In our fourth and final baseball preview to start the 2024 season, we look at Division III.  

 Division III is very top-heavy, with a handful of teams that we think can win it all, maybe as many as six or seven deep.  

 We rank the Top 10 teams heading into the season with help from coaches around the division.  We're pretty proud of the fact we were able to connect with all but one of the 21 coaches in the division and we can't thank those guys enough for giving us their time and opinions!

 Watch for our signature Game of the Week video highlight coverage all season long, our weekly Thursday Thoughts, and our Sunday morning baseball podcast with Ian Melewski. 

 Our preview is brought to you by our partners at Manchester Community College, who have an Open House today from 4 to 6 pm!

Pre-Season Top 10

1. White Mountains
2. Campbell
3. Belmont
4. Monadnock
5. Conant
6. Gilford
7. Bishop Brady
8. Inter-Lakes
9. Prospect Mountain
10. Fall Mountain

 Lurking outside the Top 10: Stevens, Winnisquam, Somersworth, Newfound, Berlin

 It didn't take me very long to figure out who my pre-season #1 team in Division III would be.

 The Spartans from the North Country, as I like to call the White Mountains Regional High School baseball team, graduated only one player off last year's 17-2 State Championship team.

 Now that one player, Karter Deming, was a huge part of the team's success and delivered a performance for the ages in a 16-strikeout, 3-hit shutout in the Championship game vs heavily favored and undefeated Monadnock. But with everyone else on the team returning, you have to consider White Mountains the favorites for this year.    

 3rd-year head coach David Deming said the miraculous quarterfinal round comeback against Conant, where the Spartans rallied from down 3, with two outs in their final at-bat, really spurred the team on.

 "We felt confident going into the Monadnock game, especially after the Conant game. It brought them together." The coach also called on some past White Mountains players to help them prepare for the hard-throwing pitchers they would see in the semis against Bishop Brady and the Finals against Monadnock.

 "We brought Griffin Crane in, a good lefty to throw hard against us in practice before the Brady game, and Tyler Hicks came back and pitched to us before we played Monadnock," Deming said. "It really helped our hitters catch up to that velocity."  

 Junior pitcher/catcher Noah Covell was 1st Team All-State last year as a sophomore and will see a significant increase in the number of innings he will pitch this year. Covell had 36 strikeouts in 28 innings last season and hit .421 with 14 driven in.

 Senior RHP/SS Robert Breault was the third most used pitcher on the team in 2023 with 37 K's in 23 innings and a 0.91 ERA, and hit .396. Seniors Corey Silver, Ian St. Cyr, and lefty Daniel Stinson will also get the call on the mound.

 Sophomore Deagan Stover pitched a lot in JV last season and will get chances this year on varsity. Centerfielder/leadoff man Brayden Shallow is back after hitting a robust .400 with 14 RBIs last season. Senior left fielder Ethan Heng hit .347 with a HR and 18 RBI in his junior season. 

 After a 2023 Final Four season for a team that didn't have a single senior on the roster, to say the expectations are high for Campbell High School heading into this season would be an understatement. 

 Almost every opposing coach we talked to for this Division III preview mentioned the Cougars as one of the top teams in the league, and we agree.

 So does their coach, James Marron. "Because we have everybody coming back, the roles were already defined. We also have some good freshmen coming in."  

 Campbell's 4-1 loss to Monadnock in the semis followed a 14-2 regular season and has the Cougars looking to take another deep playoff run in 2024.

 This year's team features a strong group of 6 seniors, including 1st team All-State returnees Jack Kidwell and Logan Daigle, plus 2nd teamers Luke Delia and Hunter Henderson and 3rd team selection Braydon White.  

 The pitching staff is deep with Daigle, who worked a team-high 34.2 innings with 37 strikeouts and a 1.21 ERA last year, junior Delia, who threw 27 innings with 31 Ks and a 2.59 ERA, and sophomore White, who struck out 14 in 10.1 IP, plus a bunch of other live arms the team can call on in senior Drew Avitable and sophomores Henderson and Mikey Grace.

 "We have about seven kids that can throw. It's nice having that kind of pitching depth", said Marron. Defensively, Henderson and Grace will handle the catching duties. Kidwell will be in the outfield or at first. White can play several positions. Look for Delia at SS and senior Brady Marcotte at second or the outfield.

 Kidwell hit .395 last season with seven home runs and 24 RBIs and is headed to Sacred Heart to play at the next level. The other big bopper in the lineup, White, was .462 with 2 HR and 19 driven in. Senior outfielder Brayden Dineen is another kid who got a lot of playing time last year, as did junior third baseman/outfielder Noah Reed.  

 The Belmont Red Raiders look like a team ready to make a jump up the standings.

 Last year’s team, with only two seniors and one junior on the roster, went 10-6 in the regular season, earning the #8 seed in the tournament. Belmont got by Stevens in the 1st round and then gave top-seed Monadnock all they could handle in a 4-3 quarterfinal loss.

 With a strong returning group of players, coach Matt LeBlanc and his team are ready to roll. “We lost Liam Waldron, which was big, but we returned seven starters from that team last year, so we are pretty excited about the team we have coming back.”  

 6’7 junior righty Anakin Underhill is literally and figuratively one of the biggest reasons for the optimism in Belmont. Underhill is an outstanding athlete who played quarterback for the Gilford-Belmont football team last fall and just finished playing basketball for Belmont over the winter.

 Baseball is his best sport, according to his coach. Last season, Underhill dominated on the hill with 55 strikeouts in 41 innings and a 2.05 ERA. He also hit .340 and was named 1st team All-State. “Anakin wants to play baseball in college, and with his size and skill, he’s got a pretty good chance of playing D1 or D2 somewhere”, LeBlanc said.  

 Sophomore Wyatt Divers had a tremendous freshman season, pitching 30.2 innings with a 1.83 ERA as the number 3 pitcher behind Liam Waldron and Underhill. He’ll likely play shortstop when he’s not pitching. Junior middle infielder Owen Waldron is Liam’s younger brother and will hit near the top or the middle of the order this year.  

 Junior catcher Jaxson Embree is back after joining Underhill on the D3 All-State First team last year when he hit .375 as a sophomore. Embree will also be used on the mound. Brady Thurber, another right-handed pitcher for Belmont, might also work in relief along with junior center fielder Michael Collette.

 Hutch Haskins is the team’s only senior and will serve as the DH. Coach LeBlanc also mentioned a pair of freshmen he likes, middle infielder Max Ryder and Wyatt Bamford, who is “a jack of all trades” that plays first, third, outfield, and pitcher.   

 It was quite the run for the 2-time defending Champion Monadnock Huskies, who went into last year’s Division 3 State title game undefeated and riding an impressive 43-game winning streak that dated back over three seasons.

 Then Karter Deming of White Mountains shut down the mighty Huskies with a dominating 16-strikeout, 3-hit performance in the 2-0 Spartans win. It had to be a hard pill to swallow for head coach Tom Cote and the rest of his team. “It’s really hard to win so many games in a row. We knew eventually it was going to end. It just happened at the wrong time, unfortunately”, Cote said.    

 One of the biggest stars of that team was Cam Olivio, who graduated and is now playing at SNHU. Olivo’s numbers were flat-out unbelievable his senior season, with a .692 batting average, nine homers, and 39 RBI in only 16 regular-season games. Those numbers were all tops in the state, regardless of division.  

 Monadnock looks to bounce back with many returners from the team that was so dominant in D3, headlined by Dayton University senior Ben Dean. Dean was a stud last year as a junior when he hit .511 with three home runs and 24 RBIs, and on the mound, he was 4-0 in the regular season with 57 strikeouts in 29 innings and a paltry 0.48 ERA.

 “He’s going to be a pitcher only at Dayton, and he’ll play first base for us this year when he’s not on the mound instead of catching as he did for us the last two years,” coach Cote said.

 Junior RHP Kaden Smith was the 3rd most used Monadnock pitcher last year, and over 23 innings, he struck out 35 with a 1.83 ERA. Smith will play first base when Dean is pitching and can also be used as a catcher.

 Sophomore Koby Kidney had a tremendous freshman season, batting .400 with an HR and 25 driven in, and will be the primary catcher this season. Senior center fielder and leadoff hitter Jake Hilliard(.438 and 23 RBI) returns to those same roles he has filled the last two seasons.

 Senior Torin Dubriske also returns after hitting .361 with 16 RBI last year. Cote said he expects a step up from junior shortstop/RHP Haden Bertolami, who worked hard in the offseason and played a lot of baseball.

 Freshman Wesley McWhirk is a three-sport athlete who plays hockey and football at Monadnock and will be used in the infield and outfield. The Huskies also welcome a junior transfer student from Georgia named Lucas Williams, who could be in the mix for the catching duties.  

 When I asked Conant coach Aric LeClair about last year's playoff loss against White Mountains, you could tell that it's a game he won't forget. Conant led the eventual State Champs by three runs, with two out and one on in the last inning of the quarterfinal playoff game, but lost 9-8 in a heartbreaker.

 "I've been replaying that game in my head over and over and over again," said LeClair. Now, a team that only lost three seniors and is bringing back most of their players is ready to put that loss behind them.

 Franklin Pierce bound senior Lane LeClair is the coach's son and is primed for another big year. The younger LeClair was lights out on the mound as a junior with 72 strikeouts in 41 innings and a 1.02 ERA. He also hit .293 with 12 RBI and plays great defense in center field.

 The question for the Orioles is, who else besides LeClair can pitch? A pair of sophomores, one appropriately named Chance, will get the opportunity. Chance Derosier has looked good so far in the preseason, and classmate Braedon Dion was effective last year, throwing 20.2 innings with 18 strikeouts and a 3.39 ERA. Senior Jordan Ketola had 24 strikeouts in 17 innings of work last season and has been working on his control.  

 Conant brings back two sophomores who had huge years offensively last year in 3B/C Hunter Schultz and shortstop Kaiden Kirby. Schultz hit .426 as a freshman.

 "He can fall out of bed, and he'll get a hit," says LeClair. Kirby knocked in 18 runs with an HR and a .361 batting average last year. First baseman/DH Gavin LeBlanc hit .290 with nine runs batted in, and his 80 MPH fastball will also get him some time in relief.

 Sophomore Drey Seppala hit .310 last season and will play second base. Corey Collins is a junior outfielder who hit .395 last year with two homers and 15 RBI. The Orioles have a fun trip planned during April vacation as they'll play a league game vs Fall Mountain in Cooperstown, New York, on April 25th.  

 The Gilford Golden Eagles return 11 players with varsity experience from a playoff team that went 7-9 last season and a first-round playoff exit at the hands of Conant.

 Just three years ago, coach Michael Giovanditto took over a winless team, so the back-to-back tournament appearances the last two years were a welcome change. "Team chemistry is the missing link Gilford is searching for, and if we find it, it could mean we'll be in the mix atop Division 3", Giovanditto said.  

 First-team All-State selection RHP/3B Gavin Clark is back to lead the pitching staff during his senior year after going 4-2 with 59 strikeouts and a 2.91 ERA as a junior.

 Senior Tanner Keenan, along with sophomores Drew Smith and Ryan Folan, will also get work on the mound. The lineup will be led by seniors Clark, who hit .475 last year; power-hitting catcher Caleb Giovanditto, who is the coach's son; first baseman Will Wallace; outfielder Brendan Folan; shortstop Keenan, and junior second baseman Mikey Giovanditto, who is coach Giovanditto's other son.

 "The offense is popping with potential with speed and power up and down the lineup. It will take a total team effort for Gilford to take the next step, but the pieces are in place for a deep run", said coach Giovanditto.  

 Longtime Bishop Brady coach Skip Foy is feeling a little snake bitten this season after a remarkable 15-1 regular season and a Final Four appearance in 2023 that ended with a 4-0 loss to eventual champs White Mountains.

 Even though Brady graduated great players in Michael Thresher and Bryce Miller, Foy was ready to pick back up where they left off last year.

 "I thought we were going to be right back in contention for a Championship again this year with what we had coming back, but a rash of injuries has hit this team, and my entire outfield is lost for the season, and now we're going to have to play 5 or 6 freshman and sophomores", coach Foy said.

 "We lost another kid, Charlie Bolnick, who transferred to prep school, so we have only three kids back with a lot of varsity experience, but luckily, all of those kids were All-State last year.

 He talked about senior catcher Andy Hunton, junior right-handed pitcher Owen Thornton, and sophomore infielder/RHP Winn Thomas.  

 Hunton is the team's starting catcher who hit .447 with 14 batted in as a junior and was named 2nd team All-State. Brady will lean heavily on the hard-throwing Thornton, whose 31.1 innings pitched last year was second on the team behind graduated staff ace Michael Thresher. He also struck out 52 batters and didn't allow an earned run in 10 regular season appearances, and on offense, batted .302 with 14 RBI to earn 1st team All-State as a sophomore.

 Thomas hit .436, drove in 15 for Brady as a freshman, and joined Hunton on the 2nd team list. Junior outfielder John McKerley also got some time in the lineup, hitting .281 with 12 RBIs last season. 

 Some of the talented young freshmen Brady will be relying on this year are Luke Bedard(3B/OF/RHP), Koltan Gaudreault(2B), and Jack Sheppard, the younger brother of injured senior Todd Sheppard, who should see time in relief.        

 One year after going 13-3 and reaching the D3 Championship game for the first time in school history, the Inter-Lakes Lakers fell back to a 6 and 11 record in 2023.

 They still made the playoffs a 13 seed in the 14-team field and ended up losing to Campbell in the first round. Coach Dan Curnyn is entering his 9th year as the head man at Inter-Lakes, and he's hoping to get back to their winning ways. "We have seven returners from last year, and we're returning our top 3 pitchers…2 of them are seniors, and the other is a junior."  

 Senior Ben Beaudoin is expected to lead the staff on the mound again after a junior season where he led the team in innings pitched with 31.1 and strikeouts with 27. When he's not pitching, Beaudoin will play in the outfield.

 Addie Kernan is the other senior coach Curnyn will rely on on the mound. Kernan was All-State in football on an excellent I-L/Moultonborough team last fall and can also work as a catcher.

 He struck out 19 in 13.2 innings last year. Junior Danny Bean is the 3rd quality arm the Lakers will throw at you. He worked in 6 games last year and, over 16.1 innings, had an ERA of 3.00. Bean's older brother, Rafe Bean, is a senior shortstop and catcher who hit .293 last season.  

 Junior OF Brogan Donnelly and junior second baseman Alec Adorno saw some time last year and will be expected to step up on the mound and in the field.

 Coach Curnyn said to watch out for sophomore first baseman Nolan Streeter and freshmen RHP pitcher/third baseman Ryder Palsgrove. "Palsgrove is our only lefty hitter. He will play. He's looked perfect on the mound so far.   

 A new coach at Prospect Mountain is taking over a team that surprised many last year, going 13-3 and earning a five-seed in the D3 tournament.

 Jayson Whitehouse takes over as head coach after Erick Bourdeau stepped down following a season where the Timberwolves beat Somersworth in the 1st round before falling to 4th seed Campbell in the quarters. Whitehouse has been coaching baseball for almost 20 years and coached junior high in Alton, so he knows the kids in the program.

 “I coached most of these kids in Cal Ripken when they were younger. We’re trying to build on last year, that’s for sure”, said Whitehouse. “Our goal is always to win a Championship, and we feel like we have a team that can compete.”  

 Senior Nathan Leavitt returns to lead the team of a 1st-team All-State selection last year when he went 9-0 and struck out 89 batters in 60.1 innings with a 1.04 ERA.

 “He’s the horse on the team, the leader of the pack,” said Whitehouse about Leavitt. Spencer Therrien is another senior pitcher the Timberwolves will rely on for innings on the mound, along with classmates Kenneth Fontaine and Robert Gordon and freshmen pitchers Gavin Gorton and Bryce Lounsbury.  

 Defensively, coach Whitehouse said Prospect Mountain will move guys around a lot around the field. Sophomore outfielder Knyte Neathery got regular playing time last year, as did seniors Wyatt Brownell and Mason Pappaceno, whose little brother Blake Pappaceno is a freshman catcher on the team.

 Joe Kappes is a senior outfielder, and junior Henry Brown will play first base.       

 After a good season that saw the Fall Mountain Wildcats go 11-5 and earn the 7th seed in Division 3, there is optimism at the regional high school located in Langdon, NH.

 Head coach Lance Cormier enters his 4th season in command, and he’ll have to do it without one of the best players in the division after his son Mitchell Cormier graduated last June.

 The younger Cormier was a workhorse on the mound in 2023, pitching 46.2 innings with six wins, 64 strikeouts, and a 1.20 ERA. He also hit .383 on offense. Cormier is attending SNHU and playing on the golf team now. “We have some good talent in the program. It’s a really strong group of young players. We’re one of the only D3 teams with a JV team”, said Cormier.    

 Last year, the Wildcats had only two guys who pitched the lion’s share of the team’s innings: Cormier and freshman Pat Connors. Connors threw 35.1 innings with 36 K’s and a 3.37 ERA and will take over as the staff ace this year as a sophomore.

 Connors will play shortstop when he’s not pitching. He is a good offensive player who hit .326 with 11 RBI in his first year. After that, coach Cormier said he would use junior Cole Garrow, sophomore Devyn Cheeney, and freshman Keegan White on the mound. He is also happy to have senior RHP Carmine Sweeney back and healthy after being hurt most of last year.  

 In the field, look for senior catcher Porter Willett behind the plate, senior Troy Tenney and Cheeney in the outfield, and junior Nick Parrott at second base. Two other new players coach Cormier mentioned as being in the mix for playing time are Brayden Lockhart and Max Wyman.  

 It was a very good first season back in Division III for Stevens High School, who went 10-6 against a really tough schedule and made the tournament as a number 9 seed.

 The Cardinals lost that game to Belmont, but 3rd-year coach Bill Bundy is proud of how his team handled things. “Four of the six regular season losses we had came against the top two teams, Monadnock and Bishop Brady; we played both teams twice,” Bundy said.

 Stevens also played the 6th and 7th seeded teams two times each, splitting with Conant and Fall Mountain. Graduated from that team are three top performers in All-Staters: Ty Theriault, Matt Becker, and Dom Puksta, but there’s a good returning group for 2024.

 Cody Pellerin is one of only two seniors on the 13-man roster. The left-handed throwing Pellerin is one of the more experienced players on the team. He pitches and plays 1st base. Coach Bundy also mentioned junior righty Matt Goss who on defense plays the middle infield.

 Logan Minckler was a freshman starter at shortstop last year and is expected to be a top arm on the mound this season. Another lefty pitcher, junior Ben Goodell, was out all last year with an injury but returned to add depth to the mound. Junior Nevin Marsh is the catcher. “He’s tall and can really throw,” said Bundy. 

 Around the outfield, juniors Devyn Corliss, clean-up/power hitter Maddox Foster, Eric Emanouil, and John Ward will all see time for the Cardinals. Sophomore James Stevens will play some outfield, third base, and catcher, while Jaxon Churchill is the team’s only freshman.

 “Our defense is excellent. If we can score some runs, we’re going to be pretty damn good”, Bundy said.  

 The Winnisquam Regional High School baseball team brings back a couple of senior captains to lead the team in 2024 after a 9-7 finish last year that ended with a 5-1 quarterfinal loss to 7th seed Fall Mountain.

 Head coach Fred Caruso is back for his 18th year at the helm of the Bears and is looking to Alex Nichols and Zach St. Onge to lead a relatively inexperienced senior class and strong group of returning juniors to the postseason.

 “We’re light on the pitching mound right now. It’s a hole in our program we’ve been trying to address the last couple of years”, Caruso said. “Three of our five seniors have never played varsity baseball before.”

 Nichols had significant shoulder surgery as a freshman, but he’s been voted All-State in the last two years and is expected to pick right back up where he left off as the team’s best hitter, first baseman, and one of the top arms. St. Onge will play shortstop when he’s not on the mound.

 The junior class who got a lot of experience and playing time as sophomores include pitcher/corner infielder John Shea, center fielder Nikolas Puffinburger, second baseman and outfielder Ben Wood, and pitcher/infielder Ethan Carter, who is out for the first part of the season with mono. Caruso also mentioned sophomore newcomer Dio Katsigiannis as a player to watch.  

 With all the snow in the Lakes Region this spring, it’s been tough for teams to get out on the field. Once the fields dry out and the season starts, Winnisquam has four regular season games scheduled before April vacation hits, and then the Bears won’t have another game for well over a week.

 “I wish we played during vacation. We play White Mountains on Thursday, April 18th, and then we are off until Monday, April 29th; that’s a pretty long layoff just a quarter of the way into the season, and it causes us to have to play a lot of games late in the season”, Caruso said. 

 The Somersworth Hilltoppers doubled their win total from 2022 in the first season under new coach Brian Bussiere last year, going from 3-13 and out of the playoffs to 6-10 and qualifying for the Division 3 tournament.

 That improvement was good enough to get the Hilltoppers the 12th seed, where they lost in the 1st round to #5 Prospect Mountain. Coach Bussiere says you can expect that improvement to continue in 2024.

 “We lost only two seniors from that team, and 70 percent of the roster is coming back”, said coach Bussiere. “Now we have five seniors and the two juniors who have been on varsity since freshman year. Plus, we’ve got a good core of 8th graders on JV because we don’t have a middle school team in town.”  

 Senior outfielder Lukas Kelly was 3rd Team All-State last year after hitting .357. Classmate Eric Goodrich was the Somersworth Championship football team quarterback last fall and will play 1st base and pitch.

 The lefty threw 19.1 innings last year with 16 K’s and a 3.62 ERA and had a funky delivery, according to his coach. Seniors Logan Perrault and Kaden Bickford also return after putting up some good numbers on the mound last season. Another football player, Carter Morgan, is a senior outfielder.  

 Junior middle infielder/RHP Simon Grandmasion struck out 18 in 16.1 innings pitched over six games last year with a 3.43 ERA. Coach Bussiere says Grandmaison is a top arm and middle-of-the-order bat who “eats and breathes baseball.”

 The Hilltoppers will be without injured junior OF Will Sneddon for a while because of a hip problem. Somersworth has a couple of sophomores they hope will make an impact this season: LHP/1B Jack Rossiter and third baseman Camden Pettingill.  

  The North Country town of Berlin is a hockey town. The Mountaineers brought home another hockey Championship banner this season, beating Pembroke-Campbell 2-0 in the Division 3 Finals at SNHU Arena.

 Head baseball coach Dan Mackin is an assistant coach for the Berlin-Gorham hockey program, and a number of his baseball players are also members of that team. “The athletes in Berlin are coming out of the hockey program,” Mackin said.

 Mackin graduated from Berlin in 2000 and enters his 5th year as the head coach. The Mountaineers baseball team dipped to 3-13 last year and missed the playoffs after reaching the semifinals in 2022.   

 Senior Kolin Melanson was the shutdown goalie on the Berlin hockey team, winning D3 Player of the Year. He’s also expected to lead Berlin on the diamond as the team’s top pitcher.

 “Kolin has been a starter for all four years. He pitched the 2nd most innings for us last year behind Jeremiah Dow, played shortstop and catcher, and hit .326”, said Mackin. Senior Jamison Walsh hit .326 last year and led the team with 11 RBI; he also scored the go-ahead goal for Berlin in the hockey Championship game.     

 The Poulin brothers are also back for Berlin. Sophomore Boyd Poulin was 1st team All-State in hockey, and senior Brady Poulin was a second team playing under their dad, head coach Mike Poulin.

 Both will be used on the mound along with another hockey player, sophomore Hudson Goulet. A third Poulin on the roster, senior Evan Poulin, is unrelated to the other Poulins. “There’s a lot of Poulins in town. You should see how many Poulins are in the old Berlin phonebook!” Mackin joked.   

 The Newfound Bears were the last team into the Division 3 tournament field last year with a 4-12 record that earned them the 14th and final seed and a 1st round matchup with 3rd seed and eventual champion White Mountains.

 The team hopes to build on that 4-1 playoff loss to end the first season under new head coach Logan Belanger after losing only three seniors to graduation. "Last year was a big learning year for all of us involved. We had a feeling-out process," said coach Belanger, a 2014 Newfound grad. "Winning a playoff game is possible for us this season because we are a much better team now."  

 Senior Josh Blouin will be expected to lead the way. "He's an All-State type kid who pitches and also plays shortstop for us, and he led the team in just about every offensive category as a junior," according to the coach.

 Junior Landon Sargent will slot in behind Blouin in the rotation and play short when Blouin is pitching. Senior RHP Hayden Dolloff caught last year, but he threw a decent amount of innings his sophomore year and will be used on the mound more this season.

 Freshman Nate Arnold, a tall southpaw coach Belanger, said "throws like a classic lefty" will give teams a different look. Sophomore Daniel Sherkanowski will get some starts and be used as a first guy out of the bullpen.  

 Junior Brayden Jenkins will play catcher and hit leadoff. "He sees a ton of pitches; he's always 3 and 2", Belanger quipped. Around the outfield, you can expect junior James Joyce in right, senior Cody Laflamme in center, and junior Colvin Colby in left.

 Big, strong freshman Gavin Royea "has completely blown us away in the preseason, and he'll probably be our second baseman." Coach Belanger also mentioned that the middle school program in Bristol has had excellent numbers, so there's optimism for the future at Newfound.  

 Most programs wouldn't be too happy with a 3 and 13 finish that saw them miss the playoffs yet again, but not coach Britt Lewis and Mascoma Valley Regional High School.

 Coming off a pair of seasons where the Royals won just one game combined in 2021 and 2022, the feeling now is that this team is on the upswing. Lewis, now entering his second season as head coach, moved into the area from Texas with his family late in 2020. He said last year was a learning experience for everyone.

 "There was a very steep learning curve. Baseball is baseball, but moving up from Texas, I didn't even know you could practice baseball in a gym. I've never had a practice canceled because of a snowstorm", Lewis chuckled.  

 Just a couple years after they were almost unable to field a varsity team at Mascoma, the numbers are good enough to field both varsity and JV.

 "We have 26 kids in the program, and only 4 are seniors, so we have a good young group of players. We don't differentiate varsity players from JV players; we use the JV as a developmental team to get kids the needed experience," Lewis said.  

 Cayden Marquay and TJ Mardin are two of the returning seniors the Royals are looking to for leadership. Marquay pitched a lot last year and will be counted on on the mound again, with Mardin sharing the catching duties with junior Ethan Lewis, the coach's son.

 James Thomas from the Mascoma basketball team and fellow senior Connor Hobbs, a football player and wrestler at the school, are joining the team after not playing baseball last season. 

 Junior pitcher Brody Goulette also saw a lot of time on the mound last year.  Coach Lewis said he was “super, super excited” about another junior pitcher, Kaden Jatczak, and to keep an eye out for juniors Andrew Prince and Marshall Yorke at second base.

 When we talked about sophomore Mason Ballard, who dominated in an All-State hockey season for the Lebanon-Stevens-Mascoma co-op team over the winter, I asked coach Lewis what kind of baseball player Ballard is…the coach just responded, “Same.”  “He’s a next-level hockey player.” 

 “The only flaw I see is when he runs, he runs like a hockey player,” Lewis joked.  Ballard will be the team’s shortstop and get help from another sophomore they like at the position, Landon Ramirez.  

 The Hillcats of Hillsboro-Deering High School return to Division 3 after a year of playing only a JV schedule.

 The numbers weren't there last season as they had only 12 kids total, with no seniors, one junior, and the other 11 freshmen and sophomores.

 That team fared well in JV play with a record of 9-2, and the spirit in the program was lifted until they faced an excellent Monadnock JV team in the regular season finale and were humbled, according to new coach Jeff Miller. "That was a wakeup call for the kids, seeing good pitching and talent like they have at Monadnock; we just weren't ready for it."  

 Miller coached locally at New England College for ten years, eight as the head coach, so the Hillcats are fortunate to have an experienced man in command of a team that features only three players with any varsity experience, senior Sam Bradley and juniors Jack Harrington and Joel Belanger who were all on the team the year before the drop to JV.

 Miller said sophomore right-hander JT Robinson is expected to lead the pitching staff with junior Ben Perrin, the starting catcher, and clean up four hitters and sophomore Alex Crowe at first base.   

 Taking a look at the Hopkinton Hawks, they might be a team others look at on their schedule and mark as a win after a 1-15 finish in the 2023 season. However, this team re-loaded after a down year in numbers, which is familiar with all sports in D3 & D4.

 The Hawks are looking towards this season as an opportunity to make a statement under 2nd-year head coach Kevin Hill. "Our goal was experience," said Coach Hill, speaking about last year's team that only brought in 12 players, "while trying to maintain as competitive as we can in each game." Hopkinton got through last year with all 12 players and plenty to build on. Now, all focus will be on the 2024 season and a roster featuring 17 players. 

 Division III is full of talent around the granite state. Some of that talent will be seen in Hopkinton, including players like junior Cody Charron. "He's a workhorse who took a big leap for us last year," said Hill.

 Charron, just a sophomore at the time, was a player the Hawks depended on pitching-wise down the stretch during the 2023 season and had to eat a lot of innings. He was the one on the bump who helped Hopkinton secure their one win on the campaign.

 Charron was also a force at the plate, leading the team in batting average. The second-year head coach expects Charron to take another leap as one of the team's leaders. 

 This season, the Hawks will have three captains on the team. Returning players Bronson Ammann, Tyler Czarkowski, and Adam Richter will lead the Hawks into the 2024 season. Hopkinton should not be overlooked heading into the new year. Coach Hill expects this program to grow and continue a "rich tradition of competitive baseball" in Hopkinton. 

 One of this year's captains, junior Bronson Ammann, will be alongside Charron at the top of the Hopkinton rotation. Ammann will have high expectations to meet after his sophomore season, during which he struggled with "arm issues" mentioned by Hill.

 Regardless, Ammann led the team.OBP will be tough for anyone in D3. Don't be surprised to see Charron and Ammann leading the team on the mound and behind the plate.

 The new baseball coach at Raymond High School, Collin Lee, is taking over a struggling program and a team that went 1 and 15 last year. The only win of the season came in mid-April against Mascoma, and one of the biggest issues was how many runs they gave up.

 Opposing teams put up double-digit runs In thirteen of the sixteen games played against Raymond last season, and in the three games, they didn’t give up at least 10; the other team scored 8, 9, and 7 runs.  

 As a Raymond grad, Class of 2016, who played for the Rams in high school and whose grandfather coached the team, Lee comes in with a lot of school pride and takes on the tough task of turning things around. “Baseball culture was not there these last few years.

 “I have four seniors on the team, and none of those guys have ever won a playoff game in their high school careers,” Lee said.

 Caleb Normandin, Ryan Santino, Trey Donahue, and Nate Wallace are the four seniors the coach hopes to experience the postseason this year.

 Santino will play shortstop and pitch with football QB/basketball player Donahue in center field, Wallace at first, and Normandin in the infield. Lee called Camden Morrill one of the team’s best hitters: “He had a 4 for 4 game with two doubles”.

 He will be used on the mound and in left field, while junior Collin McGovern will pitch and play on the left side of the infield. Junior Caleb Pekalskey will likely play right field. McGovern’s younger brother, freshman Brady McGovern, will be the team’s starting 1st baseman and also do some pitching. Another freshman, Jack Jewel, is also listed as a pitcher.

 The Rams also have sophomore Shane Mckenny and freshman Maddox Brown, who are catchers.   

We didn't get to talk to Newport coach Matt Robbins on the phone in time for this preview but the coach was nice enough to send us the Tigers roster for his young team which features only one senior, Colton Godwin and 4 juniors, Kam Pollari, Owen Leavitt, Amilio Urista and Noah Fryman.  The Newport underclassmen are sophomores Adrian Sanchez, Kobie Curtis and Devan Robbins and freshmen Cameron Nerenburg, Andrew Benoit and Carson Almstrom.