The FCIAC and state playoff madness begins for spring sports as late May and early June roll around. Almost every year, Staples has a team competing for a state or FCIAC championship. Baseball has been to the Class LL state championship for the past two years, unfortunately losing both those games. Could this year be the year that they claim the throne since Chad Knight ’19 led the team to victory in his senior year in 2019?
The boys have had an up-and-down season. They have some big wins, including 10-2 over Ridgefield and 8-1 over New Canaan, both powerful FCIAC opponents. However, they have also lost some games they were supposed to win, including a 6-0 loss to Greenwich and a 3-0 loss to St. Joe’s in the first round of FCIAC play. They have fallen from the preseason number one team to out of the top 10 (GameTime CT). Captain Jake Goldshore ’25 spoke about what they need to do to make a deep run in the playoffs.
“As a team, we have shown a potential to make a state playoff run; we need to be gritty and take it one game at a time in states,” Goldshore said. “At the beginning of the year, we put too much thought into the rankings, now we don’t even think about it. I don’t even know what we are ranked.”
At the beginning of the year, it was clear that the boys had a talented roster with multiple returning stars and collegiate commits, highlighted by Kai Nee ’25 – the standout pitcher for the Wreckers who committed to play at the University of Pennsylvania. They also returned the catcher-pitcher duo of Andrew Oppenheimer ’25 and Goldshore, who are both committed to Trinity; Mason Tobias ’26, who committed to Seton Hall this past offseason; and Jules Cicero ’26, who earned All-FCIAC West honors last year as a sophomore.
However, due to injuries and some underwhelming performances, multiple players have had to fill larger roles. Noah Saed ’25, who started the year not playing much, has exceeded expectations since seeing more significant playing time, even being nominated for Ruden Report Player of the Week in early May.
“It was tough [not getting play time] at first because I went from an everyday starter my junior year to not knowing when I’ll step onto the field my senior year,” Saed said. “Going into the season, I wasn’t expecting to pitch as much because I mostly played third last year. But there have been some injuries throughout the season, so I knew that Coach McFarland may ask me to take a larger pitching role this year, and I was ready to take it on.”
Despite all of the adversity they have faced throughout the season, the boys are confident in their ability to make a deep run in the playoffs; the raw talent that the team has alone should be a clear indicator that when they are hot, they can play with, if not beat the best teams in the state.
“We need to flush the FCIAC loss and just focus on winning baseball games,” Goldshore said. “I am excited about the playoffs and have confidence we can make a deep run.”
