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Valley Baseball Has the Tools to Build More Success in 2017

The Valley Regional baseball squad is looking to make a deeper postseason run this spring after putting together a quality campaign in 2016. While the Warriors will miss the key seniors that graduated last year, they have plenty of athletes returning with varsity experience, and so Head Coach Gary Marineau has big expectations for his third season with the team.

Last year, Valley posted a record of 15-5 for the regular season. The Warriors beat Old Lyme and Morgan in the first round of the Shoreline Conference Tournament, but then lost to Cromwell in the final. In the Class M State Tournament, Valley took a first round defeat to Stonington to finish the year with an overall mark of 17-8. Coach Marineau was happy that his club took several steps in the right direction last year, but knows that the Warriors aren’t going to rest on their laurels.

“A lot of people would say great season, but we can’t be satisfied,” said Marineau. “At the varsity level, our objective is to get better, to win. We’re building a program here. We’ve got Division I colleges coming to look at our players consistently. It shows these kids that we can do something this year.”

Marineau will need players to step in following the graduation of two huge contributors in Arik Sypher and Nash Eppard, who were named Valley’s Most Valuable Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, as senior captains last season. The loss of Eppard and Sypher, who are both attending Division I schools, leaves a void for the Warriors, but Marineau said that his squad won’t dwell on the past.

“We can’t give the ball to Nash or Arik to go out and pitch the game for us. They’re gone and it’s a new season,” Marineau said. “This year will be completely different than last year with new rules. We’re going to need other kids to step up on the pitching staff to give us some innings.”

Those new rules require a pitch limit for high school baseball players across the nation. As a result, coaches won’t be able to lean on the guys at the top their rotations as much as usual this year. The Warriors’ pitching staff is shaping up with the top two spots going to captains Fletcher Suedmeier and Colin Sparaco. Suedmeier, a 6-foot-7 inch senior southpaw, posted a record of 3-2 with an earned-run average of 3.00 last season. He also started games at first base for the Warriors, hitting .310 with a .434 on-base percentage. Sparaco, a junior, earned his spot after recording 2.78 ERA last year. Rounding out the rotation will be senior Mike Leffingwell and junior Samuel Swap. Coach Marineau feels excited about what they each bring to the table.

“Leffingwell, he throws strikes and has a little slider. He’s one of those kids who’s better in the game than he is in practice. He works quick. He’ll throw breaking balls in fastball counts with confidence,” said Marineau, whose assistant coaches are Lou Rolon and Brian Drinkard. “Sam Swap has an unorthodox style and I think he’ll be able to use that to his advantage.”

Offensively, Marineau considers senior shortstop Matt Robida a major threat in his lineup. Last year, Robida batted .419 with 21 RBI and reached base in more than half his at-bats. He also has the mentality that coaches want to see translate to the rest of the team.

“We had gym time, and we only get an hour because other teams have to get their time, too,” said Marineau. “And Robida said to me, ‘That’s 3,600 seconds to get better.’”

In addition to Robida, Coach Marineau is looking for a big year from sophomore catcher Josh Ross. Ross caught Sypher and Eppard as a freshman and then did some serious bulking up during the offseason.

“People said we were crazy last year to start him, but that experience is going to be great this year. He’s already got a great baseball IQ. He really sees the ball well and knows what’s being thrown. He’s like a human radar gun,” Coach Marineau said. “He grew five inches and 30 pounds since last season. We have someone with a lot of confidence after he caught two Division I guys. He’s the greatest fundamental catcher we have in the program.”

Unfortunately for the Warriors, junior Chase Morris, who was slated to be the No. 3 starter and play second base, is out for the season. In a show of team support, Morris has continued to stick around with the Warriors, and his coach appreciates it.

“He comes to every practice and cheers on the other guys,” says Marineau of Morris. “He’s still a positive to just have around the team.”

With Morris sidelined, there’s a competition going on at second base between senior speedster Ryan Kelly, fellow senior Nick Mardjekaj, and sophomore Jeff Sypher. According to Coach Marineau, his players possess the right mentality when it comes these competitions.

“Kids know who should be playing and who should be batting where. They just get it,” he said. “It’s cool when a kid goes home and is willing to say they shouldn’t be playing there, but that they are going to battle and try to get that job and work on their game.”

Another thing Coach Marineau has been pleased to see is that his boys simply can’t get enough of the game of baseball—something he feels bodes well for the Warriors entering the 2017 campaign.

“That mentality is huge for us. Kids don’t want to leave at the end of practice. I think that sums up our team,” Marineau said. “One day, I gave them the day off because of weather. Robida has a batting cage in his house, and he sent me a picture with nine kids there. The picture said, ‘No days off.’ We’re already winning if that stuff is happening.”

2017 Valley Regional Warriors Baseball Schedule

Monday, April 3: vs. Coginchaug at 4 p.m.

Wednesday, April 5: vs. Hale-Ray at 4 p.m.

Friday, April 7: at Old Saybrook at 3:45 p.m.

Monday, April 10: vs. Cromwell at 4 p.m.

Wednesday, April 12: at Portland at 4 p.m.

Thursday, April 13: vs. Morgan at 4 p.m.

Monday, April 17: vs. Haddam-Killingworth at 4 p.m.

Wednesday, April 19: at Old Lyme at 3:45 p.m.

Friday, April 21: at North Branford at 4 p.m.

Monday, April 24: vs. Westbrook at 4 p.m.

Friday, April 28: vs. Creed-Hillhouse at 4 p.m.

Monday, May 1: at Haddam-Killingworth at 3:45 p.m.

Wednesday, May 3: at Morgan at Indian River Complex at 6:30 p.m.

Friday, May 5: at Cromwell at 3:45 p.m.

Monday, May 8: vs. North Branford at 4 p.m.

Wednesday, May 10: at Coginchaug at 4 p.m.

Friday, May 12: vs. Wilcox Tech at 4 p.m.

Monday, May 15: at Law at 4 p.m.

Thursday, May 18: vs. Goodwin Tech at 4 p.m.