By
DOM NICASTRO
Staff writer
The Gloucester Post 3 American
Legion baseball team had one of the best hitting teams in District 8 with a
final team average of .392.
Ironically, it may have been
Post 3's hitting that prevented it from making the playoffs for the second
straight year. Post 3 did not hit well in most of its seven losses. It finished
12-7 and missed the playoffs for only the second time since 1997.
And similar to last year, a few
early-season losses came back to haunt it.
"The first game of the
season, we lose at Winthrop, 5-3, and they end up forfeiting their
season," said fifth-year Post 3 coach Bryan Lafata. "The only team we
really took a beating from was Newburyport (12-2). And all the rest of the
games were close. It was just a matter of us not being focused the whole game.
It's not like the teams outplayed us. Those close losses killed us -- 6-5 to
Swampscott, 5-4 to Lawrence, 3-2 to Saugus, 11-9 to Danvers. Saugus was another
bottom of the barrel team (that finished 5-13)."
Post 3's batting average climbed
from .363 one year ago. However, the team's earned run average also rose from
3.81 to 5.78. Perhaps not helping the pitching staff were the mid-season losses
of regular starters Ryan Lumsden (13 and 2.3 innings, 0.00 ERA, 3-0) and Luke
Stone (5 innings, 3.60 ERA, 1-0). Both five-year veterans played the entire
season, but arm troubles stifled their pitching. Stone (3-0, 2.96 ERA) and
Lumsden (3-0, 3.94) had fine 2002 seasons.
"Luke Stone and Lumsden had
10 years of experience between them," said Lafata. "That's unheard
of. They were big losses."
Brent Currier (2-1), Brandon
Bell (2-3), Steve Stout (1-0) and Mike Bertolino (2-2) earned wins. Mike Gibbon
was the team's rubber arm, pitching 24 2/3 innings, second on the team behind
Bell (30). Bell's ERA rose from 3.12 last year to 6.00 this summer, but he led
the team in strikeouts (35), ahead of Bertolino, who had 23 in 18 2/3 innings.
Although the team's ERA nearly
hit 6.00, its hitting helped offset that. And Post 3 won more than 10 games for
the eighth consecutive year.
Seven of Post 3's nine regulars
batted better than .400, led by Currier, the Central Connecticut State
University and Rockport product who batted .490 (25-for-51). The only two not
to reach .400 were Derek Arnold (.354) and Brandon Bell (.321). But Arnold was
second in stolen bases with six (behind Mike Anderson's nine), and he was third
in runs scored (22). Bell had 16 RBI and two homers.
Jamie Wall (.477, 21-for-44),
Stone (.456, 26-for-57), Joe Orlando (.450, 18-for-40), Lumsden (.449,
22-for-49), Josh Ryan (.442, 19-for-43) and Anderson (.436, 24-for-55) had fine
seasons. Chris Pyser (.300, 6-for-20) seems ready to take over the catching
position, Lafata said, after playing behind Currier and 2002 graduate Joe
Bertolino the last few years.
"We could play with
anybody," said Lafata. "We beat (District 8 champion) Andover
(16-2-1), and we knew we could beat Swampscott, too. "Lynn Gautreau
(another playoff team) -- we were pumped for that game and crushed them. We
played the way we should have."
Graduating from Post 3 are:
Currier, Stone, Orlando, Lumsden, Anderson, Arnold and Bell.
"The last game meant a lot
to me," said Lafata. "I've been the coach of the team five years, and
some of these players started when I started. We miss three quality college
players (Currier, Lumsden and Arnold). It was great to see these guys grow up
from freshmen in high school to what they are now.
"Joe Orlando -- I haven't
seen a kid grow up as much as he did at this level. Anderson and Arnold -- I
wish we had them a couple more years. They were two of the best base stealers
Post 3 has had in a while. Brandon was a three-year player who made an
immediate impact."
Wall, Ryan, Stout, Pyser, Gibbon
and Mike Bertolino will have to be the catalysts for the 2004 season.
"We've said we've had to
rebuild before, but these guys always come ready to play," Lafata said.
"We've been above .500 every year, and that's a positive. It just says what
kind of players we have in this area."