CARTERSVILLE, Ga. – If anything was learned during the first two years of the Perfect Game High School Showdown-Academies’ existence it was the lesson that nothing should come as a surprise. So many of these academies’ baseball teams go about their business in relative anonymity, outside of the jurisdiction of state high school athletic associations and away from the mainstream.
Professional scouts and college recruiting coordinators are fully aware of the talent that is lurking on many of the academies’ rosters, of course, which explains why at least a couple of dozen were present and accounted for at Perfect Game Park South at LakePoint Thursday morning for the first day of play at the 3rd annual PG High School Showdown-Academies.
But even those seasoned observers will admit it’s foolish to try to predict the outcomes of games based on how the roster looks inside the official program. That was certainly the case in one of the tournament-openers Thursday when the highly regarded TNXL Academy Ducks out of Altamonte Springs, Fla., took on the somewhat under-the-radar Cheshire Academy from Cheshire, Conn.
It was that roster deal. TNXL Academy has nine prospects that have signed with or committed to NCAA Division I colleges, including South Carolina signees Carlos A. Cortes and Riley Hogan and Central Florida commits Michael Largey and Ryan Dease. Cortes was a 2015 Perfect Game All-American – he was the Most Valuable Player at the PG All-American Classic in August – from Oviedo, Fla., who is projected as an early round MLB draft pick in June.
“We don’t get too concerned about who we’re playing and we try to control only what we can control,” Cheshire Academy head coach John Toffey said Thursday. “We can control our team and how well we play and, again, we don’t really spend a whole lot of time worrying too much about the other team. that’s not really something we can have a whole lot to do with.”
That approach proved to be fail-safe as Cheshire posted what many in attendance might describe as a surprising 4-1 victory over TNXL. But a closer examination of those rosters reveals that Cheshire Academy has four D-I signees of its own and two of them were factors in their team’s victory Thursday.
Senior right-hander Austen Michel, a Dartmouth recruit from South Hamilton, Mass., and junior left-hander Jake Randolph from Exeter, N.H., combined on a one-run, five-hitter with five strikeouts and three walks to lead Cheshire. Junior Griffin Burke and senior Ryan Berardino were both 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, senior PJ McDonald singled and drove in a pair and senior Rich Gilbride – a Sienna signee from Beverly, Mass. – doubled and scored.
“Our pitchers did a real nice job today,” Toffey said. “Obviously, we know they had a good club but I felt pretty confident about our club, too. I think it started on the mound – our pitchers threw the ball really well, they got ahead of the hitters, they challenged hitters, they threw strikes. Our defense played well behind them – we played error-free baseball and made some plays – and we had some timely hits. When you have those three things generally good things are going to happen.”
Cheshire’s other players that have signed letters-of-intent are senior catcher/first baseman Cody Pasic from Cotuit, Mass. (U. of Maine) and senior right-hander David Stiehl from Manchester, Conn. (Northeastern University).
This is Toffey’s first year running the baseball program at Cheshire Academy and he brought to LakePoint a varsity roster that includes 10 seniors, nine juniors and two sophomores. He previously coached at Salisbury (Conn.) School and brought his talented team to the first PG HS Showdown-Academies event in 2014 where it finished as runner-up after a championship game loss to Faith Baptist Christian (Fla.). Toffey jumped at the opportunity to bring his first Cheshire Academy team to the north Atlanta suburbs this week.
“This event is obviously and outstanding opportunity for our boys, especially being from the Northeast,” he said. “There is excellent exposure here, beautiful fields and it’s something our kids have been looking forward to for a long time. We’re very excited to be here.”
Cheshire Academy is one of the oldest and most prestigious academic and athletic academies in the country. When it was established in 1794 it was only the 10th private school ever founded in the United States and the first in Connecticut. Academically, it offers a renowned International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in addition to departments of study in English, Math, Science, History, Language and Fine & Performing Arts.
It is a coed boarding school for students who choose to live on campus – Toffey and his wife live on campus and he supervises one of the boys’ dormitories – and has an enrollment of right around 400 students in grades 8 through 12 with 70 faculty members to serve them; there is an average of only 10 to 15 students in each class.
Its athletic department is equally impressive with 26 varsity sports offered for both and girls. Those offerings range from the traditional baseball, softball, basketball, football and soccer to hockey, snow skiing, lacrosse, fencing and ultimate Frisbee. The hockey program is new to the school and Toffey is its head coach as well. The skaters played more than 70 games in the fall and winter so the turn-around to baseball came very quickly.
“The competitiveness that our kids have and the overall athleticism having kids play multiple sports, there’s a lot of carryover between the different sports,” he said. “Most of the top athletes we have are involved in multiple sports, and our junior centerfielder Griffin Burke is being recruited by all the top football programs in the country; I don’t think it will be too long before their baseball programs come calling, too.”
Toffey describes his baseball team as a tight-knit group, many of whom live together, attend classes and workouts together and even socialize together when a free minute or two presents itself. Because the school is a community within itself, there is a very strong family feel among its students and that carries over into the athletic programs.
Cheshire Academy belongs to the New England Prep School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) and the baseball team is also a member of the Western New England Prep Baseball League. Toffey expects the team to play close to 40 games during what is really only about a nine to 10-week season.
It was scheduled to play its second pool-play game Thursday night against NewMaldy Elite from Carolina, Puerto Rico, and a victory would mean a pool championship and a spot in Friday’s six-team playoffs. If Cheshire Academy can earn a No. 1 or No. 2 seed, it would earn a bye directly into the semifinals.
Welcome to the PG High School Showdown-Academies and feel free to lineup right behind the scouts and college coaches. And remember, it’s impossible to predict exactly what’s going to take place.