College Collage: MCLA Baseball Team Loaded with Locals
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- It is not uncommon for Berkshire County high school graduates to continue their athletic careers at MCLA. but this year’s Trailblazer baseball team has an uncommonly local flavor.
Thirteen of the 21 players on first-year coach Mike Gladu’s roster are local graduates, and they are producing for a young team that has struggled to a 3-13 start going into Tuesday’s scheduled home game against Skidmore.
Junior Myles Candelet of Taconic High is hitting .444 with a pair of doubles and a pair of RBIs in 11 games this spring. Nate Gutman, a senior from Adams who attended McCann Tech, joines Candelet above the .400 line, hitting .424 in 13 games.
Taconic alumnus Liam Nolan, a sophomore, leads MCLA in RBIs with 16. He is hitting .292 with two home runs, two doubles and a triple.
Senior Nate Alibozek (Hoosac Valley) has the Trailblazers’ best ERA (4.50) in three appearances on the mound. Drury’s Robert Jutras and Mount Greylock’s Frank Rickus have each won a game on the mound.
At Williams College, junior Jackson Parese (Williamstown, Taft School) has made the most of his plate appearances for the Ephs (6-12) this spring. Parese is hitting .474 with a double in 19 at-bats for Williams.
Williams’ ninth-ranked men’s tennis team has a two local residents competing this spring: Mount Greylock graduates Alex White and Rohan Shastri, both juniors.
Springfield College sophomore Jason Laramee (Monument Mountain ‘14) cleared 6 feet, 2 inches on Saturday to win the high jump and propel the Pride to a second-place finish in a four-team home meet.
Hoosac Valley graduate and Merrimack College freshman Trevor Ciempa placed fifth in the high jump with a mark of 6, ¾ at Saturday’s Yellow Jacket Invitational at American International College, where the Warriors finished 10th out of 21 teams.
Taconic’s Aaron Weeks scored in the javelin on Saturday to help his team finish first at the eight-team Amherst College Spring Fling. Weeks flung the javelin 155 feet, 11 inches to finish sixth.
Back on the baseball diamond, Elmira College sophomore Jack Thistle of Mount Greylock is hitting .200 in 13 games for the Eagles (6-11).
Monument Mountain graduate and Bard College sophomore Ben Baum has appeared in all 10 games and started nine for the Raptors' men's lacrosse team (4-6). He has been the main faceoff man for Bard, winning 35 of 127 tries. On Saturday, Baum won two faceoffs and grabbed two groundballs in a 14-6 loss at No. 8 St. Lawrence, a game in which the Raptors had a second-half lead. Mount Greylock graduate Brett McCormack had a goal for the Saints in that win.
A Berkshire County girls lacrosse rivalry played out at the next level on Saturday when Mount Greylock graduate Chloe Anderson and the Worcester State Lancers took on Wahconah grad Shaina Farrell and the Salem State Vikings.
Anderson and the Lancers prevailed, 20-10. The junior defender has five ground balls this spring for Worcester (4-6). Farrell has a goal in seven games for Salem State (3-5).
Mount Everett graduate Alicia Bazonski continues to pile up honors at Division I UNC-Greensboro. Last week, she was named the Southern Conference Pitcher of the Month after going 10-1 with a .77 earned run average in March. On Sunday, she won her 14th game of the year as the Spartans beat conference foe Mercer to improve to 26-15 this spring.
If you know a graduate of a local high school who should be included in an upcoming edition of College Collage, please email sports@iberkshires.com.
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