'A special talent': A 6-6 freshman is turning heads for Bishop Stang baseball

DARTMOUTH — Seamus Keller showed a glimpse of what he can do during Wednesday’s 6-1 win over Archbishop Williams in Catholic Central League action.

Batting in the No. 9 spot, the Bishop Stang freshman slugged a hard hit ball that rolled toward the right field fence. He raced around the bases and dove head-first past home plate to beat the throw for an inside-the-park home run.

It put the Spartans out front 4-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning.

“I saw it go by him so I thought I have to start running fast,” said Keller, who lives in Westport. “It felt great.”

“It was the first home run for our team for the year and the first one for him as a freshman,” said Bishop Stang head coach Brian Rose. “He hits the ball hard. He’s a quiet kid. He doesn’t say a whole lot, but he’s a special talent.”

An injury from the summer has kept Keller, a 6-foot-6 right-handed pitcher, off the mound so far this season.

“I’m a pitcher, but right now I’m recovering,” said Keller, who has played outfield in Stang’s first 11 games. “In the summer I had a stress fracture so I’ve been recovering since, but I’m almost back.

"I’m a lot stronger. I was working really hard all offseason and I think it’s going to pay off.”

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Rose added, “I can’t wait to see him pitch at some point. That’s when we’re really going to see his talents. I’ve seen him practice and can’t wait to get him (to pitch) in a game.

“We’re just over the halfway point and he’s becoming healthy for us so it’s great timing for him and great timing for us. We can always use another arm.”

Keller is excited to see what Bishop Stang can do down the stretch of season.

“We have high expectations,” he said. “It’s been a little bumpy this season, but I feel like this second half of the season we’re going to ramp it up and get even better. We have a lot of potential.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

Brock Winslow led off the bottom of the first inning with a single to left field and scored moments later on a throwing error by Archbishop Williams.

Stang added two more runs in the fourth inning as Nicholas Nasiff scored on a sac fly by Nate Moniz and Landon Cardoza drove in Erick Dawson for a 3-0 advantage.

Keller’s home run made it 4-0 to lead off the fifth inning. Then Winslow, who was hit by a pitch, scored on an RBI single from Dawson. Winslow then drove in Stang’s final run of the game in the sixth on an RBI single to right field. He went 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored.

“He had a bunch of great at bats,” Rose said of Winslow. “He’s a guy that didn’t get a lot of results early in the year, but he’s a hard worker and balls are starting to fall for him. I’m happy for him because he has put in a lot of work. It’s good to see him get the results.”

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Matt Burt started the game for Stang and went five innings, allowing three hits and three walks while striking out four for his third win of the season.

“He’s our ace,” Rose said. “He’s given us a chance to win every time he’s gone out there. Today we played a much cleaner game for him. He’s going to get some strikeouts, but we have to make plays behind him and I think we did that very well today, especially at third base. Matt DeRosa made some great plays at third base with plays that could have changed the game.”

Burt added, “I got a lot of help in the field today so that was nice.”

WHAT IT MEANS

The win was the second straight for Bishop Stang, which improved to 4-7 overall and 1-3 in the CCL. The Spartans visit Dartmouth on Saturday at 11 a.m. … With the loss, Archbishop Williams fell to 3-9.

COACHES CORNER

“It seems like the team is improving. Early in the year we didn’t fire on all cylinders. I told the guys, 'You have to put together the offense, the defense, the pitching and the baserunning. We have to be able to do all four things at least somewhat close to perfect.' Today we did a lot of good things — not many mistakes if any.” — Rose

NOTES

Eight different players had hits for Stang with Winslow leading the way with two.

Bishop Stang 6, Archbishop Williams 1

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Bishop Stang;100;221;x—6

WP: Matt Burt; LP: Kreuz

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Bishop Stang beats Archbishop Williams for second straight win