Monomoy Baseball Explodes In First, Cape Tech Eyes Postseason

PLEASANT LAKE – Right at the very beginning of the baseball season, Monomoy sophomore Colin Cote broke his finger.

The injury sidelined him for several weeks, and upon returning to the diamond, Cote struggled, Monomoy baseball head coach Tim Nickerson said, to get his rhythm back.

Everything finally clicked Friday, however, as the Sharks concluded their season against Cape Cod Tech. During a game in which every player in Monomoy’s lineup reached base multiple times and scored at least one run, Cote managed to separate himself as Monomoy’s star on their last day, a 19-2 win.

Cote went 2-for-3 with a walk and team-leading five RBIs. He got on base in all four plate appearances (reaching on error in one of them) and scored twice. He pitched two scoreless relief innings, striking out four. 

“He had great confidence today, throwing strikes, getting ahead of batters, so good on him,” Nickerson said. “Yeah, good at-bats too, so he's one to watch.”

Cote’s two hits were part of a 15-run effort in the first inning for the visiting Sharks. Eleven of those runs came with two outs. After sophomore Cameron Thacher bounced one back over the pitcher’s mound to drive in two runs, Cote similarly followed with a two-RBI grounder up the middle. Later in the same inning, Cote again punched a single through the middle of the infield to drive in two more.

“It was good to see him get out there and have some confidence,” Nickerson said.

Every batter in Monomoy’s starting nine scored in the inning. Junior Hank Brown drove in two on a single as the Sharks’ lineup batted around the first time, then hit another single later as the lineup turned over a third time. Junior Lincoln Sanford, junior Ben Hager and senior Joseph Ventura each added RBI singles.

The romp of an opening frame was an ideal way to end the season for the Sharks (8-12), who will land just a few spots outside the Division 4 tournament field (barring any drastic shake-ups when the MIAA updates power rankings and releases playoff brackets Wednesday, after The Chronicle’s deadline).

“It's kind of a little bit of a coming out as far as the hitting goes, and to put some runs on the board is fun,” Nickerson said.

That the Sharks would end on such a high note was not guaranteed in April while the team worked through leadership turnover inside their dugout. Former head coach Louis Elia resigned one game into the season, thrusting Nickerson into the job. 

After Elia’s departure, the team had to scramble a bit as the coaching staff was partly rearranged. But players and coaches both — everyone in the program — helped each other.

“It was certainly challenging for sure in the beginning to kind of right the ship and get in some consistency,” Nickerson said.

Monomoy stabilized and, even better, generated momentum as the season finished. They were skidding somewhat through the middle of May until a 4-2 loss to Bourne last week. Sanford struck out five in two relief innings that afternoon.

“Two games ago, there was a spark, and I saw it,” Nickerson said. “Lincoln Sanford came in. He was throwing fire. I could tell — just his eyes. He just had a different look and different energy, different intensity.”

The Sharks carried that into a 2-1 win at Wareham in the penultimate game of the year. Brown pitched a complete game, striking out 11, as he dueled the Vikings’ starter.

Monomoy held on to win that low-scoring affair, only to experience the complete opposite a couple days later at Cape Tech.

“I just think that we're carrying that energy, that positive energy forward right now, and hopefully into next year,” Nickerson said.

No team wants to be on the wrong end of the kind of score displayed Friday on Cape Tech’s scoreboard in left field, but at the same time, the contest against Monomoy was in some ways perfunctory for the Crusaders.

Cape Tech (8-9) was solidly in the postseason tournament field coming into the game. They ranked 22nd in Division 5 last week, good for a mid-bracket spot in the state playoffs, and they also had a vocational playoff consolation game on Memorial Day to look forward to (which was subsequently rained out).

The Crusaders, admirably, had fun on their senior night after Monomoy’s explosive top half of the first. They got a rousing two-run home run in the bottom of that inning from senior Mason Tomlinson (his fourth of the season). Before the game, the team’s graduating players received bats signed by the rest of the team. The team knew their spring would not end that day.

“This game didn't mean anything to us, not that I wanted to go down that much, but to be able to still have some fun being down that, knowing that we're going to the tournament helps,” head coach Frank Zaino said.

After a one-year hiatus, the Crusaders are back in the state tournament fold. They missed out last season as the team dealt with injuries to key players. The season before that, though, the Crusaders snapped a 12-year postseason drought. They won a game during those playoffs, too. They’ll look to do the same again this tournament.

“I know this is a rough game for us, but if we play like we are, and we just keep everything in control, I know we can go far in these playoffs, and I know we can do some damage to these teams, so I’m excited for the playoffs,” Tomlinson said.