Hilltoppers On Top After CNEPSL Championship Win Against Phillips Academy-Andover

The following ESPN article was published May 17, 2015 and can be read in its entirety below.  To read the story on the ESPN website, go to "Worcester Academy wins Central Prep baseball tourney."


By John McGuirk, Special to ESPNBoston.com

Three things gave you reason to believe why Worcester Academy would win the 33rd Central New England Prep School Baseball League-Thomas Blackburn Tournament.

First off, the Hilltoppers remained atop the CNEPSL standings from start to finish.

Secondly, they were the top-seed heading into the tournament and, lastly, they dedicated this season to their popular head coach Dana Forsberg and assistant Mark Gafur, both of whom, before the season began, announced they were resigning from the program once the campaign ended.

Each of those intangibles proved to stack up mightily against Phillips Academy-Andover in the championship game held Saturday at the New England Baseball Complex.

WA took care of business early on after jumping out to a seven run lead after the fourth inning. In addition, Hilltopper pitcher Gus Culpo was in complete control of the Big Blue offense, holding them hitless over the first five innings before settling for an 11-4 triumph.

WA closes its outstanding season with an overall mark of 18-4, while PA, the second seed, finishes at 14-6.

The title is the first for the Hilltoppers since 2011, and their sixth overall.

"These guys came in as the No. 1 seed and they did the job they were supposed to," said Forsberg, who after eight seasons at the helm decided to call it quits as he and his family will be moving to Seattle. "Both Mark and I are leaving the school and the kids said from Day 1 they were going to win the championship and go out on top. Each one of them answered the bell and performed. No question I am going to miss it here, but my wife is already settled in Seattle so it will be a new adventure for myself and my family."

After shutting down No. 3 seed and defending champs Tabor Academy, 4-1, in the opening round, behind the stalwart pitching of Boston College-bound Thomas Lane (6-0 on the year, 2 earned runs allowed), PA could not replicate the feat in the finale.

Big Blue pitcher and University of Pennsylvania commit Jake Nelson had problems with his location throughout. The senior, who came in with a 2-1 record and 2.59 ERA, ran into trouble quickly against an aggressive Hilltoppers line up.

A three-run third inning had WA in command. The Hilltoppers would load the bases before Nelson issued a walk to Alex Brickman, the hero of WA's opening round 7-3 triumph over No. 4 Cushing Academy, to send the first run across. John Crimmin followed by chopping a single through the right side, plating two more.

Nelson lasted just three innings, allowing six hits, striking out three. The righty entrenched himself further into trouble in the fourth. Bobby Ivatts and Ryan McDermott (2 hits apiece) both singled, setting the stage for Mariano Ricciardi.

The sophomore lead-off batter laced an 0-1 pitch deep into the left-centerfield gap for a triple, one of his two hits on the afternoon, putting WA on top by five runs. Nelson's day was done at that point, giving way to Tim Salvadore. But the senior immediately surrendered a walk to Dante Ricciardi that was proceeded by an RBI single off the bat of Brad Waddell (2 hits). A walk to future UMass-Lowell product Austin Young filled the bases before Brickman, a junior, singled up the middle, scoring Dante Ricciardi and extend the lead to 7-0.

"Our hitters, day in and day out, have just been performing at a high level," said Forsberg. "They just seem to always get that big hit which is a credit to them. Gus was lights out today and when you have a pitcher going that well, I think it is easier for our hitters to be a little more comfortable at the plate.

“Today, they kept hitting the ball, putting it in play and made things happen. We've faced a lot of good pitchers this year and our guys thrive on that. They love good pitching and it gets them amped up, where there are some guys when facing a good pitcher tend to get a little nervous and they sort of hold back. But with our guys, this is what they want. They want to get everyone's best pitcher."

While the Hilltoppers offense flourished (12 hits total), so too did Culpo on the mound. Having undergone Tommy John surgery in 2012, the former Moses Brown and Bishop Hendricken (R.I.) standout, continued to keep the Big Blue off-stride with his fastball and assorted off-speed pitches.

Frankly, PA had no answer in how to solve Culpo, a post-grad headed to the University of Pittsburgh next season. The 6-2 right-hander, who topped out at 92 miles per hour, lasted 6 2/3 innings, surrendered five hits while fanning eight.

"I felt pretty good right from the beginning and I knew I needed to keep pounding the strike zone," Culpo said. "I was able to throw strikes consistently early on and when I can get that first pitch over for a strike, I can then start mixing in my off-speed pitches which certainly helps. When we got those three runs in third it made things a bit more comfortable for me out there.

“Getting the opportunity to pitch here has been awesome. My arm felt great today so I'm obviously really excited about that. These are some of the best teammates I've had in a long time. We live together in the dorm and, because of that, you develop a bond that you cannot reproduce by going to a regular school. The boarding community has made it great for me here."

The Big Blue offense finally began to show some life in the sixth. With freshman Joe Simourian standing on second after a walk and an errant pick off attempt, sophomore Taylor Beckett drove a fastball down the left field line for a run-scoring double. John Simourian followed by ripping a single up the middle, scoring Beckett and cut into the deficit as PA trailed 7-2.

As the Big Blue attempted to crawl back into this one, those efforts would be denied in the bottom of the inning. The Hilltoppers erupted for four more runs to put this contest out of reach. In the frame, Young led off with a double and Brickman reached base on catcher's interference. Crimmin next walked to load the bases with nobody out. Salvadore retired the next batter before serving up RBI singles to Ivatts and McDermott. Crimmin trotted home a few moments later on a walk to Dante Ricciardi. With Ivatts standing at third, the senior closed out the Hilltoppers scoring, crossing the plate on a wild pitch.

"This is a very-talented team we have here," said Dante Ricciardi, who will play at Georgetown University next spring. "We had high expectations coming into the season and all of these guys have battled throughout the year. We've played with energy, had each other's backs and have really become a family. Gus pitched his heart out today and that was one of the best games I've seen him pitch. This season was dedicated to Coach Forsberg and Coach Gafur and I think we did a pretty good job with that."

After loading the bases in the its half of the seventh, PA made things a bit more respectable by notching a couple more runs courtesy of a bases-loaded walk and a strikeout passed ball. Relief pitcher Connor Donahue, bound for UMass-Amherst, entered with two outs and got Ben Reinisch to pop out to close things out.

"It was tough to come back and Culpo was pounding the zone, throwing hard and kept us off-balance just enough with his off-speed stuff," Big Blue head coach Kevin Graber said. "It wasn't until the sixth inning that we made any kind of significant threat. By that time we were already in a pretty deep deficit.

“This team was an outstanding group. They battled to the very last at bat as evident when we scored two runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh. I thought Nelson was around the plate and he wasn't missing by much. But when Worcester was able to work themselves in favorable counts, they did a good job of putting bat to ball and moving guys along. Credit goes to them."

The Hilltoppers reached the championship game after disposing of Cushing. With his team down by a pair of runs, Brickman, an Andover native, put on an offensive show by launching a pair of home runs, including a grand slam, which put WA ahead to stay in the sixth inning.