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St. John's Shrewsbury

SHREWSBURY, Ma. - According to head coach Charlie Eppinger, the 2018 St. John’s Shrewsbury baseball season “was not up to our expectations.”

Letdown and disappointing were words Eppinger used about a 15-8 campaign in which the Pioneers failed to make the Super 8 for the first time in four years. It came a year after St. John’s Shrewsbury captured the state championship.

“It’s something we’re hoping to get back to this year,” said the 14th-year head coach, who has taken the Pioneers to the Super 8 three times in the last five years. “Perennially, we want to be the team to beat in Central Massachusetts.”

The outlook for 2019 is a good one with experience at a premium at a school that has won four state titles - 1952, 1976 and 2002 in addition to 2017.

“We were very, very young last year with 11 sophomores,” Eppinger noted. “Hopefully, that will pay dividends this year.”

Sean Burke, who was hurt in the middle of last season and is now at Maryland, is gone as well as the need to make replacements at shortstop, third base and in the outfield.

Senior first baseman Matt Livingston and junior infielders Nick Carelli and Grant Savage will headline this year’s team according to the veteran coach. A 6-3 245-pound left-handed hitter committed to Siena, Livingston will hit in the middle of the lineup along with Savage, who is expected to play short. Carell, a second baseman, will bat at the top of the lineup after ‘a breakout season as a sophomore” according to Eppinger.

“We’re looking for those three guys to score us runs,” Eppinger said. “Offensively we need to figure out how to score runs and we might be able to with those guys.”

More help comes from Jack Carelli, a 6-0 175-pounder ranked 74th in the 2020 New England class, who can play infield, outfield and bring depth to the pitching staff

Pitching is expected to carry the Pioneers this year.

“The strength of this team is the depth of the staff,” pointed out Eppinger. “We have a bunch of arms where I have trust in their ability and that are going to go on to pitch at college.The depth will allow us not to overwork any of them.”

Left-hander Tyler Nielsen will be one of those at the top of the rotation.

“He started last year on the JVs but came up and did a nice job at the end of the season,” Eppinger said of the 6-3 195-pound Rutgers commit rated 71st in the New England junior class. “He’s not necessarily an ace, we have six arms we think can work together as a pitching team.”

Another junior pitcher is Jack Carelli with seniors Carson Hauben, Mike Bean and Nick McDonald ready to fill key roles on the staff. Hauben is a 6-1 195 pound Saint Anslem signee ranked 51st while Bean is a 6-0 200-pound Merrimack recruit rated 67th. McDonald, a Bryant commit, did not pitch last year.

“I like the camaraderie of the staff,” Eppinger explained. “They all want the ball in their hand as much as possible but know they need each other for the team to succeed as much as possible. They need to take their turn to help if we’re going to win a state championship.”

Livingston and Savage are other potential pitchers for St. John’s.

“This could be a team with special depth rather than with superstars,” Eppinger said. “The question is can we make it fun. Our outfield has two sophomores and four juniors trying to earn playing time while we’re wide open at third base with three guys competing. We only have one guy at St. John’s that has ever caught so we have some healthy competition there.

“We have question marks, but we have some good options. My concern is if us coaches can get it right.”

The style of play by the Pioneers is well determined.

“We want to be a team that tries to run the bases aggressively and manufacture runs,” Eppinger said. “With our pitching staff, that will help to win games.

“We’ve got a lot of very, very good players this year,” Eppinger continued. “Our depth overcomes not having one or two super players. Camaraderie is the key with putting egos on the backburner and working for team success. It’s about the team goals rather than individual goals.”