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St. Luke's Varsity Baseball: Season Preview
The St. Luke’s Varsity Baseball team is looking to build on a very positive 2017 season with the majority of its pitching staff returning as well as a good core of last year’s team.
Head Coach Anthony Conte is excited to see what his squad can achieve this year: “We have a lot of guys returning including Ryan Neafsey (‘18), Brendan Casey (‘18), Shaka Moales (‘18), Andrew Kurth (‘18), Duncan MacLear (‘18) ,Oz Jensen (‘19), Nolan O’Brien (‘19), Mack Lemkau (‘20), Michael Thompson (‘20) and Ryan Higgins (‘21). That includes the majority of our pitching staff returning too so we are in pretty good shape.”
St. Luke’s will have some real depth to its pitching this season, something Conte hopes can be a strength of the Storm: “O’Brien, Jensen, Thompson, Lemkau, and Higgins will be our main guys on the mound. We also have Casey, Neafsey, Jack Ellis (‘21), Jack Sanders (‘21) and Lewis Cropper (‘21) who will also step up when needed. We have a plethora of arms which is exciting.”
The Storm graduated a few key players but Conte, who is entering his fourth year in charge, is confident this year’s group will continue to push the program forward: “We have a program-based approach so, despite losing a few guys, we have full confidence in the players we have brought up from JV. They already have a good understanding of the system and are already on the same page.”
Varsity Baseball enjoyed another productive preseason both on the Hilltop and in Florida at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. The team got to train and play a number of competitive scrimmages and Conte has been extremely pleased with what he has seen: “Preseason has been great and it’s such an advantage to have the turf field. Florida was awesome as we got to see a lot of guys play different positions during our scrimmages down there. There’s a real team mentality and a quick bond has developed between all the guys which is pretty cool. Everyone has been willing to step up.”
The Storm has a tough start to the campaign with two road trips to Brunswick School and King School in the first two games but Conte is looking forward to the challenge: “The league is very strong and we have our work cut out for us. There is always a pretty intense rivalry between us, Brunswick and King and we open up with both away from home. It should be fun.”
Last year’s win against the Brunswick Bruins was one of the highlights of the season and Conte is hoping for more games like that this time around: “This year is going to take a team effort, it really is. We need everybody to step up. We have to throw strikes, we have to hit the ball, we have to make plays.”
St. Luke’s Varsity Baseball travels to Brunswick on Tuesday, April 3 for a 4:15pm game before facing King on Friday, April 6 at 4pm.
St. Luke’s School is a secular (non-religious), private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving over 35 towns in Connecticut and New York. Our exceptional academics and diverse co-educational community foster students’ intellectual and ethical development and prepare them for top colleges. St. Luke’s Center for Leadership builds the commitment to serve and the confidence to lead.
