'The timing was right': Charlie Eppinger steps aside as St. John's High baseball coach after successful 17-season run

The perennially powerful St. John’s High baseball team continued its winning ways under the guidance of Charlie Eppinger since he was named head coach at his alma mater in 2006.

The most recent example of that came this spring when the Pioneers advanced to the Division 1 state semifinal before seeing their successful season end with a competitive loss to soon-to-be, two-time state champion Taunton.

The Eppinger era, though, has ended as St. John’s confirmed Monday morning what had been rumored for close to a week, that Eppinger was stepping down after 17 seasons spanning 18 years (the 2020 campaign was canceled due to the pandemic), during which the Pioneers compiled a winning percentage of .705.

“I felt like the timing was right for both me personally, for my family, and for the program and, hopefully, for some of the coaches on staff,” Eppinger, 49, said. “For me personally, I think the idea of staying a year too long is much, much worse than going a year early. And the program, I think, is in very good shape.

“There’s a lot of talent returning, so whoever the new staff is has a full cupboard. I think the team can be really, really successful going forward. It’s a great group of guys, and I’d love to continue working with them, but at the same time, where my life is right now, I find myself pulled in a couple of different directions.”

One of those is family as Eppinger and his wife, Lisa, have three children who range in age from incoming middle school student to high school senior.

“I don’t want to miss it all every spring,” said Eppinger, who grew up in Worcester and resides in Holliston.Eppinger graduated from St. John’s, where he played baseball and ran cross-country, in 1992 before going on to earn a degree in business administration and accounting from the University of Notre Dame four years later.

He began his coaching career as an assistant at Grafton High and St. John’s before becoming the head coach at Grafton in 2005, leading the then-Indians to a 13-9 record and a spot in the Central Mass. Division 3 Tournament. He returned to his alma mater as the bench boss in 2006.

Eppinger replaced George Reidy, who coached the Pioneers for two very successful seasons after Bill White announced his retirement in 2003 ending a 16-year, championship-laden run. The good times continued for the Pioneers as they went 289-121 — with just one season in which they didn’t qualify for postseason play — on Eppinger’s watch.

The 10th-seeded Pioneers won the Central Mass. Division 1 championship in 2009 with a remarkable run in which they defeated No. 7 Nashoba, No. 2 Holy Name, No. 6 Westborough, and No. 1 Wachusett before advancing to the state final. They were also CMass champs in 2011 and CMass finalists in 2006, ’10 and ’12.

The Super 8 (Division 1A) tournament was introduced in 2014, and a year later, the Pioneers earned the first of three straight invitations that culminated with them winning the fourth state championship in program history in 2017. They went 23-3 that spring, setting a school record for wins.

“So many memorable kids and players,” said Eppinger, whose career record stands at 302-130 (.699). “It’s sort of cliché, but I met so many great kids that it’s way more important to have met those kids and hopefully help them in their formation and some of them happened to be really, really good baseball players, too.

“But I also forged amazing relationships with (longtime assistant coaches) Ed Shoro, Brett Ford, Mike Coonan. I was just really, really fortunate to have so many great players, so many great kids and so many great coaches to work with.

“It’s really bittersweet because I’ve loved it for so long, but I do feel the time is right and, hopefully, for the team, for me to go in another direction.”

Eppinger will continue to teach math and economics at St. John’s and envisions returning to coaching in some capacity in the future.

Eppinger was the fourth longest tenured coach in Central Mass. behind Bay Path’s Mark Sansoucy (20-plus years), Lunenburg’s Bob Robuccio (2003-present) and Auburn’s Eric Swedberg (2005-present).

He’s also the latest longtime head coach to depart St. John’s this year, joining John Andreoli (football), Tim Hilliard (track and field) and Dana Hodges (swim and dive). Andreoli began coaching the Pioneers in 2004, Hodges in ’08 and Hilliard in 2011.

—Contact Rich Garven at rgarven@telegram.com. Follow him on X @RichGarvenTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Charlie Eppinger steps aside as St. John's High baseball coach