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Brookes Closing In On 700 Wins At Haddam-Killingworth

HADDAM, Ct. - Veteran head coach Mark Brookes is closing in on 700 career victories this season. The long-time Haddam-Killingworth mentor is counting on pitching depth to carry this year’s squad to more success in the upcoming  campaign.

“We have pitching depth for 2021, but will look for players to step up on offense,” explained Brookes, a member of the Connecticut Coach’s Hall of Fame as well as the Haddam-Killingworth Hall of Fame and Middletown Sports Hall of Fame.

Four seniors, all college commits, are being counted on to lead the charge for this year’s Cougars in pitcher Alden Halfinger, pitcher/shortstop Alec Erskine, outfielder Luke DiMauro and infielder/pitcher Matt Miranda. Halfinger, the 37th-rated 2021 right-handed pitcher in New England, is committed to Salem University (WVa) while Erskine, the 48th-ranked 2021 shortstop in New England, is a Southern Connecticut State commit. DiMauro is going to Springfield College and Miranda to Elms College (Ma). 

“Missing 2020 has been hard on the kids but fortunately 90 percent of them were able to participate on travel teams during the summer and fall of 2020,” noted Brookes, the lone head baseball coach in H-K school history who enters this year with a 691-303 overall record.    

The program, which began in 1977 with Brookes at the helm, has been to the state finals five times - 1981, 1982, 1986, 2012 and 2014. There were also a dozen trips to the state semifinals, the most recent in 2016 and 2017, and to the quarterfinals 22 times including the 2019 season.

“Pitching makes teams competitive but we need to defend and score runs on a regular basis,” Brookes explained about the keys to the coming year.

Erskine, DiMauro, Miranda and Halfinger “all had successful AAU seasons” according to Brookes, which hopefully lessens the worries for this year’s Haddam-Killingworth squad.

Additional help comes from newcomers to the varsity in juniors Alex Sheehan, Caden Civiello, Andrew Conti and Nick Glynn along with promising sophomore Callen Powers. Sheehan and Conti are pitcher/outfielders, Powers a pitcher/shortstop, Civiello can play infield and outfield while Glynn is a catcher.

The Cougars are in search of their 11th Shoreline Conference championship, the last taking place in 2010

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