allowing one hit and striking out two in one inning in Vanderbilt’s 3-2 win over Kentucky, earning the save, his seventh of the season. He also threw a perfect ninth inning in the next day’s 3-0 loss to Kentucky. Bowden owns a 3.13 ERA in 37 1/3 innings of work.
- Lynn’s Hulerie McGuffie won the 400-meter dash for the UMass Boston women’s track team at the Eric Loeschner Invitational with a time of 56.13 seconds. McGuffie was also part of the women’s 4×100 relay team that won the Women’s Relay Team of the Week in the Little East Conference this past week.
- Peabody’s Bobby Losanno went 3-for-4 with a home run, three RBI and two runs scored in Merrimack baseball’s 8-2 win over St. Michael’s.
- Nahant’s Abby Hooper scored three times in the Colby College lacrosse team’s 14-9 win over Williams on Saturday.
- Lynn’s Nneka Iloba came in second in the 100 (12.98) at the Jerry Gravel Classic for UMass Dartmouth this weekend.
- Nahant’s Kurtis White went 1-for-1 with two walks and two runs scored in Franklin Pierce baseball’s 19-2 win over Bentley.
- Lynnfield’s Jess Miles netted her second goal of the season for UMass Dartmouth women’s lacrosse in its 14-13 win over Eastern Connecticut.
- Peabody’s Steve Leavitt earned the win in relief for the Salem State baseball team in its 5-4 win over Westfield. Leavitt went 4 1/3 innings and allowed just one run on one hit. Leavitt’s teammate, Mike Davis doubled and scored a run in the win.
- Lynn’s Sean Buckland earned the win for Salem State in its 5-3 win over Mass Maritime, going the full seven innings and allowing three runs, striking out eight. In the win, Davis went 2-for-3 with a double.
- Saugus’ Courtney Leddy went 2-for-4 for the Bridgewater State softball team in their 3-2 win over Worcester State on Saturday.
- Peabody’s Keifer Heckman scored two goals on five shots and picked up five ground balls for the Southern New Hampshire University’s 14-13 win over Franklin Pierce.
- Lynn native and St. Mary’s graduate James Torosian scored his first collegiate goal for the Lasell men’s lacrosse team in its 18-3 win over Albertus Magnus.
- Peabody’s Catarina Rocha set an Ocean State Invitational meet record in the 5,000 meters for Providence College, finishing in 16:07.33.
- Bishop Fenwick grad Jen Crovo went 2-for-3 with a double in Salem State softball’s 3-1 loss to Westfield State. In the loss, Peabody’s Jess Raymond went 1-for-3 with a stolen base. In the second game of the doubleheader, Raymond went 4-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI, including a double and stolen base. Raymond went 3-for-3 with a walk, a run scored and two RBI in the Vikings’ 16-4 win over Mass Maritime, and again went 3-for-3 with two RBI, two runs scored, a walk and a double in the second game of the doubleheader, an 18-2 win for Salem State.
- Lynn’s Francesca Galeazzi went 3-for-3 in Salve Regina softball’s 1-0 loss to Endicott.
- Nahant’s Meredith Ball had four hits and four runs scored in eight at-bats in Suffolk’s doubleheader sweep of Norwich.
- Swampscott’s Ryan January is hitting .350 with six home runs and 32 RBI for the San Jacinto baseball team through 40 games.
Joshua Kummins can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKummins.