Having a pitching rotation as deep as it has, the Joel Barlow High varsity baseball team should be a force to be reckoned with in the 2024 season.
On the mound, the Falcons will be about eight or nine deep. They also are solid on defense as well as offense.
“From a pitching staff perspective we’re extremely deep, both in numbers and quality, so we’re set up really well for tournaments,” said head coach Matt Griffiths, now in his eighth season with the team. “Of course, we have to get there first.”
As far as numbers are concerned, the Falcons have 35 players in the program, which includes varsity and JV teams. They will be an experienced group, with 11 seniors, many of whom saw playing time last season and were a big part of Barlow’s success.
“Numbers are healthy,” said Griffiths. “More importantly, we have quality over quantity.”
Posting a 19-7 record, the Falcons won their first South-West Conference championship and their first league title in 31 years. The defending state Class M champs, they reached the quarterfinals but lost to New Fairfield.
Barlow graduated a number of key players from last season, including All-SWC selection Will Scott, defensive standout Charlie Basta, as well as Braden Kurtz, Will Iuzzolino and Carter Jarvis. Scott was an All-SWC selection as an outfielder and is playing for Williams College this year.
Having a large senior class, the Falcons also return many of their starting players from last season as well as the 2022 state championship team, including their number one and two starting pitchers, Christian Nilsen and Ian Nilsen. The former, an All-SWC and CHSCA All-State selection, also played first base, and the latter (All-Patriot Division) will also be in the outfield. The Nilsen brothers will be playing Division I baseball at Quinnipiac University next year.
Tufts University commit Lachlan Ellis will also be part of the Falcons’ starting rotation and Lucas Asanovic, a Williams College commit, will be Barlow’s closing pitcher and play third base.
Back at shortstop is Eastern Connecticut State commit Cameron Forte (All-Patriot Division honorable mention). Also back are infielders Noah Capetanakis and Charlie Gettings; infielder/outfielder Liam Kelly; and pitchers Charles Kennedy, Kyle Dobbins and Aidan Simonson.
“We’re heavy on seniors but we do have a solid core of underclassmen as well,” said Griffiths. “It’s probably the most solid senior class we’ve ever had.”
Anchoring the junior class will be catcher Bill Bardani. T.J. Baer (All-Patriot Division) will start in center field and Will Gregor will play first base and pitch. Logan Kady is a second baseman, and other juniors include Conner Thomas and Danny Smith.
“We return a lot of our starting core from last year,” said Griffiths. “We’ve got some new additions that will fill in nicely.”
As far as the competition is concerned, Griffiths expects the SWC to be solid again this season. Brookfield, which Barlow defeated for the league championship, should be strong this season, as should New Fairfield and Bethel in particular.
“I think our offense is solid top to bottom,” said Griffith. “We know we’re going to pitch and play defense. If we figure out how to get a few runs across I think we’re going to be in really good shape.”
Barlow opens the season on Monday at Ridgefield at 4 p.m.
