The Upper Valley Nighthawks will send a league-high 12 representatives — three coaches and nine players — to the 2017 NECBL All-Star Game on July 30 at the North Adams SteepleCats’ Joe Wolfe Field, according to a New England Collegiate Baseball League press release announcing the rosters on Saturday.
Outfielders Anthony Godino (Wagner) and Frankie Gregoire (Marist) and second baseman Al Molina (Seton Hall) were all named as Northern Division starters. Starting pitchers Danny Wirchansky (Pace) and Ashton Raines (Bloomsburg), closer Cory Gill (Troy), shortstop Matt Sanders (Troy) and designated hitter Luke Reynolds (Southern Mississippi) are all reserves. Catcher Ryan Jeffers (UNC-Wilmington) was UV coach Jason Szafarski’s addition.
“It’s exciting for the organization and a great reward for these guys,” said Nighthawks general manager Noah Crane. “I haven’t swung a single bat, I haven’t pitched a single pitch. I didn’t have a whole lot to do with it. I think it’s a testament to the guys playing as well as they have, the skills they have and how hard they’ve worked. Our record being what it is, we expected to have a bunch.”
Upper Valley had four representatives in the NECBL All-Star Game last summer.
“Every year is so different,” Crane said. “We have a pipeline of kids coming from quality schools, long-standing relationships with teams and coaches, but you never know. You look at a team like Newport, with a lot of power-conference players and they’re not very good this year. … We’re confident in our model of getting upperclassmen from schools we know and trust. It’s worked for us in the past couple of years.”
Godino was an All-Star last season for the Winnipesaukee Muskrats. This season, he leads the league with 30 RBIs and is ranked seventh in the league with a .342 batting average in 34 games at center field for Upper Valley. He’s ranked third with 27 runs scored, fourth with 40 hits in 117 at-bats and fifth in the NECBL with eight home runs.
Gregoire, who has been out this week with a strained hamstring, has been Upper Valley’s best power-hitter for much of the summer. He had 34 hits, 21 runs, seven doubles, seven home runs and 26 RBIs in 30 games for the Nighthawks before his injury.
Molina returns to the All-Star game for the second straight season in an Upper Valley uniform. He entered the weekend with 35 hits and 20 runs scored in 33 games.
Raines entered Saturday’s start against the Vermont Mountaineers with a 4-0 record and a league-low 1.41 ERA. He has 25 strikeouts and eight walks in 32 innings. Wirchansky was two outs away from a no-hitter earlier this summer and is fifth in the league with a 2.10 ERA with 23 strikeouts and six walks in 34⅓ innings. Cory Gill, tied for the league lead with seven saves, has amassed 23 strikeouts against just three walks in 19⅓ innings.
Sanders has played in a league-high 36 games for Upper Valley, all at shortstop. He’s tied for second on the team with 35 hits and 10 stolen bases. Luke Reynolds is batting .290 with 27 hits, six doubles, four home runs and 21 RBIs. Jeffers has 20 runs, 34 hits and 21 RBIs in 34 games for the Nighthawks.
Upper Valley pitcher Mike Coss, from Marist, was the Nighthawks selection for the 2017 NECBL All-Star Game Fan Vote contest. Players with the most votes from each division will be added to the All-Star rosters. To vote, fans go to Vote17.NEBL.com beginning Monday at midnight.
#WhereIsTheCup?: Thursday’s 4-0 win over the Vermont Mountaineers at Maxfield was a surreal experience for the Upper Valley Nighthawks and their coaching staff. For as much emphasis Nighthawks head coach Jason Szafarski put into his squad winning the Governor’s Cup for the first time in team history, he expected a little bit more fanfare when his team clinched at home.
At least, he expected the Cup, an antique milk jug given to the winner of the season series between Vermont and Upper Valley, to be in attendance.
It was nowhere to be found on Thursday. Requests to have it brought to Maxfield for a potentially decisive game were stymied because Vermont, which won the Cup last summer and had it in a locker for safe-keeping, couldn’t find a key, according to Crane. Several Nighthawks, including Marist bullpen arm Mike Coss, said he felt slighted that the Cup wasn’t in attendance.
As a result, Upper Valley’s post-game celebration was more subdued than originally planned. Szafarski was still given a Gatorade shower on the field and was dripping went when speaking to the media afterwards.
It also didn’t stop the Nighthawks; Twitter account from weighing in with a request to Vermont Gov. Phil Scott: “Governor’s Cup comes down I89 for 2017. Nighthawks win their 4th of the series. @PhilScott4VT will you present it to us?”
Warm Bodies: Injuries and defections have left the Nighthawks shorthanded in the bullpen and the outfield, forcing Crane to find available reinforcements.
Outfielder Ethan Harris was the first to arrive. He was signed midway through the week from Southern New Hampshire University to help fill the void left by Troy University’s Joey Denison, who returned home to Alabama to have surgery for a wrist injury that did not improve during his short return to the team.
Harris, a Middleton, Mass., native, got his first hit on Friday in a 9-7 win over the SteepleCats. He’s 1-for-8 with a run and two strikeouts in his first two games with the Nighthawks.
Bullpen arm Kody Gardere was the next to sign. The Indian River State College sophomore was added to Upper Valley’s roster on Friday to fill in for a number of hurlers — Blake Deatherage (UNC-Wilmington), Jake Lochner (Missouri State), Nate Witherspoon (Missouri State) — who have left the Upper Valley. The Nighthawks are expected to add more bodies before the NECBL’s roster freeze on Tuesday.
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.