Follow @pbrnewengland

Interested in attending a PBR New England event? Check out our schedule by clicking here.

To view the commitment tracker, click here.
To view the uncommitted spotlights, click here.

Barnstable

BARNSTABLE, Ma. - David Fouracre has been in the game of baseball for 45 years as a coach. Last fall it appeared to be all over when he stepped away from an assistant coaching job at UMass-Dartmouth “due to travel and time wear on the wife and me.”.

But the same day he called it quits, Fouracre saw a help-wanted ad in a newspaper for a high school head baseball coach and, with his wife’s approval, decided to throw his hat in the ring.

Now Fouracre is in charge of the Barnstable baseball program.

“I’m 75 now, but I still have a lot of energy in me,” explained Fouracre, who coached at the next level at Bridgewater State and Curry College after a 34-year high school coaching career. He had a 426-270 record at Oliver Ames, Brockton and Whitman-Hanson high schools, winning a Division I state championship in 1997 at Brockton.

Fouracre looks forward to the challenge at Barnstable, heading up a program that finished 11-9 in 2018, losing in the first round of the state tournament.

“Consistency,” Fouracre said about what he hopes to bring to program. “I’ll be the third baseball coach in three years. The coaches prior to me have done a great job, they’ve won 37 games over the last three years.”

But continual change at the top is not easy to deal with for high school athletes.

“The kids are resilient and want to play hard,” Fouracre said.

The infield from 2018 returns intact for the Red Raiders led by UMass-Lowell signee Ryan Proto. “One of the best in the state” according to Fouracre, the 25th-ranked senior in New England is a standout behind the plate, recently recording a 1.91 pop time at the PBR Northeast Procase in February.

Senior Joe Yalmokas returns at first base while classmate Nick Capreo is back at second. Junior Mike Martir will again be at shortstop with Colby Burke, the 145th-ranked 2020 in New England and the team’s leading hitter last season at .339, once more playing third base. Matt Klett brings experience to the outfield with the  left-handed hitting junior, who is ranked 217th in New England’s 2020 class, also competing for playing time at shortstop.

The biggest concern is on the mound.

“Pitching is going to be our weakness,” Fouracre admitted.

Sophomore Casey Proto, the brother of Ryan, is the lone pitcher back with experience after throwing 47.1 innings as a freshman. The 6-0 145-pounder, ranked 50th in New England’s 2021 class, was 4-3 a year ago.

“If there is a strength, it’s the commitment of the guys we have and how hard they’re working now to get ready for the season,” Fouracre said. “We expect to find a way to win. These kids are tough. They’ve qualified for state four of the last four years.

“I have a lot of confidence in the leadership of these guys to get us where we want to be. The key to success is developing the pitching. I think we’ll be fine offensively.”