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Pitching, Catching Strengths For St. John’s Shrewsbury

SHREWSBURY, Ma. - Charlie Eppinger won his 250th game at his high school alma mater in 2019. Unfortunately, there were no more victories to add to that mark at St. John’s Shrewsbury in 2020 with the season canceled due to covid.

“We were coming off a disappointing end to the 2019 season and were very excited for 2020,” reflected Eppinger, a 1992 St. John’s graduate who has seen 10 graduates move on to play professional baseball since taking over the program in 2006. “We had a great group of seniors that had been together for a long time and we were expecting a special season.”

Now it is up to the 2021 Pioneers to live up to the expectations of a program that has won four Division I state crowns (1952, 1976, 2002 and the 2017 Division IA Super 8 state championship).

“We lost a year and didn't have many sophomores on the varsity in 2019, so we are really re-starting the program after last year,” pointed out Eppinger, who is excited to be adding a middle school team to the program starting this season. “We should have pitching and catching depth.”

Southpaw Damon Fuller, the 16th-ranked 2021 LHP in New England and a Merrimack commit, is back to lead the way on the mound for Eppinger, who is 250-99 overall for a program that has sent six players to the major leagues in Pat Bourque '65, Ron Darling '78, Tim Lahey '00, Lance Zawadzki '03, Ryan O'Rourke '06, and John Andreoli '08.

“As always, being able to minimize walks and errors and maximizing scoring opportunities will be the keys to success,” explained Eppinger, who lost a boatload of players to graduation in Christian Siciliano (Southern Maine), Tyler Nielsen (Maine), Michale Kurlan (Bard), Nick Carelli (Endicott), Andrew Eppinger (New Jersey Institute of Technology), Brant Savage (Babson), Sean Clark (Westfield State) and Matt Rade (Macalester College).

Newcomers to watch according to Eppinger include Andrew Gardner, the 39th-ranked 2022 shortstop in New England; Michael Dennis, the 18th-rated 2022 catcher who also plays first base; Pat McManus, the 24th-ranked 2022 catcher who also is an outfielder; and Nolan Puglisi, a pitcher/outfielder.

“A successful season will depend on getting significant contributions from the sophomore and juniors classes,” Eppinger said.

There is more that Eppinger is looking forward to as the upcoming season begins.

“We will be joining the always competitive Catholic Conference unofficially for the 2021 season,” added Eppinger, noting that St. John’s will become an official conference member in the fall of 2021.

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