March and the new college baseball season for Maine teams is a way off, but for coaches like Thomas College’s Greg King, now is the time to prepare for fall baseball.

The NCAA allows teams four days of practice per week over four consecutive weeks. They can start on the first day of classes (Aug. 29 for Thomas) but King says he likes to start a couple weeks later so students can get acclimated to college life first. Once they start, they’ll usually play a game at every practice.

“It gives us an opportunity to play 16 games, which is another high school season,” King said.

King said what he sees in the fall is also valuable for his springtime recruiting of high school players.

“You might bring a kid in,” he said, “and after watching him for 16 games, you might say, ‘That’s a position we need to improve on.’ And you start the recruiting process for next year. It might motivate some of the older kids to get into the weight room and work harder, because I might have brought in a first-year kid who can play their position.”

The players know they’re making an impression for the Thomas coaches — in some cases a first impression — and that can lead to problems. Even though King will tell his pitchers not to throw too hard, too soon, they still want to get noticed by him and their teammates.

“They may not have played in a month, so they try to do too much,” King said. “Last year, the most a pitcher might have thrown is three innings (in a game) and then we shut them down.”

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King, who previously managed the Hyannis Mets of the Cape Cod League, was an assistant with that league’s Harwich Mariners this summer. Harwich won the league championship. The Cape League has long been one of the top collegiate summer baseball leagues in the country.

“We had three kids who ended up signing (after being drafted by Major League teams),” King said.

One of those was Carter Capps, who is an interesting story himself. Capps was a catcher in high school, but is now a relief pitcher. King said Capps hit 100 mph on the radar gun about a half-dozen times during the season.

Capps finished the season with a 0.39 ERA with one walk and 24 strikeouts in 23 innings, and signed with the Seattle Mariners for about $500,000.

King said Harwich was down to seven pitchers and 18 players total for the playoffs because of injuries, but swept the best-of-three championship round.

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Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass. has two central Maine players on its field hockey roster this year. Liz Lincoln, a junior from Mt. View, and Abbey Stacey, a freshman from Messalonskee, could both be factors this season.

Both are listed as midfielders on the team’s roster, but coach Anne Rounce said they will play defense. Lincoln had three defensive saves as a part-time starter last fall, and Rounce said she’d like Lincoln to take more of a leadership role this year. She’s also thinking of her as the starting left back.

“I definitely see Liz taking a big step on our back line,” Rounce said. “She’s a great positive influence on our team.”

Rounce said she first heard about Stacey when the Messalonskee graduate was a junior in high school.

“Abbey just had a spunk and a fire about her that I really enjoyed watching her play,” Rounce said. “She’s an athlete.”

Rounce is in her fourth year as Merrimack’s coach, and said the toughest adjustments for freshman are the faster tempo of the game and properly breaking down game film. She still sees Stacey as a contributor this season.

“I think she’s going to come in right away and she’s really going to do a nice job for us in the backfield,” Rounce said.

Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243

mdifilippo@centralmaine.com

 

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