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Coach Ed McDonald is beginning his second year in charge of his Winchester High School Red & Black baseball team. Last year, after coming over from St. Joseph’s Prep in Brighton, where he was its baseball coach for seven years, the Red & Black ended up with a 6-14 record.
But there were explanations for that sub-.500 mark.
“We struggled a lot, but we also had many of our top players get hurt,” said McDonald. “But this year, we had 46 players tryout, which gives us enough to field three teams.”
McDonald also has help along the sidelines, with Jeff Russell, Paul Donato and Paul Murray assisting him with various tasks. Rich Michenzi and Jayden Conner are the JV1 coaches, and Tom Ahern is the top boss of the JV2 squad.
Infielder Connor Pandolph and pitcher/outfielder Alex Casey are the varsity captains.
But with that said, McDonald has a simple mantra for the team, and that’s “to start fresh.”
“We lost nine seniors to graduation last year, and only have three varsity returnees, but the goal is to still make the state tournament,” he said. “We want to change the culture to once again become a winning team.”
But the second-year Winchester coach knows it won’t be easy.
“The (Middlesex) League is very competitive,” he said. “Woburn and Reading always have solid squads, and they are very well-coached.”
Besides his captains, McDonald will be counting on his underclassmen to help carry the load.
“We have a lot of sophomores and juniors, who are looking to be key contributors this year,” he said.
McDonald scheduled three scrimmages against North Reading (March 22), Arlington Catholic (March 25) and Newton North (March 27) to get his club ready for what lies ahead in the regular season.
They will then take on non-league Somerville in the home opener on March 31 at Ciarcia Field, starting at 4:30 p.m.
Wilmington then comes to town two days later (April 2) to face the Winchester boys at the same time, before the local nine closes out the week on Friday, April 4, against non-league host Wellesley at 4 p.m.
