December 21, 2002

For the past week, I've been in contact with some former CHS ballplayers who have helped me with info from the late 1970s/early 1980s that I was missing. I just wanted to let everyone know that the following ballplayers have helped recently: Mike Redel, Mike Battistini, Mike Brochu, Rick Bergeron, Tom Bergeron and Rich Regimbal. Thanks also goes to Kelley DesLauriers, who helped me get in touch with some of these guys. These people have all helped me with filling in some gaps regarding captains, player info, Rich's 1981 uniform number and - most importantly - how George Desorcie bats and how Mike Redel throws and bats. Now I have bat/throw info for all 231 players who have played, which certainly is the most important thing. I have also added stories from Tom Bergeron, Doug Bergstein and John Kresser. Check them out in the "Misc. Info / Pics & Stories" section. Thanks to all who have helped. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all. With all of this snow melting, it already feels like baseball season! Only a few more months.

December 15, 2002

This came as news to me: On Dec. 9, the Vermont Metro Baseball page posted a notice saying Lamoille, Vergennes and Winooski - three perennially weak teams during the past five years - have all left the Metro, and that led to the merging of the remaining 16 teams into one division. Thus, the league will no longer be split between the north and the south, but each team will play each of the other league teams once during league play. This entire scenario comes as a surprise to me, but it's possible some other coaches saw it coming. As it is, the Metro only split into two divisions in 1995. During the 11 previous years that CHS was a member, teams played up to 14 league games. Since then, each team has played nine or 10 league games depending on which division they were in. During six years in the Metro South, the Lakers won one league title (the inaugural 1995 crown) and finished second in 2000. As a Metro North member in 2001 and 2002, the Lakers finished second both times. I have also posted the tentative 2003 schedule. Keep in mind the Centennial Field match-ups have yet to be set. Oh yeah, and with the season scheduled to start April 22 instead of during the second week of April, we might have time to play a preseason scrimmage for the first time since 2000.

August 10, 2002

Well, I just found an error in my research that I have been presenting as fact the last couple of years: the worst start to a season was by the 1978 team, which began their campaign 0-11, not the 1987 team that went 0-7. So that means that the 2002 team did not tie the worst start ever by a Laker team. Sorry for the confusion. Thus, I have edited the Season in Review accordingly.

July 16, 2002

That's right folks, it's time for Josh's Season in Review. We'll start in the springtime again and see if you guys can go a whole three months just calling me Coach Kessler... While the 2002 season went wrong for a number of reasons, a number of things went right as we more-than-salvaged an 0-7 record by gaining a #11 seed in the playoffs and finishing 7-10. This was the first season since 1998 that didn't end with a walk-off hit (singles in each of the past three seasons put an end to the game and the season, yet none came in the seventh inning) while it was the first time since 1996 that neither Colchester nor their opponents won a game by 10 runs. We also played eight games in April, the most ever at CHS, and lost seven of them, also the most ever. And with our road Playdown loss to South Burlington, we lost for the seventh time in eight road playdown games versus a 4-1 playdown record at home. Somehow we had the lowest batting average in five years (.222) and the fifth-lowest at the school all-time, but managed to post a 2.87 ERA, lower than the 2000 team that made a championship run (2.92). The offense took a while to come around, which can be attributed to either cold weather, or simply the fact that for the second straight season we had no preseason scrimmages. The ugly offensive numbers could never over shadow the stellar pitching stats, but the offense rivaled the CHS record-low all-stars from 1997 (just ask Junior Varsity Head Coach Jeff Mongeon), when they set lows in runs (47), RBI (39), bases on balls (35), batting average (.216), slugging percentage (.262), and on base percentage (.272). They set two highs that season: most whiffs (all 131 of them) and most times caught stealing (17 in only 49 attempts). This season we were on our way to topping the 1997 squad. Through nine games we were batting just .164 (37 hits in 226 at bats) and averaging 2.3 runs per game, having scored two or fewer in six of those games. There were a couple moments that could be considered "turning points" as we got our season back on track: As for some of the statistical anomalies, we were only the fourth CHS team to collect fewer than 100 hits (99) yet we picked up the fourth-most total sacrifice hits (six sac flies, eight sac bunts). Oddly enough, after collecting no sac bunts last season, our eight sac bunts this season were the most since the 1983 team had 10. Our stolen base success rate (85%) was the second-highest since 1990, but we had the second-lowest slugging percentage ever (.276). Our defense collected 148 assists, sixth all-time, and our .902 fielding percentage was the highest since 1998. Our pitchers dished out only 49 bases on balls, the third-lowest ever, and lowest since 1993 (46). The record-holders are the 1976 squad, with 39. I figure now is a good time to mention highlights for the players this season. Not everyone played every inning - or every game, for that matter - but they all contributed in ways they may not even realize.
Well I had promised everyone a little tidbit of information on each of them this season, and while I didn't get it done during the season I'm at least getting it done two months afterwards. We lose nine seniors who were with us all season (10 if you count Chris Corrigan, who left the team midway through the year), one of the largest losses in team history. I hope that all of the juniors and sophomores come back, because by my count we'll have maybe 11 or 12 players who should make varsity just by the sheer fact they're upperclassmen. However, I would not be surprised at all if some underclassmen made the team, but we'll have to wait and see in March and April. I hope everyone has a good summer and keeps playing ball in preparation for the 2003 season, when the Lakers will move back to the Metro South. One more note of appreciation goes to Assistant Coach Jay Leone, a science teacher at CHS this past season, for helping out with the team, if only for one season. He's moving out of state and hopefully will take good memories of the team and the players and coaches with him. I have no clue as to who's coming next year to coach, but I assume someone will fill try to Jay's void on varsity. Best of luck to you Coach Leone!!!

July 12, 2002

I know no one thought it was possible, but this web page has just been updated!! I actually did a lot of work on it in May/June then got sidetracked by work and life. I've also been working on qualifications for percentage leaders (batting average, fielding %, ERA), and here they are (I've changed them so many times in the last 5 years it's ridiculous...if anyone finds the official MLB career qualifiers, let me know...the single season ones I modified for HS ball): Okay, some of these I could consider changing. But that's it for now. So here it is: updated through the end of the 2002 season, the Lakers Baseball Page. Enjoy!

May 28, 2002

The season came to an abrupt end today when we lost a Division I Playdown game 7-0 to South Burlington. SB was the #6 seed and improved to 12-5, the second time in as many years our season ended at the hands of a 12-5 team. We were #11 and finished up 7-10, amazing for a previously 0-7 team. Only Mike Wasko, Jared Lowe, and Dusty Fregeau picked up hits today, as Dusty also walked to improve to 4-for-4 with two bases on balls against Rebel ace Sam Handy this season. Travis Clairmont K'd seven for us, giving him the school record (122) formerly held by Doug Bergstein '83 (117). Our defense wasn't perfect, as we allowed four unearned runs on six miscues, but our offense struggled as well today. I won't belabor the fact that our season is over or that we were at one time 0-7, but this was quite a turnaround for this team. The season in review hopefully will shortly be posted.

May 23, 2002

GET WELL JUSTIN HAIGHT!!!

The playoff pairings came out today and we found out we're headed straight to the Playdowns as the #11 seed with a 7-9 record, where we'll face sixth-seeded South Burlington High School (11-5) on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at South Burlington High School. Twice the Lakers have faced the Rebels in the postseason, and twice we've lost: in a 1983 Quarterfinal at home (6-1) and in a 1997 Playdown at SBHS (4-1). Overall, the Lakers are 5-7 in Playdown games and 11-15 in the postseason. Our last Playdown victory came in 2000 in a home win over North Country, 6-1, while our last road Playdown victory came in a 1994 victory at Middlebury, 6-5. We've lost our last five road Playdowns since. We're 1-6 in road Playdowns and 2-8 in road first round games in the 27 years of the program. We'll see what happens on Tuesday.

May 21, 2002

On Tuesday, fresh off spending nine hours on a bus over the weekend, we took I-89 down to Spaulding High School and gave them a thrashing as best we could, 15-7. For the third straight game, Mike Wasko reached base leading off the first, this time on an error, a sign of things to come for the error-prone Crimson Tide (seven errors). After plating a run in the first on Travis Clairmont's 19th career double, tying him with Jason Carey for the career record, we plated six more in the second, batting around for the second time in two days after batting around once in the first 14 games. Joel Bissonnette singled to drive in a run, Tyler Critchlow hit his second sac fly of the year, Kevin Lilley had an RBI triple then scored on a wild pitch, and Jess Mattison singled home the sixth run to back his cause on the mound, reaching base for the second time in the inning. During the inning, Travis hit a fly ball to right which could have gone down as an error (as I originally had it) but after some thought and noticing then even Spaulding gave him a hit on that, it was another double, this time his 20th, a new career record. Spaulding kept fighting back, eventually coming as close as 11-7, but we tacked on four unearned runs in the seventh to ice the victory. Travis finished 3-for-5 on the day with three RBIs while Joel went 3-for-4 with a double, two RBIs, and three runs scored. During the game, Travis tied the career marks for at bats (169) and plate appearances (192). Tyler also scored twice, drove in one, walked twice, and stole a base while also making an inning-saving diving catch with the bases loaded and two down in the third inning, when the score was 10-5. Jess had a good day on a tough more-softball-like-than-baseball-like almost completely flat mound, K'ing six and walking four while allowing only four earned runs. The Lakers also turned a double play in the sixth, 3B Nick Morley-to-2B Moore-to-1B Clairmont, temporarily stopping a Spaulding rally. The Lakers finished the regular season at 7-9 overall and 7-2 in the Metro North, tying Milton for second place after St. Johnsbury won the title outright on Monday with an 8-1 record. This was second year in a row the Lakers placed second, but last year they finished three games out at 6-3 after Milton went 9-0. And don't forget we started this season at 0-7, tied for the worst start ever. And now we wait for our playoff seed, which will be announced tomorrow. We have the right index rating to draw a 14 or 15 seed, but 16 or 17 would pit us against the #1 seed if we win our Playin game.

May 20, 2002

Down in Cooperstown, N.Y., on Monday, the Lakers used their hot bats for a seven-run first inning and never looked back, defeating Milton High School 7-0 at Doubleday Field. Milton, the defending Metro North champs and 2000 Division II state champ and 2001 finalist, had been 12-2 overall and tied for the lead in the Metro North with St. Johnsbury with a 6-1 record, but fell to the Lakers for the first time since 1996. Travis Clairmont recorded his second career shutout to tie him for the school mark with three other pitchers, while his 18th career start gave him the school record in that category. It was also his 21st appearance (one behind John Yandow's record) and 10th win, making him just the third Laker to amass double-digits in victories with a 10-8 record. More on Travis later, but in this game he struck out seven and walked only one while yielding six hits, none to slugger Kyle Brault, who has something like eight home runs this year along with a slew of doubles and RBIs. Brault's first at bat resulted in a high pop to the fence along third base, where Andy Miles snatched the ball before it landed in the stands. In the third, Jamie Moore made a spectacular diving grab in the left field corner of Brault's drive, leaving Jamie dazed for a minute after he slammed his arm into the wall. When Travis K'd Brault swinging in the fifth, it was the 2,500th pitching strikeout in the program's history. And for the last out of the game, Andy made a play at third on Brault's sharp grounder then made a long throw to nail the speedy catcher at first. Meanwhile, Kevin Lilley also made a great running catch leading off the fifth on a ball hit towards deep center field, preventing what could have been at least a double. All of Colchester's offense came in the bottom of the first inning, with Mike Wasko being the catalyst: for the second straight game, he led the first inning off with a walk. Jared Lowe then singled before he and Wasko moved up on a wild pitch. Clairmont then scored Wasko and moved Jared to third on a groundout before Miles and Moore hit consecutive singles, with Andy driving home Jared. Jess Mattison then walked to load the bases before Dusty Fregeau hit a sarifice fly. With Moore on third and Mattison on first, Joel Bissonnette walked to load the bases again before Tyler Critchlow and Wasko hit back-to-back two-run singles, producing the last of the seven runs. After Travis singled to lead off the second, Milton's Tyler Gratton shut us down the rest of the way, allowing only Joel to reach on a strikeout-wild pitch in the sixth inning. But the damage was done and we won for the third straight game, improving to 6-9 overall and 6-2 in the Metro North, tying us with Milton for second place. Okay, here's the rest of the Travis info: he's in the top ten in career strikeouts (115, 3rd, one behind Justin Bissonnette and two behind Doug Bergstein), innings pitched (96-2/3, 3rd), hits allowed (96, 4th), runs allowed (68, 10th), bases on balls issued (57, 4th), hit batsmen (5, 10th), batters faced (458, 4th), bases runners allowed (158, 4th), decisions (18, 1st), strikeouts : bases on balls ratio (2.02, 9th), and strikeouts : inning pitched ratio (1.19, 3rd). Overall, this trip was a lot of fun since it was all about baseball (and whiffle ball, of course). We checked out the Hall of Fame, did some shopping at the local stores, and spent a lot of time hanging out and gelling as a team. We shared a bus with Milton and neither team really talked with the other on the way down, but the coaches noticed some of the guys sort of communicating on the way back. All in all, it was a great trip.

May 17, 2002

With a 9-4 victory, we beat Rice last night for the first time since 1998, and for the first time since 1994 on their field. It was only the third win in 11 attempts at Rice for the varsity squad, helping make up for some lopsided losses over the past three seasons (12-2, 14-6, 9-0, and 24-3) since Jim Dicesare shut the Little Indians down on one-hit in an 11-0 victory in 1998. At 5-9 overall and 5-2 in the Metro North, we stand second in the league standings (according to the St. Johnsbury baseball website) to St. J and Milton, both 6-1. We need to beat Milton and Spaulding and hope St. J loses at least once more in order to capture the league crown. Not bad for a team that started 0-7, eh? Anyway, back to the Rice game, where we came out smoking with 13 hits, including two doubles (Dusty Fregeau and Tyler Critchlow) and a home run (Jamie Moore's shot over the left field fence). The hits total was a season-high while the three extra-base knocks tied a season-best for the Lakers, as we have won all three of our league road games thus far with only the Spaulding game remaining on Tuesday. During the Rice game, Andy Miles and Jamie delivered two-out RBI singles in the first inning, giving us a lead we never relinquished behind Jared Lowe's strong pitching performance (nine K's, six hits, two earned runs in 6-2/3 innings). In the third inning, we got two more runs when Jess Mattison singled to right with two down and the bases loaded, immediately following an intentional walk to Jamie to load the bases. Lowe drove home a run the next inning before Jamie launched one leading off the fifth. Jared knocked another home in the sixth and Tyler Critchlow followed Dusty's two-out double in the seventh with a single to left to plate our ninth run. Jared finished the day 2-for-4 with two RBIs, Jamie went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, Jess went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Adam Hammond's cleats helped Tyler with a 2-for-3 day with an RBI and a double. Mike Wasko also collected a hit while scoring three runs. All in all, this was a great game as we continued our hot hitting and played great defense while receiving a marvelous effort from Jared. Our next game is on Monday at 10 a.m. against Milton High School at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y. This will be the program's first regular season game played outside of Vermont. After that, we'll come back late Monday night and travel to Spaulding after school on Tuesday, which will present an interesting end to an interesting season. SEE Y'ALL IN COOPERSTOWN!!

May 13, 2002

For the second Saturday in a row we split a doubleheader at Centennial Field, dropping the first game but rebounding for victory in game two. In game one, we faced Mount Abraham Union High School as the visiting team in a non-conference showdown and lost, 8-1. Mount Abe pitched their ace, Tyler Pelland, probably the best pitcher in the state, and we actually got on the board first: with one out in the first, Jared Lowe smacked a hard single to left center, advanced to second when Pelland's pick-off throw was dropped by first baseman Eric Wedge, got to third on a wild pitch, then scored on Travis Clairmont's single to right field. But that was it. One run on two hits was our total for the day. Pelland and Wedge combined for 16 strikeouts, sitting down a CHS record-tying total last accomplished on April 26, 1977. It also helped that we committed four errors in the first inning, leading to five unearned runs and seven runs total, and committed seven in the game. Pelland K'd seven Lakers in three innings and Wedge K'd nine in four perfect innings, though Clairmont K'd eight for us in six innings of work against the defending Division II state champs. Moving on and wiping that game from memory, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention and thank Greg and Sheila Clairmont for supplying all of us with food these past two weekends, burgers last week and bagel sandwiches this time. Also thanks to Kathy Folley for those congo (sp?) squares. YUM! Anyway, after Kevin Lilley's walk-off single won his team the between-games whiffle ball tournament in left field, we played another game of baseball. Game 2: Jess Mattison dominated North Country in game two, and he and Jared Lowe combined for the 20th shutout in team history, 5-0. In fact, this was the first shutout since Clairmont pulled the trick on April 29, 2000, in the second game of a doubleheader against North Country!! Freaky, eh? In game one of that double dip Andy Miles' brother Travis held Burlington scoreless, and the Lakers outscored their opponents 22-0 that day in two ten-run-rule shortened games. Today's shutout was only the second combined shutout in team history after Kenny Boucher (3 IP) and Tom Dicesare (4 IP) held South Burlington scoreless on May 23, 1995. That was just nine days after Tom combined with D.J. Peters on the only combined no-hitter in team history, but that's another story altogether. Anyway, today Jess had it working, allowing only six hits while striking out five and walking none. He also worked out of a bases-loaded, none out jam in the fourth inning, the third such time the Lakers have escaped such a situation this year unscathed. The game stayed scoreless until the bottom of the fifth, when we broke out for four runs. Tyler Critchlow got the rally started with a one-out opposite-field single to right, hit first hit of the year. Lilley then single to right before Clairmont put us on the board with a two-out single through the right side, scoring Critchlow. After Travis stole second and Dusty Fregeau walked to load the bases, Joel Bissonnette came through with his second big bases-loaded single at Centennial in a week, driving an 0-2 pitch through the middle to plate two. Mattison followed with a low liner to left that the left fielder barely missed catching, allowing our fourth run to score and knocking the starting pitcher out of the game. Critchlow scored again the next inning after a walk, an error, a wild pitch, and a passed ball, giving us a 5-0 lead. Lowe came on in the seventh and shut the Falcons down to preserve the shutout. Out next game falls on Thursday when we visit Rice at 4:30. At 4-9 overall and 4-2 in the league, we still have a great shot at finishing near the top of the Metro North standings.

May 7, 2002

On Tuesday, we knocked off Lamoille Union High School, 9-6 in Hyde Park. We fell behind to the winless Lancers 1-0 but plated two runs in each the second and third innings thanks to an RBI from Andy Miles, a sacrifice fly from Travis Clairmont, and a long inside-the-park home run from Dusty Fregeau. Who knew he had the wheels?? It was Dusty's first high school home run. Also, Travis' sac fly was the fifth of his career, tying him for the CHS career record with David Lavigne. He also hit two doubles in this game, giving him 18 for his career, one behind Jason Carey's record. While we're on Travis' near-records, he needs one game, 47 innings played, 18 at bats, 19 plate appearances, and 15 RBI to tie the career records in those offensive categories. As a pitcher, he needs three appearances, five wins, 24-1/3 inning pitched, one game started, 17 strikeouts, and one decision (win or loss) to tie the records in those categories. Meanwhile, a game was going on ... We tacked on four runs in the sixth for an 8-1 lead when Dusty and Tyler Critchlow drove in a run apiece, but Lamoille found themselves down 9-2 in the bottom of the seventh before storming back for four runs and leaving the bases loaded with two down when Nick Morley notched a strikeout for his first varsity save. Jess Mattison got the win, allowing a lone earned run in 6-2/3 innings. Travis went 2-for-3 while Dusty went 3-for-3.

May 4, 2002

In game one of our doubleheader at Centennial Field, we fell 9-2 to Harwood Union High School. Mike Wasko had two infield singles while Justin Haight provided the other hit on a bunt single. Kevin Lilley and Jess Mattison picked up the RBIs on consecutive suicide squeezes, pulling us within 4-2 in the second inning, but Harwood tacked on a few more runs off Jared Lowe, who ended up K'ing nine in 6-1/3 innings. It was our first loss ever during a doubleheader after six wins, including a 1976 sweep of Harwood. The 2000 team also played a pair of double dips and swept them.

In game two, we prevailed 11-3 against BFA-St. Albans. We fell behind early, 3-1, before plating two unearned runs with two down in the third when Mike Wakso's fly ball was dropped. It stayed knotted at three until the fifth, when we blew it open with eight runs. With two down, two on, and no one in, Joel Bissonnette completed an eight-pitch at bat by depositing a run-scoring single into left field, bringing starting pitcher Travis Clairmont home with the game-winning run. The next big blow came from Jamie Moore, who knocked a full-count pitch to the wall, scoring three runs and getting him to third base. Moore drove in Jess Mattison on the play, the 2,000th RBI in the 27-year history of the CHS varsity baseball program. Kevin Lilley followed with an RBI single before Clairmont slugged a double to the wall, driving home three for an 11-3 lead. Travis was the only Laker to reach base twice in the inning. Travis went 3-for-4 on the day, Jamie went 2-for-3, and Jared Lowe went 1-for-1 with two runs scored and three walks, one short of John Kresser's 1976 single-game walks record. The 11 runs and 11 hits were both game-highs for us this season, and the eight runs plated in the fifth matched our run total over our previous 28 innings.

April 30, 2002

Jess Mattison was on today, folks. Seven K's. Allowed only one run on a suicide squeeze. Allowed only four hits, including a couple bloopers. He picked one of those guys off first base for doing so. He went all nine innings on the hill while smacking his first clean hit of the year, a long double down the left field line, and led the Lakers to their first win of the season, 2-1 in nine innings against another winless team, Missisquoi. It was almost as perfect game in the field for the Lakers, as just two errors were committed. And even though the offense still stuggled, we banged out six hits over the last six innings, as many as we had over the previous 19 innings, including Jared Lowe's first two varsity hits, one driving in Mike Wasko with the game-winning run in the ninth inning. Mike also got his first varsity hit in the game, an infield single deep to the right side of the shortstop. Travis Clairmont also banged two hits. This was the Lakers' sixth consecutive win against Missisquoi and marked just the second time in team history that extra inning games occurred consecutively. It was just the sixth nine-inning game in team history, and the fourth win. Heck, we're 2-0 in 10-plus inning games, so we've had good luck once we get past the eighth. At 1-7 we now move on to face Harwood at 3 and BFA-St. Albans at 5 in a Saturday doubleheader at UVM's Centennial Field! They're the first two of four scheduled Centennial games, with the next pair coming a week from Saturday.

April 27, 2002

Travis Clairmont pitched one of the best games in the last three years at CHS, allowing just three hits and one earned run while striking out eight, but we lost, 3-1 in eight innings, as the home team against Saint Johnsbury at Burlington High School. Kevin Lilley had our only hit, albeit a huge one that delivered our only run in the fifth inning. Justin Haight, who had reached after getting hit by a pitch, scored. St. J scored a couple unearned runs in the eight to hand us our seventh loss in as many attempts, tying the 1986 team for the worst start (0-7) while extending the losing streak to eight games, the longest since 1990 (when they lost 11 during one season). The seven consecutive losses in one season was the longest since 1997.

April 26, 2002

On a cold and snowy day we were the home team against South Burlington at South Burlington, where we shot ourselves in the foot numerous times with sloppy play (six errors) and some mental errors. However, we scored our most runs since opening day off of a good pitcher in Sam Handy, but lost, 8-4. Dusty Fregeau led the offense with three hits in as many at bats. Andy Miles and Kevin Lilley chipped in with the other hits. Meanwhile, sophomore Mike Wasko made his varsity debut at shortstop in this game. He reached on an error and a walk. Chris Corrigan and Jared Lowe pitched well, though Chris allowed eight hits and eight runs, just two earned.

April 23, 2002

We hit another bump in the road today at Essex High School, hitting the proverbial brick wall known as the Hornets. Despite efficient pitching from Jess Mattison (6 IP, 1 BB, 82 pitches) Essex found a way to break open a 2-1 game with five straight third-inning singles on their way to five runs in the inning and go on to grab the 10-1 victory. The Lakers are now 0-5 after starting last season at 0-4. Remember, however, that we won nine of our next 13 games and finished 9-9. And don't worry, we have a long way to go in matching the worst start ever, set 1987 at 0-7. In fact, the 1986 team started 0-6. Today, we lost to Essex for the 20th time in 24 all-time meetings, including nine losses in 12 trips to Essex High School. We have the lowest winning percentage (.167) against the Hornets out of all 24 teams the program has ever faced. Travis Clairmont led our offense today, smacking a single and a double for our only hits, just two games after Jamie Moore collected both of our hits against MMU. Travis' shot to center field might have cleared fences at other local fields with fences, something which EHS does not have. Kevin Lilley also played tight defense in center field while Joel Bissonnette made a nifty catch in right. Don't let him tell you otherwise folks, because it was a sheer thing of beauty watching him catch it while running backwards and fall on his bottom. But the ball remained in the glove, preventing further damage in the fifth inning. In fact, each player seemed to make a nice defensive play today, something which Essex forced since 32 of their 33 batters put the ball in play. The Lakers return to action on Thursday in a "home" road game at South Burlington High School at 4 p.m. Just as a side note, the Lakers have scored four runs or fewer in each of their last four games, their longest such streak since the offensively-anemic 1997 team went nine games scoring three or less!!! Despite what Coach Phillips said, it could get worse, but this team is not capable of such poor offense. BTW, that team was responsible for the fewest runs (48), the lowest batting average (.216) and on-base percentage (.272), a tie for the lowest slugging percentage (.258), the fewest runs produced (87), a tie for the fewest home runs (0), the fewest RBIs (39), the fewest bases on balls (35), and the fewest sacrifice flies (1) in the program's history. Yet somehow they managed to set a record by being caught stealing 17 times on only 49 attempts!!!! Ouch. Meanwhile, they surpassed the ever-elusive fewest hits record (80 in 1977) by smacking a whopping 103, the fewest since the team moved to Division I for the 1984 season.

April 20, 2002

Here's the analysis of the Champlain Valley Union High School game from Saturday: we lost, 3-1, striking out 12 times (thankfully short of the record of 16 set in 1977). Sure we got hosed on a couple calls, but that can't critically injure your chances at winning games. And as baffling as it may seem, Chris Corrigan pitched a two-hitter and lost, the team's first two-hitter since Joel Bissonnette's brother Justin tossed one on May 23, 1998. However, it was the first loss when pitching a two-hitter since Alan Hill did so on May 28, 1996. And you think an earthquake is rare? How bout this gem: this was the first time since May 2, 1980, that CHS lost a two-hitter and was not shutout. Not as rare as Chris stealing home....oh, wait, that's already happened. Well now we've seen it all. Chris allowed only an opposite field single and a towering solo home run to left, leaving the other two runs unearned. He worked out of a couple jams and struck out five batters in six innings. The Lakers pounded out six hits, two coming from each Andy Miles, Kevin Lilley, and Dusty Fregeau. Andy also drove in our run. We now haven't won at CVU since 1996. Maybe it's a curse: the 2000 team that went 14-6 committed eight errors in a loss there, and in 1999 in my last game we led 5-3 with two down and nobody on in the last of the seventh in a Playdown, yet found a way to lose. Regardless, this was better than getting pummeled at home 22-7, and CVU is in a long line of decent teams that we match up well with but can't get over the hump against this season. But wait til league play.

April 16, 2002

Here's the game summary from our 9-3 "home" loss at Mount Mansfield Union High School. And there's a moral to this story, I swear: any time you leave it to your leadoff hitter to be the offense, the whole offense, and nothing but the offense, you're going to have problems. Jamie Moore went 2-for-4 during this game and stole four bases, one shy of the school record held by Gary Lefebvre (4/24/76) and Mike Brochu (5/4/82). According to the records I have on hand, two other players have stolen four bases, but none since Doug Bergstein on May 20, 1982. It's possible it's happened since, but not even during his illustrious senior season did Ty Pratt (16 SB) steal more than three. Jamie's singles were the team's lone hits, but the Lakers reached base seven other times on five walks and two Cougar errors. During that time, the Lakers stole eight bases in eight attempts, the most since they stole the same number on May 11, 2000, in a 17-1 drubbing of Vergennes. During that game, Jamie stole a base, as did a Miles of another name (Travis, and yes there is relation). However, during this game, the Lakers owned the base paths to the point that they pulled off a double steal of second and home, with speedster Adam Hammond stealing the back end and super speedster Chris Corrigan swiping home (tongue is firmly planted in cheek here, folks). Jason Carey stole home once, but not nearly as stealthily as Chris did. Chris didn't even draw a throw!! (of course the shortstop had the ball, but that's irrelevant) Anyway, we still lost, despite great pitching from Chris and Travis Clairmont. TC's line: 4 IP, 2 hits, 1 K, while Chris went 1-1/3 IP with 2 K's. Rikki Albert pitched the other two innings and did fairly decently for someone who had difficulty locating the plate last year. Instead of automatically beating himself with four-pitch walks, he challenged the hitters to hit him, which was a positive sign in his return to being a good pitcher. And yes, folks, Joel Bissonnette was retired in this game, effectively ending his three-day reign as the program's all-time OBP, AVG, and SLG% king. So Jason can have his records back now.

April 13, 2002

Good news first: today's heavy rain held off long enough for us to make the trek down to Middlebury and play our 11 a.m. game. The bad news: we're 0-2 after a 4-1 loss. After an 0-4 start last season, this marks the first time in consecutive seasons the team has start 0-2 since the 1993-94 campaigns. Today's game was anything but an easy win for the Tigers, as Jess Mattison and Nick Morley were masterful in their time on the hill. Jess allowed four hits and one walk while punching out six in four innings while Nick threw 15 out of his 20 pitches for strikes in two innings. Each pitcher allowed two runs, but just one was earned. The defense was again strong, committing just one error, the team's third in two games. Jess, Dusty Fregeau, Rikki Albert, and Joel Bissonnette all collected singles, Joel's being his first on varsity, but that was all the offense mustered. Rikki scored on an error in the fifth after leading off with a walk and moving two bases on Justin Haight's beautiful sacrifice bunt (on a pitch so low that the Ump swore it hit the ground first). Justin's sac bunt was the team's first since Jamie Moore dropped one down on June 3, 2000, in a Division I Quarterfinal game at Springfield High School. Last year was the first season in the program's history without a single sac bunt. The Lakers play again on Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Mount Mansfield Union High School, where we will again presumably be the home team.

Random useless stat time! This one is about Joel Bissonnette, whom we affectionately refer to as "Skippy". Joel has a 1.000 career on-base percentage (in two plate appearances), tied for the highest ever with four guys who had one PAP apiece. I have based the career record for OBP on 100 PAPs or so, but we'll let Joel enjoy this one until he fails to reach base this season (if that ever happens). And to my knowledge, him wearing #24 this season makes Joel and his brother Justin the first brothers to have worn the same number on varsity at CHS. Joel also told me that his father Mike wore it his senior year at BHS. If Joel ever makes his way moundward this season, he will also be the first southpaw to pitch on varsity since 2000 when Justin and Andy Miles' brother Travis pitched.

April 11, 2002

The Lakers lost today's season opener, 8-6 at Burlington High School. Colchester played the home team in their first game at BHS since May 1, 1999, when the Lakers won, 20-2. Andy Miles and Rikki Albert had two singles apiece while Dusty Fregeau and starting pitcher Chris Corrigan knocked in a pair of runs each. Dusty also tripled a season after it took the Lakers 16 games to hit their first three-bagger. Jess Mattison walked and scored twice each while Jamie Moore swiped two bases. Miles also made a few nifty plays in his first varsity start at third base, including a stap of a line drive, while his hits were his first on varsity. Corrigan pitched four strong innings in the Lakers' first game of the spring, allowing only six hits and four earned runs. Jared Lowe made his varsity debut with three innings of relief, allowing only three hits and a run while striking out five batters. It was good to see the guys finally get outside and play a team other than JV, and we looked very sharp considering it was our first competition of the spring. Our next game is on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Middlebury Union High School.

Of course I already have random, meaningless information to dispense. We'll kick the year off with Travis Clairmont, who became the 14th Laker to start three opening day games, and the first to do it in three non-consecutive seasons (1999, 2001-02). He's also the 7th player to start at three different positions on opening day (3B, P, 1B). I wrote a couple days ago he was the 4th Laker to play four years on varsity, but he is the fourth player to have played as a freshman on varsity, and only the second to play four years. The other, Chris Jarvis, appeared in 44 games from 1976-79. Today's game against Burlington takes me back to my first varsity start, which I believe was Travis' first game at first base on varsity (and one of his few starts). That game on May 1, 1999, was destined to be a high-scoring affair with the offense we had, so no doubt Saddie felt comfortable with a freshman at first and a "late-inning-defensive-replacement" senior at second. I grounded out twice to short and made my only error on varsity when a ground ball sunk in the sand and took a weird hop. It was a bad hop. I swear.

April 9, 2002

I hope you're no longer surprised about the cancellations of our scrimmages, because I certainly am not. For the second consecutive season, we will not play a single interscholastic preseason scrimmage after the one scheduled for today at South Burlington was cancelled. Tomorrow, however, we will scrimmage the jayvee right after school at Airport Park. It will be the team's only tune up for the regular season, which begins on Thursday at Burlington High School at 4 p.m. with Colchester playing the home team.

April 7, 2002

So close to opening day.... On Tuesday, we're scheduled to finally play South Burlington in a scrimmage after it had been postponed twice and we had our MMU and New Hampshire scrimmages cancelled. Game time is 3:30 p.m. Also, the captains have been announced for this season: seniors Travis Clairmont, Jess Mattison, and Jamie Moore. 1B/P Clairmont is going into his second year as a captain. Last year, he was an All-Metro First Team selection while batting .339 with eight doubles. He also went 3-4 on the hill with one save and a team-high 41 strikeouts. He also became the first junior captain since Scott Benoit in 1988. He's in his fourth year on varsity, just the second Laker to do so in the program's 27-year history (edited on April 11), and is vying for the school records in doubles, RBI, games played, innings played, wins, innings pitched, strikeouts, games started, and shutouts, among others. 2B/P Mattison is in his second year on varsity. He was an All-Metro Honorable Mention last year and batted .347 with 12 bases on balls and was a slick fielder (.865 fielding percentage) at second base (nine games) and third base (five games). He also went 4-1 as a pitcher with a team-leading 3.99 ERA, 33-1/3 innings pitched, and four complete games (in five starts) while walking only 16 batters. SS Moore split time between third base and shortstop last season (with a little first base and pitching mixed in) after spending time at short, third, second, and in the outfield as a sophomore during the team's 2000 title run. A 2001 All-Metro Honorable Mention, he hit .262 in 17 games with five stolen bases while fielding at an .867 clip and turning a team-high four double plays. He also is on pace to appear in the second-most games and innings in the program's history.

Also note that practices are at CHS until the work begins to fix the fields, at which time practices will be held at the Middle School and Airport Park.

April 2, 2002

Two announcements: First off, the Tuesday scrimmage was pushed back to Wednesday at South Burlington High School, still at 3:30 p.m. Secondly, our first regular season game will not be on April 9th but instead on April 11th when we face Burlington in a home game at Burlington High School. The South Burlington game tentatively scheduled for the 9th was pushed back to the 25th, when it was originally schedule to be played. Game time will be 4 p.m. at South Burlington High School, where the Lakers will play the home team.

March 29, 2002

Well, the roster has been officially set. Fifteen guys have made the team, including 10 seniors - the highest number from that class since 1989 - and five juniors. Only two seniors graduated from last year's team, the program's smallest loss to graduation ever, and two juniors decided not to come back, leaving nine returning seniors and two returning juniors to this year's team. After gaining 10 new players last spring, the team takes on four new faces in 2002: senior Adam Hammond and juniors Joel Bissonnette, Jared Lowe, and Drew Sumner. I won't attempt to take a guess at the starting lineup or assume where people will play just yet. We should know after next week's scrimmages at South Burlington on Tuesday and Mount Mansfield on Friday. The weather report at weather.com calls for high temperatures in the mid-40s through April 6th with rain and cloudiness interspersed throughout the week, hopefully meaning the season will start on time, even if the scrimmages don't go as planned.

With Opening Day just 11 days away, it's as good a time as any for some random 2001/2002 stats as well as Opening Day stats:

March 25, 2002

Welcome to lakersbaseball.org!! Finally, a domain name of our own. I've left mallettsbay.com and moved to Sovernet, who will be hosting this site.

Another preseason scrimmage has been added to the schedule: Tuesday, April 5th, we are scheduled to travel to South Burlington High School for a 3:30 p.m. contest. During the next week, the temperature is expected to be in the mid-40s, though weather.com reports some rain over the next week and a possible snow shower for next Monday while Weather Underground reports constant snow through the weekend! I'm not sure which report to believe, but hopefully weather.com is more accurate. But let's all hope for some warm weather.

March 24, 2002

Big news regarding a new URL for the Lakers Baseball Page: after two years of gracious gratis hosting by Scott Hamlin at mallettsbay.com, the site will be getting its own domain name. Within the next two weeks (actually, hopefully no later than this Friday) the URL for this site will become "www.lakersbaseball.org." I just moved the entire site to Sovernet, where the future site will also be housed, just under a different URL. So if you have updated your bookmarks for this move to the Sovernet server, be prepared to change them again.

The finalized version of the 2002 schedule is up, though all games are subject to location/time changes. I have posted the practice schedule as well, and will alter times and dates as dictated by Coach Phillips.

March 20, 2002

Well, it appears that the second annual preseason scrimmage with Hopkinton (N.H.) High School will be cancelled for the second straight year. So for two years, the game has been crossed off of our preseason "to-do" list, leaving the MMU scrimmage on April 5th as our lone preseason tune up. Also, it turns out that we may find out by the end of the week that our opening game will be on Tuesday, April 9th, versus South Burlington at Centennial Field. The game would move from April 25th and would end up being the first of six games at Centennial, where the Lakers hold a 5-7 all-time record.

March 19, 2002

This week is the first week of full-squad practices, where about 35 guys are vying for spots on the varsity and jayvee teams. I also have the varsity schedule, which may shift around a bit during the season. In case it wasn't apparent what I meant by "Road Warriors" a couple days ago, both teams will be forced to play all games on the road following vandalism to the CHS field. JV will host games at Airport Park while varsity has the privelege of hosting four teams at Centennial Field (MMU, Harwood, BFA-St. Albans, North Country) and one at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y. (Milton) The Lakers will also host Burlington and St. Johnsbury at Burlington High School and will play an additional game at Centennial Field as the visitor against Mount Abe. In all, there will be five games at Centennial Field, and possibly a sixth if the field is available for us to host South Burlington on April 9. Of the five teams, the Lakers have played only MMU at Centennial Field, last in the 2000 Division I Championship. It will be their fourth meeting at the historic UVM-owned field. On May 4 and 11 (both Saturdays), Colchester will partake in doubleheaders at Centennial Field, only their fourth and fifth twin bills in 27 seasons. They last played a double-dip in 2000, when they participated in two, winning all four games. Before that, they swept Harwood in a 1976 pair. Thus, in three doubleheaders all-time, the Lakers own a 6-0 record. Look for more news in the following week as the rosters will take shape and highlights are reported for varsity's scrimmage on Saturday against Hopkinton High School in Contoocook, N.H.

March 11, 2002

BASEBALL IS BACK!! The season has officially begun for the "Road Warriors", who will spend all 16 regular season games away from CHS as the field gets repaired following vandalism in the fall. Today was the first day of practice for pitchers and catchers, as the remaining players are eligible to report next week. I will have the revised 2002 schedule ASAP. Also, give a warm welcome to new Assistant Coach Jay Leone, a Science teacher at CHS. Andrew Folley, a 2001 CHS grad and current red-shirted freshman on the UVM baseball team, will help out as well this spring for the Lakers. More info as it comes in. Also, I want to thank Scott Hamlin for his continued hosting of this web site. He just moved the pages to a new server, but they will remain at the same location.

February 16, 2002

Well here's some great news for the site's first update in almost eight months: this part is common knowledge, but a couple Colchester High School students took it upon themselves to vandalize some of the fields at the school this past fall, leaving behind tire tracks in the outfield grass on the baseball field (and possibly other damage to which I am unaware). According to Greg Clairmont, CHS Athletic Director Dave Bahrenburg said that the insurance necessitates that the re-sodding and seeding of the field begins as soon as possible, and that "the field will be ready in the fall for field hockey." That's right folks, let us begin preparing now for a five-week-long road trip this spring. However, this strange season will give the Lakers some opportunities to play at fields they might never have had access to. Clairmont, who coaches the AAU Vermont Seamonsters baseball team, has set up a game at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York, and up to six home games at Centennial Field, owned by the University of Vermont, Clairmont's alma mater. He has also scheduled a game against a Canadian all-star team to be played at Montreal's Olympic Stadium (edit: since canceled). Additionally, we might play a game at Saint Michael's College's Doc Jacobs Field. Just for the record, the Lakers have neither played a game at the "Doc" nor suited up for a regular-season game out of state in their 26-year history. According to the tentative schedule, we are slated to open the season with Burlington for the first time ever on Thursday, April 11. The game is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start at CHS, but might be moved to Burlington HS, among other locations. Also, Coach Phillips tells me that there may well be a game on April 9th first. The Lakers are 9-7 all-time when opening the season at home and only 1-9 when opening on the road. I'll pass along more details as I receive them.