White River Junction
Maul has played 19 games for the Nighthawks this season, almost all of which have been spent at shortstop throwing defensive ground balls to Concannon at first base. In the past two weeks, the St. Joseph’s sophomore hasn’t missed a game in a Nighthawks infield that has been depleted to its last four players.
That streak will come to an end today as Maul plans to head back home to Glen Mills, Pa., to have surgery on his non-throwing shoulder, scheduled for Wednesday. Maul has known about the surgery since before the season started: He was late arriving to the Upper Valley after visiting with doctors. But that doesn’t make leaving halfway through Upper Valley’s inaugural season any easier.
“It’s hard taking one day off and watching the team out there playing when you’re sitting on the bench,” Maul said on Friday. “I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like watching all fall as my teammates are running around. … But knowing it is for the better and when next season comes around I’m 100 percent and I’ll be ready to go.”
The injury, a torn labrum, is something Maul’s been dealing with since his senior year of high school three years ago. Flare-ups here and there bothered him, but in his last at-bat Wednesday in extra innings, a 9-8 loss to the Plymouth Pilgrims, was particularly bad.
“I fouled a ball off,” Maul said. “It’s when I extend all the way, it kind of just pops out. … My shoulder just kind of went dead. It kind of just hung by my side.”
“Freshman year, it happened once or twice, but this year (sophomore year at St. Joseph’s), it happened like 10 or 15 times,” he added. “We knew we had to get it taken care of.”
With the team on a losing streak and the Nighthawks’ infield still finding its chemistry, Maul’s departure is nothing more than coincidental timing. Al Molina, the Seton Hall commitment who has spent most of time with the Nighthawks playing out of position at second base, will likely move to Maul’s shortstop position while new addition Austin Embler, a second baseman from UNC-Greensboro, will take a more everyday role in Upper Valley’s infield.
“A month into the season, everyone is becoming real close,” Maul said with a sigh. “Everyone is becoming real friends. I feel like I’m going to miss some of these guys.”
For Concannon, Maul’s departure means more than just losing a teammate. The pair have known each other since they were little, Concannon is a native of West Chester, Pa., just 20 minutes away from Glen Mills. That they both ended up at St. Joseph’s is more coincidence than anything. But not having Maul with the Nighthawks for the season’s second half will, for Concannon, certainly change the infield’s dynamic.
“It’s going to definitely be different,” Concannon said. “I’ve been really fortunate to have Matt, he rarely messes up. Usually I just run to first and the ball is right in my glove.”