RHS Baseball Concludes Most Successful Season in Almost Three Decades
The Revere High baseball team came up short in its Division 1 state tourney opener by a score of 8-1 to Beverly last Friday.
The Patriots entered the D-1 tourney as the 42nd seed, while the Panthers were the 23rd seed in D-1.
“It was a tough draw considering they were Northeastern Conference champs this year,” noted RHS head coach Michael Manning.
Sophomore Ollie Svendsen started the game for the Patriots. The contest was a tight, 2-1 affair through three frames, but after Svendsen came out in the fourth inning, the Panthers tacked on three runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Revere threatened to cut into the Beverly advantage, loading the bases in both the fifth and seventh innings, but the Patriots were unable to muster the timely hit.
Sal DeAngelis reached base three times and scored the lone run thanks to an RBI single by Mikey Popp.
Despite the tourney loss, the 2022 campaign rates as the most successful season compiled by a Patriot baseball squad in almost three decades.
Revere finished the regular season at 13-7, which is the most wins and best record for an RHS baseball squad since the 1990s. It also was the Patriots’ second consecutive winning season and second D-1 state tourney appearance in a row. Revere had not been to the tourney since the 1990s previously.
The Patriots finished 11-3 in the Greater Boston League (GBL), which was good for a tie for second place, only one game behind league champion Lynn Classical at 12-2.
The Patriots concluded their regular season on a roll, winning six of their final seven encounters.
Revere beat all seven of their GBL rivals at least once this year, splitting with Lynn Classical, Lynn English, and Somerville and sweeping Everett, Medford, Malden, and Chelsea.
The Patriots also defeated two non-conference league champions, East Boston (Boston City League) and Mystic Valley (Commonwealth Athletic Conference).
Looking ahead to 2023, the future looks bright for Manning and his crew. There were only two seniors on the team and all of the starters were underclassmen.
The top six pitchers in the rotation had a combined 1.90 ERA: sophomore Ollie Svendsen at 0.93 and one win; junior Mikey Popp with a 1.40 ERA and a win and a save; freshman Brendan Sack at 1.58 and a win; sophomore Kyle Cummings at 1.62 and four wins; junior Chris Cassidy at 1.79 and a win; and junior Dom Boudreau at 3.55 and three wins.
“This feat is especially impressive considering that last year’s pitching staff featured those players for a total of only 14 innings because our 2021 rotation was comprised almost entirely of seniors,” noted Manning.
At the plate, the Patriot offense was led by four hitters who hit above .300: Chris Cassidy at .353; Mikey Popp at .340; junior Giancarlo Miro at 313; and Dom Boudreau at .309.
“Chris Cassidy started the season 1-for-20, but finished 17-for-31 in a great show of perseverance,” noted Manning.
The two seniors on the team, Bobby O’Brien and Juan Londono, earned the honor of being added as team captains on Athletic Awards night a week before their tourney game.
“This team was a tight-knit group that bonded over team breakfasts, post-game get-togethers at Companions, and even had their own Spikeball Tourney, with Chris Cassidy and Mike Popp defeating Chris Cecca and coach Manning for the championship,” added Manning.
“I’m just so proud of what the kids were able to accomplish,” Manning continued. “We were second in the GBL, but if that first game of the season against Classical had been a 3-1 win instead of a 3-1 loss, we would be hanging a banner.
“This was just a really fun season,” the coach added. “I feel like a lot of kids really grew this year, and I’m excited to see what next year brings if these guys really put in the work this off-season.”
