Suffolk Baseball Looking to Improve on GNAC Title

Suffolk is known for having a great baseball program. Last year, they captured the GNAC championship, but were knocked out early of the regional tournament. This year, they look to regain the division title and make it much further into the College World Series. I sat down with two of the team’s captains, Bobby Barrett and Rory Gentile and talked about the team this season.

With such a strong team last year, how do you guys think you can improve this year?

Bobby: Just little things we need to carry over that we didn’t accomplish last year. Just come prepared to every game. We know what it takes to win that many games with our conference and we just need to repeat it again.

Rory: I think it’s less about improving and more about maintaining and filling gaps that we lost last year. When we’re sitting here now, where we want to be is GNAC champs at the end of the year. So we go to regionals and give ourselves a chance to go to the College World Series. I think if we can maintain and repeat, that would be ideal.

How have you been getting the team prepared during the offseason?

Bobby: We work out as groups: We have pitchers work out together, infielders work out together, outfielders work out together, and that’s how our practices are conducted. Most of the leadership is with the pitchers right now. We have a lot of young pitchers and that’s what’s going to be the big question mark. Kevin McAvey and Charlie Kilgore are the older pitchers on the team. They’ve been working real hard, showing pitchers what it’s going to take to be GNAC champions.

Rory: It just seems like heavily based on accountability too. Our (personal) leadership is more pregame speeches, lead by example types of thing. Leadership is more lead by example type thing.

Coming into the season this year, what do you think are the team’s biggest strengths and weaknesses?

Bobby: I think the biggest strength, which is going to be a carry over from last year, will be hitting. We keep a good portion of our lineup. We lost two hitters but we have a lot of new hitters coming back. Mark Annesse, another captain, was out last year after he tore his ACL. A big thing is the pitching. We have so many new pitchers, lost three starters last year. But they look prepared; they’ll be prepared and ready to go.

Rory: I echo that completely. Our lineup is going to be great and experienced. We have a lot of great arms. They just need to fall into place as far as the rotation is concerned.

What goals do you have for this year’s team?

Bobby: One goal to build off of last year is making the regionals and doing some damage in the regionals. We lost the first two games and were out last year. To win a game there, to have success there, would be an ideal goal to have.

Rory: You can’t aim any lower than we were last year, so the next step would be Appleton, Wisconsin in the College World Series. As far as individual goals go, Bobby was honorable mention All-American last year. If we can shine some light on the program, try to get someone of that high distinction, that would be great and put Suffolk baseball really on the map. They’ve only had two All Americans since Coach (McConnell) has been here, so that’d be cool.

How have you guys been handling the pressure of trying to repeat as GNAC champs?

Bobby: I don’t think there’s much pressure at all. My first year here we won the league and we ended up winning the tournament. Since I’ve been here, there’s always been a target on our back as one of the top teams. We’ll probably have a little bit more of a mark on our backs with teams throwing their 1 and 2s (pitchers) at us everyday. But we just got to go out there and play the same way as last year

How would you compare last year’s team to this year’s team?

Bobby: Last year’s team was more experienced. We had a lot of seniors last year that we lost. This year’s team is younger, but I think they’re ready to develop as players. Hitting wise, we’ll be the same. Same lineup turned over. Pitching-wise, we’re going to have more depth. We’re not going to have the same top three guys. But we’ll be able to spread it out, have everybody get some innings. Everyone pitches well and we should be pretty good.

Rory: Not a huge difference. I think the biggest thing is that this team, and the younger kids, need to learn what it is to win. It wasn’t always our skill that won us games last year. It was just having been in that situation before you know how to react and not panic. And they (the young ones) need to learn from following us older guys. I would hope with this younger team that the hunger’s there. They know that we won it last year, and it’s going to be disappointing if we don’t win it again this year. So hopefully, they’re up for the challenge. And I think we can do it.