ITEM PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
Tech’s Richie Mateo tosses a pitch to a teammate during a bunting drill.
By HAROLD RIVERA
When Mike Kenney took over the Lynn Tech baseball program last spring, he knew he had his work cut out for him. Tech hadn’t won a game in four seasons and the first-year Tigers coach was tasked with turning around a team in desperate need of a positive year. That mission was accomplished.
Tech won five of its last six games last season and comes into the 2017 campaign with optimism.
“We finished the season strong and won five of our last six games,” Kenney, who enters his second season at Tech, recalled. “They began to understand what it means to be baseball players. It was a good building year for us.”
Now that Tech knows what it’s like to win, the Tigers can come into this season one step ahead of where they started in 2016. It also helps that Tech returns the majority of last year’s core.
“We built up,” Kenney said. “We have a lot more interest in the team. We’re senior-heavy this season. I have 12 seniors on the team this year and 16 freshman playing for me. Last year I had two freshman who got some playing time for me. We built up a lot and we have a lot of talent for the coming years.”
Richard Mateo is one of the key returners for the Tigers this spring. The senior will do the majority of his work in the infield but will also see innings on the mound.
“He (Mateo) was a 3-4 hitter for us last year,” Kenney said. “He’s just been crushing it this spring. He came back motivated and that got everybody pumped up.”
Tech also brings back Jhoan Ortega, a sophomore who left a strong impression on coach Kenney last year as a freshman. Ortega will play shortstop and will also throw a few innings from the mound. Mateo and Ortega will captain the team.
Senior Michael Brown is also expected to play a key role for the Tigers. Brown is a left-handed pitcher who will split time between the mound and first base.
“He’s (Brown) kind of like a glue man that holds everything together for us,” Kenney said. “He’s a good lefty. He’s not dominating with overpowering stuff but he’s so consistent and he’s a great competitor for us.”
Tech will field a roster loaded with junior and seniors, meaning that experience will be one of the team’s advantages this season. While the Tigers are used to asking inexperienced players to tackle tough roles, that won’t be the case in 2017.
“I think the experience that we’ll have will be our strength,” Kenney said. “We have a lot of juniors and seniors. We don’t have to rely on youth like we have in the past. The team itself really gelled at the end of the year. They had a great camaraderie.”
Kenney’s also hoping that his players will pick up where they left off towards the end of last spring.
“They finally broke through with a win and got a sense of pride as a team,” Kenney said. “They understand that they can do this. We scored almost 8-10 runs per game at the end of the season. We kind of grew and I think that’s going to carry over for us this year.”
This preseason, Tech’s coaching staff has implemented a new hitting program that stresses quality instead of quantity. The response from the players, Kenney said, has been positive.
“I really wanted the guys to buy into our system,” Kenney said. “I want them to understand what a good practice is and that it’s quality over quantity. We’re really teaching them that you want to have a good swing. We put a lot of emphasis on it this year.”
Now that Tech knows it can compete, opposing teams should expect a battle when they take the field against the Tigers.
“It’s going to be fun, my guys have a lot of fun out there,” Kenney said. “We’ll give you our best shot and if you’re not ready for it, we’ll beat you.”
Joining Kenney on the coaching staff are Chris Delascio, Jeff Morin and Rich Germano.
Tech opens the new season on April 13 against Mystic Valley.