The baseball program is excited about the start of the 2010 season.  The team will be led by captains Stone Lauderdale and Joey Grasso, and has plenty of experience behind them with 10 total returning varsity players.  This year’s team is a talented group with many strong players competing for a starting spot.  In the infield, seniors Tom Holmstrom and Stone Lauderdale, juniors Mike Mazur, Spencer Montgomery, Leverett Ball, and Graham Kasprzyk, and sophomore Josh Gallant all figure to be fighting for playing time.  Returning outfielders Joey Grasso, Matt Starbuck, Chris Womack and Greg Melanson bring great bats and speed to the lineup.  A key to this year’s team will be sophomore catcher Anthony Maiuri who will take the team’s pitching staff (led by Lauderdale, Gallant, Grasso, and Mazur) into the season behind the dish.

This year’s season will start like none other in the history of Brewster Academy with a five day southern trip to Cocoa, Florida.  In Florida, the Bobcats will take advantage of valuable outdoor practice time and compete in three games against opponents from Connecticut, Missouri, and Pennsylvania.  We’re all looking forward to the trip, which will hopefully become a Brewster tradition and help springboard the team to a great year of baseball.  Upon our return, the team will face familiar Lakes Region foes, along with some new non-league additions to the schedule that are sure to provide some good competition such as Berwick Academy, Pingree School, Worcester Academy, and St. Paul’s School. 

Brewster’s baseball team returned from its inaugural spring training trip to Florida well prepared for the 2010 season.  The team started the trip with two practices on Wednesday and a practice on Thursday morning before opening under the lights at Cocoa Expo Stadium against Westminster Christian Academy from Kansas City, Missouri.  Senior captain Stone Lauderdale went the distance on the mound for the Bobcats and looked great in his first outing of the season, getting some great experience against a talented and seasoned Westminster lineup who were already six weeks into their season.  Sophomore catcher Anthony Maiuri was tested early and responded well, throwing out the second baserunner of the game and preventing Westminster from stealing for the rest of the evening.  At the plate, sophomore Greg Melanson and junior Will Lovely paced the Bobcats, each reaching base twice with Lovely scoring Brewster’s sole run of the game.  Brewster’s second matchup came the next morning against another team in the middle of their season, George Washington High School from Charleston, West Virginia.  George Washington started strong off of Brewster’s starting pitcher Mike Mazur, but Mazur settled down well to have a solid first start of the year.  Melanson again led the Bobcats at the plate, going 2-2 and getting on base in all three of his plate appearances.  Captains Joey Grasso and Stone Lauderdale got their first hits of the season, as did junior Spencer Montgomery.  Brewster’s final game against McKeesport High School (Pittsburgh, PA) was a very heated and competitive contest.  Starting pitcher Joey Grasso had a fantastic first appearance on the mound, keeping the Bobcats in the game.  McKeesport jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, but Brewster responded with two of its own in the bottom of the inning, capped by an RBI single from Lovely.  After Grasso shut the visitors down in the second, the home team scored four, taking a 6-2 lead.  Stone Lauderdale had the big hit of the inning, a 2-run double into the left-center field gap.  Mike Mazur followed by driving Lauderdale in with a base knock of his own.  McKeesport responded quickly with a five run third inning to take the lead which included a homerun to centerfield just to the left of the 400' sign.  Brewster threatened in three of the last four innings, but was only able to muster one more run and went away with a disappointing but very encouraging 11-7 loss.  Seven Bobcats had hits in the game including another two from Greg Melanson, the only player to have hits in all three games.  Junior Spencer Montgomery looked great on the mound giving up no runs on only one hit and notching four strikeouts in three innings of relief.  All in all, the trip was a huge success and the team is very confident heading back up north for NEPSAC and Lakes Region competition.