NHRS looks to put forth complete efforts

Anthony Leonelli said his Nipmuc baseball team might be the “most up and down team in America.” 

Through the first 10 games of the season, Nipmuc had posted a 7-3 record, and the two closest losses had been by eight runs. The “tightest” wins on Nipmuc’s resume were nine-run blowouts until a 3-2 win over Advanced Math and Science Academy.

“We have some blowout wins against good teams; when we get off to a good start, we are tough to beat,” Leonelli said. “We just can’t give into adversity when things get difficult; that has been our challenge.”

Despite the wild ups and downs in the schedule, Nipmuc has had several steady presences throughout the year. Josh Giancola is the driving force behind the offense. 

The Milford Legion standout hit north of .500 through the first half of the season with 14 RBIs. 

“When Josh is locked in, he is as good as anybody,” Leonelli said of the Johnson and Wales-bound player. “And he has been locked in more than not.”

Giancola and fellow senior Cole McGovern have collaborated in a formidable duo on the mound. McGovern did not allow a single earned run through his first three starts, and gave Nipmuc the inside track for a conference title with a victory over Hopedale.

All seven of Nipmuc’s seniors are contributing significantly, Leonelli said, and the juniors and sophomores on the roster have also been integral.

Sean Burchard, a senior, was hitting close to .500 with a pair of home runs at the midway point of the season, with his coach calling him a “real threat in the middle of the lineup.”

Grady O’Neil, another senior, is a two-way threat. He is hitting over .400 and playing well at shortstop.

Leonelli said his team’s first priority this year is winning the conference, especially since it is the team’s first year in the newly formed Central Massachusetts Athletic Conference.

“We want to establish that it runs through us,” he said. “With Hopedale and Blackstone Valley Tech in the conference, there is no shortage of great rivalries.”

The next goal is to be in a position to make some noise in the state tournament.

“We want to get a home game in the playoffs and see if we can do something interesting,” Leonelli said. “It just takes the team that is playing the best right then. We can forget about all of these crazy results if we can put it together in the tournament.”