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Canterbury

NEW MILFORD, Ct. - Times have changed when it comes to baseball at Canterbury.

Improved facilities, an administration that has a strong interest and a head coach with a plan.

The progress is evident.

“In 2014 we only had two wins, we were not a strong program at the time,” noted Todd Mathewson, now in his sixth year at the helm. “The first thing we needed to do was get guys that are baseball players, that love to play summer ball. Their passion is they want to play college baseball.”

A year later, Canterbury had a .500 record and by last season the Saints were marching toward being one of the best around with a 16-5 finish, losing in the semifinals of the Western New England League championships.

“We brought in guys that wanted to be baseball players, that helped turn the program around,” Mathewson explained. “Each year we brought in better players.

“The second piece is AD Jim Stone. He’s been phenomenal. We used to have a track go through right field and no fence. Now we’ve taken care of that and have a redone infield and new indoor batting cages. It helps the kids now and helps bring in student-athletes that makes it fun to work with.”

Nine seniors are back from the 2018 squad bringing more promise to the program.

Max Cotier headlines the returnees after earning Player of the Year honors in the league last season. A Virginia commit, the 5-11 160-pound left-handed hitter is the top-ranked shortstop in the 2019 New England class.

The middle of the field is set with Bryce Leckey back at second base, Xavier signee Trey Fesperman in center field and Stonehill College recruit Chris Roberti at catcher.

Sophomore Jake Elston brings more experience to the infield after seeing action as a freshman, helping out a team that has two key pitchers back in Chaz  Powell and Jose Mencia. Both seniors, Powell will be playing at Franklin Pierce next year and Mencia at Delaware State.

“The strength of this team is up the middle,” Mathewson said. “When you talk about how you want to build a team, we have two pitchers, a catcher, two middle infielders and a center fielder that are all seniors and going on to play in college at D-I or D-II schools. Having strength like that up the middle is great. If you don’t have a mature team, you can fold.”

Leckey, Fesperman and Cotier will form the top three in the batting order providing speed and athleticism.

“Our biggest concern is our overall depth,” Mathewson noted. “Canterbury is a small school with 180 boys overall and when you lose five guys like we did from last year that hurts. After our top 10 to 12 players there’s a little bit of a drop off.”

The five players gone, three pitchers and two outfielders, from the 2018 team are all playing in college - Jake Roper at Maine, Garrett Crowley at Fordham, Brian Gaughan at Central Connecticut State, Harsha Bollu at Tufts and Jordan Perez at Endicott.

A pair of underclassmen are being counted on to help fill the void in junior first baseman McCarthy Sloan, a middle of the order bat, and Ian Cooke, a sophomore right-handed pitcher that touched 90 last summer according to Mathewson.

“The keys for us are to stay healthy and we need to stay the course and not get ahead of ourselves,” Mathewson said. “We can’t take anything for granted, we need to do what needs to get done. If we stay grounded, stay hungry and work every day we have a shot,

“Our league is about the strongest it’s ever been. Every team in the league is going to be good competition. We talk about it being a process, one pitch at a time, but from a bigger standpoint our captains are seniors and the goal is to win a championship. With our attitude in the locker room, we have the pieces to do it.”