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07/30/2015 12:00 AMThe Guilford Junior Legion baseball squad didn’t have a lot of experience entering the recent summer season, yet Post 48 emerged from the campaign having the earned respect of many of their Zone 3 rivals.
Head Coach Jon Reinecke’s club featured a fresh new set of faces in the dugout who concluded 2015 holding a 5-23 record. Coming off a State Tournament bid last year, Guilford’s spot in the standings may not indicate its season was successful, although Reinecke feels his team proved it has the potential to get back into contention soon.
“We had an entirely new team this year with only a couple guys returning, yet at practice, I thought we could win ball games and be strong defensively. We were competitive in games and always want to return to the State Tournament. We were at a strength disadvantage because of our youth and teams noticed that,” said Coach Reinecke. “Everyone was older and bigger than us, but we never laid down, and we tried to have a lot of fun out there. We tried to give different teams different problems and were competitive. I had coaches coming up to me after series saying how our team was right there.”
With an upstart roster eager to endure the growing pains through a 28-game grind, Reinecke noted that even though Post 48 sometimes had that one breakdown inning which hampered their chances at victory, they’d compensate for it by dusting themselves off to make it a ballgame.
“When you come into Junior Legion, it is a step up from JV and it’s something that the guys aren’t accustomed to. The good teams take advantage of the mistakes you make, but through it all, it was a good learning experience for them and they proved that they can compete,” Reinecke said. “We just had that one inning in games where we lost focus, yet we lost each game to [Zone 3 runner-up] Cheshire by only three or four runs. They proved they can play with the teams like Cheshire and [zone champion] Meriden.”
Post 48 boasted a standout quintet of leaders in outfielder/pitcher Kevin Cargos (3.59 earned-run average; 4 outfield assists), catcher Austin Fix (team-best .284 batting average), second baseman Ash Stephens, staff ace Tom Cattaneo (29 innings pitched with a 1.44 ERA), and shortstop Brody Ulrich (team tops 22 walks and 13 runs scored; squad-leading 66 defensive putouts).
“Kevin rose to the occasion in our last series against Meriden. He threw five innings and allowed only two hits. He proved he could pitch at a high level and was consistently great throughout the year. Austin was a grinder for us. He was squaring up every ball and was consistently on base,” said Reinecke. “Ash was a tireless worker that would consistently work on things we taught him. Tom didn’t play high school ball this year, but hopefully, he proved what it takes to be a high school player. His two-seam fastball had a little sink to it and, hopefully, he realizes his potential and sticks with it. Brody had an eye to get on base. He was our rock at short and an all-around guy that contributed.”
Coach Reinecke was also impressed with the collective efforts of the arms on his steady starting pitching staff that was comprised of Cattaneo, Anthony Lota, Matt McGrath, Cargos, and Connor O’Brien.
“Our staff was amazing. They gave us the opportunity to win games by throwing strikes,” he said. “Another big accomplishment was the fact that the guys were still into ballgames all year and showed up to play every single day.”
Reinecke now anticipates the better side of an age cycle next summer after welcoming back so few returning players this season. He concluded that if all the proper pieces stay in place, Guilford will be trading its adversaries’ admiration in for victories in 2016.
“If we bring back this team, we will be in good shape and be a more mature team. Learning how to win is also important for the program,” said Reinecke, who was assisted by JP Peters. “It’s a young program as a whole, but if we can bring that core back next year, that will be great as you can’t put a price tag on experience.”
Finishing up Post 48’s roster are outfielders Anthony Avallone and Casey Johnson, infielder/pitcher David Meade, pitcher/infielder Kameron Miles, pitcher/outfielder Erik Nettland, left fielder/pitcher John Portocarrero, second baseman Ian Benjamin, and outfielder Evan Song.
From the Sidelines
Post 48’s victories in 2015 came against East Haddam (5-3 on June 14), Shoreline (1-0 on June 20 and 5-4 on June 22), Middletown Red (6-1 on June 24), and Madison (6-5 on July 7).
Post 48’s starting pitching staff tossed for a combined ERA of 4.07 on the year.
Guilford took two of its three losses to Zone 3 power Cheshire by three runs or less.