Weare News : baseball

Stark grows winning attitude at the dish, in the field, on the mound

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:37:00 GMT

BY RYAN O’CONNOR

Jeff Miller is preaching shortterm memory.

After all, the 2007 season offered few positives to hold onto. “The biggest thing with this team is we’re coming off a real terrible year last year. I mean, we went 0-15, we made a lot of mistakes, we averaged six errors a game last year, we had a team batting average of like .140 … It was just all-around (bad),” said Miller.

This year, the Generals have already earned two wins – a season- opening 6-3 triumph at 2007 playoff team Pelham and a 3-2 victory on April 21 against Fall Mountain.

Last season, they opened with an 8-0 loss to Pelham. “We had a team batting average of .396, and we made no errors,” said Miller of this year’s contest. “That’s the difference right there … We have a base-running blunder here and there, we can’t get a bunt down, but we’re giving ourselves chances.” Consistency is proving an issue, however.

Stark followed their first win of the season with seven errors in an 11-4 setback to Lebanon.

“The kids are working hard, we’re doing a lot of mental preparations, we talk about situations, so now when things don’t happen they know why,” said Miller, in his second year as head coach. “We want to get fundamentally and mentally sound. Even in the ones we lose, I want to play good baseball. Right now, a realistic expectation for us is to stay in ball games and continue to improve on the little things, and if we do, I think we’re going to come away with some wins.”

Should the offense and defense put them in position, the 2008 pitching staff is good enough to secure those victories, said Miller.

Kevin Leblond, Tom Vickers and Danny Serard form the rotation, while Ethan O’Neil and Jeff Weubbolt handle long-relief duties.

Greg Leblond, Kris Vincent, and Derel George are also available to pitch.

Captains Chad Croteau and Joey Plunkett lead the young squad.

Serard, Vickers, Nick Campono, Evan Paris, Nick Hea-field, Daniel Simeone and Steve Papachristos are also regular contributors to the lineup. Matt Vincent, Alex Capuco and Zac Keim round out the varsity roster.

“They’re still fragile,” said Smith. “This team, for a long time, expected to lose, and I’m trying to change that culture. I want them to expect to win.”

An outgoing delivery – Stark coach stays upbeat while team struggles

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 02 May 2007 20:11:00 GMT

BY JERRY LIPTAK

It is down the road. It requires patience and perseverance.

Jeff Miller knows his John Stark baseball team needs to think about it. Indeed, winning will come.

These days, though, you can hear Miller exhorting his club to “think out there.” It’s a more urgent call to concentrate during each inning, before each pitch.

“They’re young and down on themselves," said the first-year mentor following the team’s 10-2 loss to Plymouth Regional on Monday, April 30. “We have to strip all that away.”

That’s what you’ll see Miller doing with his charges, from the bench or the third-base coach’s box – and with good reason.

In his third appearance this season, Kevin LeBlond delivered his best performance, said Miller. LeBlond allowed nine runs. Two were earned.

He was removed after a wind-aided home run to right field with one out in the seventh inning. It was his 127th pitch. Miller immediately pulled LeBlond aside and offered the tough-luck hurler well-earned praise.

“He pitched an outstanding game,” said the coach. “He’s been struggling with his confidence, but I was encouraged by his effort.”

There were flashes at – and behind – the plate as well.

Joey Plunckett opened the bottom of the first with a booming double to right, stole third and ignited a two-run inning for a quick 2-0 Stark lead.

Tom Vickers had two hits, including a line-drive double through the wind and past Plymouth's diving left fielder.

Stark catcher Nick Heafield threw out two Bobcat runners, one each in the second and third innings.
But Miller also had to watch his team commit seven errors in the field.

“We just can’t give teams four and five outs an inning,” said the coach. “Not right now.”

But in time, with that General talent and some persistence, winning will out.

New latitude

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 22:50:00 GMT

BY MATT STOUT

Having lived in Maryland, there are many things about New Hampshire high school baseball that Jeff Miller is unfamiliar with. Having to plan practices around snow forecasts is certainly one of them.

Yet, when he stood before the John Stark baseball team during the largest tryout the program has ever hosted, the Generals’ new head coach noticed something he’d never seen, even as a coach at the Division-III collegiate level. And, to say the least, he was impressed.

“Where I’m from it’s kind of a pecking order,” said Miller, who boasts 14 years of coaching experience, including the last five as the infield coach for the McDaniel College Green Terror in Westminster, Md. “Down South, in baseball, it’s a seniors-juniors-sophomores-freshmen kind of deal, and it’s very much segregated and split, depending on your class level.

“But up here what I’ve noticed right away is these kids, they all seem to like each other,” he continued. “They all get along. It doesn’t matter that I’ve got 10th-graders starting with seniors. They all kind of accept their role, and they all work hard at it.”

It’s that team camaraderie and work ethic, combined with the buzz that surrounded Miller’s hiring, that has Stark thinking big this spring. At 2-16 last season, the Generals struggled with holding leads and closing games, though their final record didn’t completely reflect the team they were, said senior captain Bryan Stockhaus.

Emphasizing fundamentals from the start this year, Miller hopes to change all that. And while he’s not going to kid himself that he can turn Stark into a 10-win team in just one season, he wants it to let those around Class I know it will be a team to be dealt with this year and beyond.

If anything, he has the players excited to be part of that.

“I was talking to Bill Raycraft, the athletics director, just trying to figure out who he was talking to (for the job),” said junior captain Chad Croteau, one of 53 players to try out for the team this spring. “He actually said he had a lot of people apply for this and then I guess, last second (in early February) we had Coach Miller come out. So I was talking to Coach Raycraft and he said, ‘This guy has a ton of experience.’ I was wicked excited.”

Fortunately for Miller – who moved up to New Hampshire to be closer to his son Scott, in his first year on the New England College baseball team – he also has a solid crop of talent.

After graduating just one senior from last year’s team, the Generals feature four this season in Stockhaus, Jason Griswold, Marshall LeBell and newcomer Ryan Deyo.

But the team is dominated by a 10-man junior class. Among those who should help lead are junior captain Joey Plunckett, the team’s leadoff hitter; Croteau, the starting catcher; clean-up hitter Evan Paris; left-handed pitcher Kris Vincent; Daryl and Derek George, who can both pitch and play the field; and Zac Keim, a returning varsity player.

The pitching staff, however, will be led by sophomore Tom Vickers, “probably my best athlete,” Miller said. A standout as a freshman, Vickers should also see time at shortstop and perhaps catcher when others, such as No. 3 pitcher Kevin Leblond, are on the mound.

Miller admits the Generals are a little short on experienced arms past Vickers, Vincent and Leblond, but he has four others who can throw, including Griswold, the Georges and Ryan Hannon.

“I want to turn things around,” said Miller, who also is the defensive coordinator for the Con-Val football team. “I want to create a program where the feeder programs coming into this school, people want to play baseball at
John Stark. That’s kind of my hope for the future.”

Stark’s season was scheduled to start Wednesday, April 11, against Pelham.

WAC has evaluations March 17

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 20:17:00 GMT

The Weare Athletic Club urges anyone who hasn’t signed up for baseball or softball to visit www.weareathleticclub.com for instructions.

All registered WAC players should attend evaluations at the times listed below. All evaluations take place Saturday, March 17, at Weare Middle School

• 9- and 10-year-old boys with last names from A to L meet from 9 to 10 a.m., while boys with last names M to Z meet from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.

• 11- and 12-year-old boys with last names from A to L meet from noon to 1 p.m., while boys with last names M to Z meet from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.

• 9- and 10-year-old girls meet from 3 to 4 p.m.

• 11- and 12-year-old girls meet from 4 to 5 p.m.