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Noble & Greenough

DEDHAM, Ma. - Since Rob Murray took over the program at Noble & Greenough, the baseball team has finished no worse than fifth in the prestigious 16-team Independent School League every year.

“Good pitching and good defense,” is what Murray says is the key to that success.

With a trio of senior pitchers back, four other returnees and an impressive group of newcomers, Noble & Greenough has high hopes on bettering last year’s 11-4 third-place league record.

“We should be right in the mix to compete for the title,” the seventh-year head coach said. “With the returnees we have, and the new guys we have, we should be right there.”

But it will be far from easy.

“This is the best I’ve seen the league as far as pitching,” pointed out Murray, listing pitchers going to Duke, Boston College and UMass among others in the conference. “It’s a college-caliber pitching league.”

The Bulldogs will do there part in putting strong pitching out on the field each game with senior right-handers Jack Schwartz, Cole Koeppel and John Grady back for the 2019 campaign.

Schwartz, a 5-8 185-pound Tufts commit ranked 77th in New England’s 2019 class, was the “number two pitcher in the league last year” according to Murray. Koeppel, a UMass signee, is a 6-6 200-pounder rated 139th while Grady is an uncommitted senior.

Leadoff hitter Owen O’Connor returns to play outfield for his junior year with senior Owen Fitzhugh another outfielder back with experience. Junior Jack Cronin will again be in the infield this season for Noble & Greenough while Marc Willi is the rare freshman with varsity experience. The 6-4 220-pound left-handed power hitting first baseman with an exit velo of 96 started for the the Bulldogs as an eighth grader a year ago.

While catcher Ben Rice is now at Dartmouth and shortstop Dylan McNary now at Villanova from last year’s graduating class, Murray has more than capable replacements ready to fill in for the 2019 season. Jackson Phinney, a 6-1 225-pounder who is the top-ranked junior catcher in New England, looks to solidify the backstop for Noble & Greenough while Luca Danos, a 5-11 175-pounder rated ninth in the 2021 New England class, is penciled in at shortstop.

Junior third baseman Noah Thomas, a 6-2 180-pounder, and freshman catcher Jake Bollin, are other underclassmen that are looking at getting onto the field somewhere this season for Murray.

“With the pitching we have and what we’ll see, there will be a lot of 2-1 and 3-2 games,” Murray predicted. “It will be a matter of can our pitching hold us in until we get a run across.”

The ability to manufacture runs will be vital for Noble & Greenough this season.

“I love the hit-and-run and bunting, double steals and the squeeze,” Murray explained. “We like to put pressure on the defense and we have the speed to do it.”