About face saves Shrewsbury season
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer

Shrewsbury - The Shrewsbury Senior Babe Ruth baseball team made a U-turn in its season recently that even the most veteran driver would have been proud of.

The team began its season 0-6, with four of the six losses being one-run defeats, but has since rallied to run off five consecutive wins, a streak capped by a 10-3 win June 24 over Charlton.

"Not having a field to practice on regularly really hurt us early," Shrewsbury Senior Ruth manager Mike Costa said. "We put the team together one day and played our first game of the season the next. The early season games were really practices."

The team plays its home games at Oak Middle School. That field, Costa said, is also used by other teams, including American Legion and Stan Musial games, so scheduling practice sessions is not possible.

"If we had a field to practice on we could really give these kids the attention and individual work they need," Costa said.

The on-the-job training has worked well, though, as the win over Charlton showed. First baseman Curt Harrington led the off ensive attack with three hits and two RBIs, while catcher Nick Keevan and extra hitter Jeff Moan added two hits each. Right fielder Kyle Thompson had one hit and drove in two runs.

"Keevan leads us at the plate; he's hitting over .400 now and was over .500 at one point during the season," Shrewsbury Senior Ruth third base coach Jim Marine III said. "Harrington is batting over .400, too, and so is left fielder Rich Dube, and Moan. Second baseman Matt D'Urso is hitting over .300."

Matt DiRoberto, a righthanded pitcher from Millbury who plays at St. Peter- Marian, is the ace of the staff. He allowed five hits and three runs, two earned, in the win over Charlton, and the two earned runs he allowed were the first he's allowed all season, in 19 innings of work. Rounding out the Shrewsbury Senior Ruth pitching rotation is Thompson, Harrington and Moan.

Other players in the everyday lineup include third baseman Dan O'Keefe, centerfielder Paul Tizzano and shortstop Anthony Tomasetta.

Reserves on the team include Mike D'Amico, Alex Vigliatura, Pat Laverty, Brent Resnik, Brendan O'Rourke, Evan Wheeler, Anthony Sereti and Joe Buckley.

The team is relatively young, with 11 16-yearolds, six 17-year-olds and an 18-year-old on the 18- man roster. Thompson is 18, while Keevan, DiRoberto, Tomasetta, Moan, Buckley and Sereti are all 17.

"I think that's a reason we lost some games early - the young kids simply weren't ready to play at this level," Shrewsbury Senior Ruth first base coach Jim Marine II said. "We have three kids from Shrewsbury who played varsity high school baseball - Thompson, Tizzano and Laverty - as well as DiRoberto at St. Peter-Marian and Keevan at North. That's why we need to find a place we can regularly practice, so we can get these kids extra work."