Worcester Telegram & Gazette: "Inside Pitch For Snowbound Players"
By Jen Toland - Staff Writer
February 6, 2011
Photo Slideshow (Courtesy of the Telegram & Gazette)
Worcester State senior Corey Abbascia is hopeful that the 8-foot-high mounds of snow, perilous patches of ice and the rest of Mother Nature's mess will be gone by the time the Lancers baseball team plays its home opener in late March.
But as more flurries flew outside one afternoon last week, Abbascia didn't seem too worried about it.
"There's no snow in here," Abbascia said after Worcester State wrapped up practice at the Auburn SportsPlex. "It's like a sunny day in here."
Especially this winter, indoor centers like the Auburn SportsPlex have been a refuge for area baseball players, and they give kids, Little Leaguers on up, the opportunity to train and work on their games year-round.
"What the indoor baseball concept has done over the last 10-15 years," Wachusett Regional coach Matt Gull said, "is it's brought the New England player a little bit closer to the southern player. Obviously we're never going to be able to exactly replicate what they can do in the South because they're on grass, outdoors, but it gives our guys a little bit more of an opportunity to enhance their skills and refine their skills during the offseason. It's brought them a little closer."
Gull, 37, who grew up in Holden and is an instructor at The Strike Zone in Worcester, recalled his first experience with training indoors for baseball when he was about 13 at Grand Slam of New England in Sterling.
Former New England Patriots kicker John Smith opened an indoor soccer center in Milford in 1989. InSports (now called Teamworks), which opened in Northboro in 1996, was also one of the first indoor training centers in the area. Today, there are 13 indoor facilities in Central Mass., most of them multipurpose, that offer baseball training, clinics, camps and instruction.
"Before that, it was find a gym and do whatever," Gull said. "It was tougher."
Dirk Baker, in his 17th season as Worcester State's coach, can attest to that. Before the Natoli brothers, John, Peter and Dennis, opened the Auburn SportsPlex in 2003, Baker's teams held preseason practice in the Lancers gym, usually after basketball games.
"We'd have to sweep up the popcorn," Baker said, "then rig up the cage by throwing a weighted softball attached to ropes over the rafters and then hoist it up. If it got stuck, we didn't hit that day. We get so much accomplished in here."
The Lancers practice at the Auburn SportsPlex, colloquially called "the Dome," four days a week for the seven weeks leading up to the first game on their southern trip, March 11 in Lakeland, Fla.
Last week, the team had full reign of the 50,000-square foot space and used it for hitting, pitching and fielding drills on turf.
"It puts us a step ahead of everyone else that doesn't have the opportunity to use a facility like this," Abbascia said. "Teams using gyms at school don't have the ability to do what we do here."
Baker said the Auburn SportsPlex has been a big reason for his team's success in recent years. The Lancers have qualified for the NCAA Tournament three times in the last eight seasons.
The Natoli brothers opened the Auburn SportsPlex with baseball and softball in mind, but local soccer and lacrosse teams, as well as the Holy Cross football team, also use it.
The Strike Zone is Worcester's only indoor baseball and softball training and instructional center. Included in its 10,000 square feet are eight batting cages and four dirt mounds.
Wachusett holds its captain's practices there and players from all of the Worcester public high school teams use it. The Strike Zone is also popular among Little League and AAU teams. Owner Jack Cather said his busiest time is January-May, with things really picking up once the countdown to Red Sox spring training starts.
It's now at 13 days, by the way.
Gull, who coached Wachusett to the Division 1 Central Mass. title last year, said the opportunity to train indoors has absolutely benefited his players.
"The MIAA really only allows a two-week window to get ready for the first game," Gull said. "It's not enough time to get the arms in shape, the swings down. (Working indoors) gives the kids a real good opportunity for an 8-10-week period to get ready physically so they're not going to go out and hurt themselves and where they can perform."
Doherty High senior Ty Sterner, who will play at the University of Rhode Island next year, was getting ready to take some swings at The Strike Zone last Monday.
"It's very beneficial," said Sterner, who takes hitting lessons from Gull and pitching lessons from instructor Mike Alberts. "My dad always says, 'I would have been 10 times better if I had this when I was a kid.' "
One of the newest indoor facilities in the area is Boost Baseball in Hudson, which opened last week. Adjacent to Boost Fitness, the 10,000-square-foot Boost Baseball has six 75-foot long tunnels, a multipurpose turf field and an area for strength and conditioning and speed and agility clinics.
"Our real goal is to give kids a chance to train like a professional athlete," owner Mark Federico said. "Baseball and softball is our core focus, but our goal is to work with all athletes and get them ready for whatever sport they want."
Federico, who also owns Boost Fitness centers in Northboro and Westford, felt a need in the area for Boost Baseball.
"I was getting a lot of requests from high school athletes — 'I want to train, I want to get ready for the season or prepare to go off for college to play a sport,' " Federico said. "We wanted to incorporate that, but not interrupt our regular clientele."
Younger kids also use Boost Baseball. A clinic for 6-8-year-olds, followed by one for 9-12-year-olds, was going on Monday afternoon. Indoor facilities benefit ballplayers of all ages — and get them thinking about spring.
"Obviously, you look out the window and there's no baseball going on out there," Southbridge High coach and Boost Baseball instructor Brian Davis said. "We're not in Florida or Texas. This helps kids shore up their skills, keep their skills sharp. As long as they have good instruction, that's key."