'Wild ride': Diman baseball team off to quick start this spring

FALL RIVER — It's been quite the season thus far for Diman seniors Cole Andrade, Byron Bell and Jacob Almeida.

Now the trio can add some early accolades in their pockets before their high school careers comes to a close.

The Bengals clinched the Mayflower Athletic Conference Large Division on Tuesday after avenging their only loss of the season against Tri-County, 2-0, at Swansea YMCA complex in Swansea.

It's the first league title for Diman since the 2019 season when they began the season at 12-0. The Bengals also captured a league title in 2021 during a shortened spring season due to COVID-19. In 2015, Diman also won a league title.

"It's just a wild ride this year," Almeida said. "To win this league is just the best."

Andrade who improved to 3-0 on the season, said his team is ready for every game this season.

"I have a good team behind me and it was enough to finish the dub today," Andrade said after pitching the complete-game win. "The key to our success is just playing good defense, keeping our hopes up, preparing during the week and doing what we have to do."

Longtime head coach Floriano Lima has had an 18-0 season under his belt for the Bengals. He said the keys to his team's success are the pitching and their defense.

"When we play error free, we're good," Lima said. "We're blessed we got good pitching. This is one our better starts at 9-1, but we should be 10-0."

Bell, who played second base the last three season, moved behind the plate in 2024. He does a great job, handling the strong pitching of Diman's big 3 — junior captain Sam Perry, Levi Russell and Andrade. Bell played for the Diman football team who clinched thier first playoff berth since 2013 last fall.

"It's been so much fun (this season) and I'm enjoying every minute of this," he said.

Perry has had a phenomal campaign through 10 games. He has a 4-0 record on the hill, including a no-hitter against Southeastern. Perry, who is a three-sport athlete in football, basketball and baseball, leads the Bengals in batting with a .489 average.

Other players who collected timely hitting this year are Matthew Almeida, Camron Falcon, Bobby Leach, Charlie Vernon Alex Carvalho and Tanyon Reis.

Jacob Almeida has been a big surprise at the plate and on the base paths for the Bengals. He played hockey last winter and was named Most Valuable Player in the MAC, finishing with an area best 35 goals, 20 assists for 55 points. Almeida was selected as an all-star for the Massachusetts vs. Connecticut Border Challenge hockey all-star game.

"I'm kind of surprised at the way I started this season in baseball," he said. "I owe it all to my teammates. They motivate me as do my coaches and Coach Lima."

Diman is gearing for a playoff run as they are playing close to their potential midway through the season. Now its all about polishing off the regular season and getting better each day.

Herald News and Taunton Daily Gazette sports editor Steven Sanchez can be reached at ssanchez@heraldnews.com. You can follow him on Twitter @Chezsports

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Diman baseball clinches first league title since 2019