MHS Baseball Coach: “Mission Accomplished”

Baseball Season a Success Despite Tough State Tourney Loss

– Allison Goldsberry

It’s been seven long years since the Medford High School baseball team had a winning record and qualified for the state tournament.

First year head coach Nick Tucci accomplished both of those milestones this season, and despite a tough loss to Lowell in the preliminary round of the state tourney on Thursday, Coach Tucci views the season as an overall success.

“We had our ups and downs but at the end I think we really ended up coming together as a team,” said Tucci.

At the very beginning of the season Coach Tucci set the goal of getting ten wins, a mark the team needed to qualify for some post-season action. And the team did just that, winning eleven of their twenty games to finish their regular season a shade above .500.

“We were a team on a mission. We got that mission accomplished,” said Tucci.

Along the way the Mustangs did indeed experience some ups and downs. They lost to teams after blowing the lead and had some trouble with consistency on the mound, but they also showed they know a thing or two about swinging the bats and knocked off some top competition, including Malden, Boston English, and Malden Catholic.

After some tough losses in the Greater Boston League, the Mustangs pulled together toward the end of the season to win three games in a row, stamping their ticket for the state tournament and freeing themselves up to play “inspired baseball” against rival MC in a special tournament Memorial Day weekend.

The big win against MC was the Mustangs’ last, as they went on to suffer lopsided defeats by Arlington and Lowell in the post-season.

Despite the losses, Coach Tucci is happy with the team’s performance in his first season as head coach and is looking forward to some more strong seasons by the Mustangs.  Several young and talented players will be coming back, including sophomores Ian Fitzgerald, Danny Gunn and Greg Wilson, junior Richie LeBert, and freshmen Danny Gilchrist and Thomas Flores.

“We’re excited about this group of guys coming up…I’m looking forward to years to come and building a program that Medford will be proud of,” said Tucci.

The Mustangs are however losing some key seniors, including captain Ben Waldrip, Shaun O’Brien, Rich Miller, Shawn Foley, and David Milner.

“I’ll always remember this group of guys as being special,” said Tucci.

Waldrip, a force to contend with in the line-up and on the mound, also had some kind words for his coach.

“He put everything he had into the team. As a first year coach he did everything right…I’ll never forget playing for him. It was the funnest season I ever had thanks to him,” said Waldrip, who will play ball for St. Anselm College next year.

Waldrip is looking forward to playing baseball this summer both for the Medford Americans and the American Legion. He said many of his younger teammates will join him in playing for the American Legion because of Coach Tucci’s prompting, and he is glad to see the underclassmen put in some extra effort to stay in shape.

“A lot of the talent’s in the younger guys. The future’s pretty bright,” said Waldrip.

As for the coach himself, Tucci will be busy cultivating some new talent through a baseball clinic he is organizing this summer.

More…

Watch game highlights and interviews from the baseball season