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St. Sebastian's

NEEDHAM, Ma. - Two consecutive Independent School League titles might just be the tip of the iceberg for St. Sebastian’s.

“We return most of our guys from last year,” noted head coach Richard Connolly, who has led the program to a 49-11 record over the past three years and a 34-6 mark the last two seasons.

Senior Billy Seidel, a Duke signee, and junior Matt Joyce, a Boston College recruit, headline a staff that also includes left-handed long reliever Tim Noone, a Babson College commit. Seidel, a 5-11 180-pounder rated 14th in the New England 2019 class, was 7-0 last season featuring a fastball that has topped at 92. Joyce, a righty like Seidel and the top-ranked RHP in New England’s junior class, was 5-1 a year ago.

“They combined to throw over 90 innings with a combined ERA of 0.80,” Connolly said.

Cole Tromblay, James Donovan, Andrew Coe and Joey Fiore bring depth to the pitching staff for a team that was 17-2 overall last year and 14-1 in the ISL.

“Our pitching will definitely be good,” Connolly explained. “Our one-two-three, I think, is one of the best in New England.”

But there is much more to the 2019 Arrows, with three key returnees in the infield. Matt Connelly, a Bates commit, is back at first base with Dartmouth signee Connor Bertsch at third. Aidan Harrington, a Boston College recruit who played sparingly as a freshman a year ago, will be the full-time shortstop in 2019.

Andrew Dorsey, a 6-1 200-pound left-handed hitting senior ranked 240th in the New England 2020 class, replaces Wake Forest commit Landon Dombrowski at catcher.

“Offensively we have a lot of guys that have been on the team two, three and four years,” Connolly pointed out. “They understand our philosophy. We can hit, play sound defense and we try to run the bases.”

But as the team to beat in the eyes of many, Connolly understands what playing for St. Sebastian’s means.

“Most teams are going to throw their best at us,” Connolly said. “It’s a matter of us rising to the occasion. But it’s good to have a target on your back. It means you’ve done something in the past to warrant that.”

The Arrows are looking to keep up that tradition, but must do so without last year’s captain, shortstop Brian Craven who is now playing at Richmond.

“We’re cautiously optimistic,” Connolly admitted. “We don’t want to look past any game. From top to bottom baseball may be the most competitive sport in the ISL. Everyone has a ‘guy’. The bats could go cold or you hit it right at people and that’s tough. It’s never easy.

“One-run ball games make the difference and the last two years we’ve been able to win those. The key for us is to believe in ourselves. Trust what we’ve accomplished in the past and don’t rest on your laurels. Our motto is ‘continuous improvement’. If we do that we’ll be okay. So far the energy around practice has been really good.”

Being part of St. Sebastian’s has been a blessing for Connolly.

“I teach at the school, too,” Connolly said. “I love working with the kids inside and outside the classroom. You can learn so much with sports. In baseball you fail more often than you don’t

“But our kids are resilient. We have a great coaching staff that’s always learning. I love getting outside with the guys having fun, teaching baseball and hopefully beyond that.”