New Hampshire Team Of The Week - Hopkinton
May 1, 2019
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New Hampshire Team Of The Week - Hopkinton
CONTOOCOOK, N.H. - Talk about a big win.
While Hopkinton played just one game this past week, it was a victory over defending Division 3 state champion White Mountains. But there was more to the win that gave Hopkinton the distinction of being selected New Hampshire Prep Baseball Report Team of the Week.
The Hawks received a four-hit performance from Sam Crawford (Video), who missed all of last season with a UCL injury. Crawford threw just 73 pitches, fanning 11 without a walk in a game played at Cooperstown.
“It’s a tradition,” head coach Dave Chase said of making the venture to Cooperstown once every four years so that every player in the program can witness the Baseball Hall of Fame.
A steal of home in the first inning gave Hopkinton a 1-0 lead and a delay steal later in the game gave the Hawks a 2-0 victory.
“We’ve been an unknown commodity,” Chase admitted. “We just moved up from Division 4 to Division 3. To play the defending Division 3 state champ and win builds up a lot of confidence.”
The fact that White Mountains returned every player but their catcher from last season’s championship team made the victory even more impressive.
“We started a freshman catcher, second baseman and DH,” noted Chase. “It’s building more and more confidence.”
The start to the season was a bit different.
“In game one we walked nine and had seven errors,” Chase said in reference to the lone defeat of the year, a 16-5 loss to Laconia.
Five consecutive wins have followed.
“We’re hitting the ball pretty well,” noted Chase, whose squad has a .350 team batting average.
Senior Caleb Yianakopolos is the leader of the team.
“He’s been the table setter,” Chase said of the third baseman hitting .350 with 15 stolen bases to push his career total to 36, now 22 away from the school record. “He really puts a lot of pressure on the other team.”
Shortstop Mike Baer is hitting .583, first baseman Larsen Burack .467, center fielder Sam Rawson .437 and catcher Sam Crawford .400 for a team that is averaging .353 overall with 51 runs scored in six games.
“We lost our first game but we’ve rebounded well,” Chase noted. “The kids are playing with a lot more confidence.”
Crawford, Rawson and Burack are all pitchers for Hopkinton, with more mound help on the way with the return of Colby Marshall from injury.
Another standout with promise is junior Kevin Newton-Delgado, a 6-4 power-hitting center fielder averaging .400.
The lone seniors on the team are Burack and Yianakopolos, with eight juniors and four freshman completing the team. Bryce Charron, a freshman second baseman, is another youngster that has come up big.
“He’s been a pleasant surprise defensively for us,” Chase said of Charron, who is also hitting .429.
One other ninth grader playing a key role is Jack Morrall, a catcher for a program that was 12-6 last year after winning the Division 4 state championship in 2017 with a 15.5 record.
“We’re ready to get into the meat of our schedule against a lot of good teams,” noted Chase, who led Hopkinton to a Division 3 state title in 2012. “Personally, the key is to keep playing small ball, do fundamental things and make plays. We have to keep throwing strikes and keep putting pressure on other people.”