SportsPix
JAMES ROCHE
A year ago, the Bentley University baseball team fielded a line-up dominated by freshmen and sophomores. This season — coach Bob DeFelice’s 41st at the helm — experience should make all the difference.
The dean of active Division II baseball coaches returns all of his everyday players from last year’s club, which finished 22-25 ( 17-13 in the Northeast- 10 Conference). The team also has a pitching staff led by two strong right-handers: graduate student Chris Dupay (Scotia, N. Y.) and senior Jarrod Marchesi (Peabody, Mass.). The latter was a second team All-Northeast- 10 honoree last spring, when he won a school-record eight games and placed seventh in the NE- 10 in ERA ( 2.38). Dupay was 5-4 in 2008, his third five-win season.
Marchesi is one of three returning All-Northeast- 10 honorees, along with junior first baseman Garrett Stenhouse (West Warwick, R.I.) and sophomore outfielder James Roche (Arlington, Mass.). Stenhouse was a first-teamer last year, and Roche was both a second team selection and the conference’s Freshman of the Year. Roche led the 2008 Falcons in batting, with his .342 average the 10th best in the conference. A starter in all 47 games, he also topped the club in homers (seven), RBI ( 32) and slugging (.521). Stenhouse, a two-year starter, boosted his batting to .278 last year — a gain of nearly 60 points — and shared the team RBI lead with Roche.
Also turning in solid seasons at the plate last year were sophomore DH Chris Hardy (Warwick, R.I.) and junior shortstop Charlie Pagliarulo (Medford, Mass.). They hit a respective .294 and .277. The most experienced of the Falcons is three-year starting left fielder Kevin Vona (Belmont, Mass.). He enters his senior year with 139 starts, 151 hits and 79 RBI. Richard Lipe ‘77
Coach Carissa Medeiros had a successful first season, guiding the Bentley women’s lacrosse team to a 6-4 record in the Northeast- 10 before a first-round playoff loss to Bryant. This season, the sights are set even higher. The team returns with three All-Conference selections from 2008: senior attacker Alyssa Ritchie (North Andover, Mass.), junior midfielder Jaclyn Griffin (Barrington, Ill.) and junior goaltender Christina Guglielmo (Fair Haven, N.J.).
Ritchie followed her 2007 Division II second team All-America selection by leading the team in points (76) and breaking the program’s career record for points (233). She was an NE- 10 first team choice for the third straight year. Griffin was an NE- 10 first team choice after leading the Falcons with a single-season record of 50 goals. With those two players leading the way, Bentley should have no problem scoring goals.
Making sure those goals stand up is Guglielmo, a NE- 10 first team selection who was named NE- 10 Goalkeeper of the Year. She led the conference in save percentage (.493) and was second in saves per game ( 12.88). Kyle Mack
ALYSSA RITCHIE
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