HADLEY – The Hopkins Academy baseball team has hit the field for the 2025 season and head coach Dan Vreeland is cautiously optimistic in this year’s edition of the Golden Hawks.

“It’s a season where, if everything develops the way I’m kind of hoping things develop, we should be really competitive against some really good teams,” Vreeland said. “But it’s important for us all to take those steps forward so that we can be as good as we can be.”

Hopkins went 13-10 a year ago and lost to Georgetown during the Round of 8 of the MIAA Division 5 state tournament.

The Hawks lost some impact players to graduation, including Liam Flynn and Beau Elson, but junior Chace Earle and Amherst transfer Matthew Vassallo both figure to be key pieces on this year’s group.

Earle is one of Hopkins’ top arms in its pitching rotation, plus its best hitter. According to Vreeland, Earle began the season 32 hits away from reaching 100 career hits.

“He’s been starting at shortstop since he was in eighth grade,” Vreeland said. “Phenomenal defender, really stepped up as being a pitcher and a team leader.

“Electric fastball,” Vreeland added. “He mixes his speeds well, he’s a junior with a really good repertoire.”

Vassallo will be impactful at the plate. The newcomer showed off his power with two doubles in the Hawks’ 11-1 season-opening victory against Palmer on March 28.

“He’s got tons of power, plays really good defensively,” Vreeland said. “He plays shortstop, third base, catcher, I could stick him in the field if I really wanted to. I think he used to pitch for Amherst, occasionally. He’s a kid who does everything and just an absolute workforce.”

The Hawks also expect to get regular contributions from pitcher/outfielder Tucker Russell and middle infielder Nate Rickles.

Vreeland — who recently kicked off his 10th season as Hopkins’ skipper — noted that while a good portion of his team is made up on non-seniors, he’s confident his team will take the right steps necessary to be a tough out come playoffs.

“We’re young and I think we’re hungry and we’re developing,” Vreeland said. “We’ve had a couple of rough bumps at the early part of the season, but I think the kids were eager to learn, eager to work and we’re seeing that growth happening all the time. So I think a big thing for us is just making sure [we’re] taking the steps forward when we need to, because it’s hard with a young team. They make mistakes, they have their pitfalls, but they’re working really hard.”

The Hawks were shut out in their most recent home game to Frontier, 5-0, on April 2, but that didn’t deter Vreeland’s confidence level regarding the potential his team possesses.

“In terms of our strength, I think we hit pretty darn well,” Vreeland said. “We got a lot of young pitching that could really surprise a lot of people [too].”

Belchertown reloads

The Orioles bring back a bulk of the roster that advanced to the Round of 16 during last spring’s Division 3 state tournament and expectations are high once again in 2025.

“We’re experienced, we return nine seniors,” fifth-year Belchertown head coach Evan Berneche said. “Then we got a transfer from Amherst who moved into town, Thatcher Rudnik, which is rare. He was already friends with a bunch of the guys. Then there’s six juniors on varsity right now and two sophomores that practice with us. We really only had to fill in two spots.”

Leading the way for the Orioles this season will be Ian McDonald and Josh Misiaszek, both seniors. McDonald managed 25 hits as a junior a year ago, while Misiaszek entered the season needing two strikeouts on the bump to reach the century-mark for his career.

Misiaszek suffered an injury in 2024 that caused the third baseman/pitcher to miss 11 games. Berneche credited Jake Waller (second baseman) and Evan Ferguson (first baseman) for stepping up for Belchertown during its playoff run while Misiaszek was out of the lineup. Berneche also revealed Ryan Gould will likely be the only starter among juniors and he expects him to be a reliable arm on the mound.

“The expectation is high because the experience is high,” Berneche said. “But again, it’s going to come down to, do they execute in the time? We practice all these things every day. We focus on base running, we focus on situational hitting, we focus on putting the ball in play when we bunt. It’s only going to come down to, can they execute it, so that’s why we try to do it every day.”

The Orioles opened their season April 4 against Minnechaug, and the home opener was April 10 against Tantasqua.

Area quick-hitters

Amherst: The ‘Canes have an abundance of youth throughout their roster this season as 13 of Amherst’s 18 players are underclassmen. Head coach Jeff Gladu begins his sixth season with the Hurricanes and will look to guide them back to a .500 winning-percentage or better after going 7-12 last spring. Senior Nate Ziomek (3B, OF, P) will be tasked with leading Amherst this season.