NAUGATUCK — The Naugatuck baseball team may only have two seniors on the roster but the team is loaded with potential.
The Greyhounds went 16-8 last season and lost a talented bunch of players to graduation. They will need to replace Shane Swierbitoiwcz, Corey Plasky, Steve Marinaro and Joevani Torres, all solid players in the field, and also almost the entire pitching staff.
According to head coach Tom Deller, one of the biggest losses from last year was assistant coach Ron Plasky, who is now the athletic director at Pomperaug.
“We lost a lot of good players but that happens almost every year,” Deller said. “Kids usually step up and fill those roles. But you just don’t replace a coach with 21 years experience.”
The Greyhounds head into the season with assistant coach Joe Iannotti in his fifth year on the bench along with first-year freshman coach Scott Mastropietro.
Naugatuck will be led by seniors Mike Plasky and Adriano Moura but has nine juniors ready to take it up a notch as the Greyhounds seek to make it six straight years qualifying for the state and NVL tournaments.
“The goal every year is to compete at the top of the NVL,” Deller said. “That doesn’t change. We talk about having goals and how we are going to achieve them.”
“We have 13 kids on the varsity and we are still working some things out,” Deller added. “We still have a couple of scrimmages before we can settle into a lineup but we do have a solid junior class that is ready to step it up.”
Plasky will play first base and pitch with Moura taking a spot in the outfield.
Then the ‘Hounds are stacked with juniors. Zack Royka will catch, pitch and play first base. Derek Sampaio and Mike Patton will be in the outfield with Mike Natkiel also seeing time behind the plate.
Mark Nofri will be at second base, Tristan Crelan will be at third base and Nick Bruno will get time in the outfield. Nate Deptula will see duty on the mound and sophomore Derrick Jagello will pitch and play shortstop.
“Zack is a leader and a bright spot,” Deller said. “He’s hitting the ball and pitching well. We have a good group of kids who are talented enough to do well on any given day.”
In the first scrimmage last Friday against Morgan, Royka went out and struck out the side on nine or ten pitches, Deller said. Plasky led off with a home run, and Jagello hit a grand slam in the first.
“You can’t start a season much better than that. If we can duplicate that for seven innings over 20 games we’ll be in real good shape,” Deller said. “A lot of these guys got their first varsity playing time last year and did well. We are just hoping they can take it the next step this season.”
“We definitely have some work to do,” Deller continued. “We are not going to be able to go out there and just throw our gloves out onto the field and clean up. We are going to have to work hard for it, but the potential is there.”
Naugatuck gets going on Tuesday against Kennedy at Waterville Park in Waterbury and finishes up the first week next Friday at home against St. Paul.
