Two-time Eagles Locke and Delaney majoring in baseball history

Drew Locke of Weymouth and Jason Delaney of Hanson have been backing up each other in the field and at the plate for the past eight years.

They were teammates at Boston College High School and members of the South Shore Baseball Club's championship Amateur Athletic Union summer team, the Seadogs. And this spring they are wrapping up four years as teammates on the Boston College baseball team, with Locke playing left field and batting third while Delaney patrols center field and hits cleanup.

Last weekend, they traveled with their teammates to Tennessee to kick off the 2005 season at the Music City Classic, playing against three Nashville universities, Vanderbilt, Belmont, and Lipscomb. After more than a month of workouts inside the heated plasic bubble at Alumni Field, the Eagles were no match for their Southern hosts, going 0-4.

On Friday, after a few days back in the land of ice and snow, the team headed South again, for a regionally telecast game Friday against the world champion Boston Red Sox in Fort Myers, Fla. And beginning today, they will be spending the week in Boca Raton for games against LaSalle and Temple universities and Lafayette College, all from Pennsylvania; New York's Wagner College; and Florida Atlantic University.

BC plays 55 games in an 82-day season that will include three against defending Big East champion Notre Dame, to be played April 9-10 at Campanelli Stadium in Brockton.

The Eagles have not forgotten the last time these schools battled. The Fighting Irish, ranked seventh in the country, beat BC last May for the Big East championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament.

The rematches next month in 6,000-seat Campanelli Stadium will be a homecoming of sorts for BC baseball coach Pete Hughes, who has strong ties to the region. Hughes grew up on the south side of Brockton, and his father, Tom Hughes, is a teacher at Brockton High School and a noted girls' high school basketball coach.

''Hopefully, it will be an opportunity to see some old friends," said Hughes, who is given credit for turning around Boston College's baseball program.

(Hughes, Locke and Delaney aren't the only ones looking forward to the trip to Brockton. In the other dugout will be another familiar face, Middleborough's Tom Thornton, one of Notre Dame's top pitchers.)

In the 53 years before Hughes took over as head coach, the Eagles averaged 13 wins per season. But in the six he has served as head coach, BC has averaged more than 30 wins, and twice he was named the Big East coach of the year. And 15 of his players have signed professional contracts, including six from last year's team. Among them was Ryan Morgan of Weymouth, who played with Locke and Delaney at BC High School and for three years at the Heights.

At BC High, the trio were part of perhaps the region's best high school baseball team ever.

In addition to Locke, Delaney, and Morgan, BC High coach Norm Walsh had Mike Conroy of Scituate, who was a first-round draft pick of the Cleveland Indians; Mike Crane of Braintree, who played for Division 1 University of Massachusetts at Amherst; and catcher Frank Currieri of Weymouth, who starred at UMass before signing with the Chicago Cubs last fall.

''That was a great team," said Locke. ''It was a fun team to be on."

Locke said he and Delaney sometimes work out with Conroy at the South Shore Baseball Club during the winter. ''Sometimes he comes here. I think he's going to have a big year," he said of the fledgling pro.

Locke is hoping for a big year himself, and others are predicting it as well. Big East Conference coaches selected Locke as a preseason All-Star, but Hughes believes Locke deserves better.

''Drew is still not getting what he deserves -- he could have been our conference's player of the year last year," said Hughes. ''He should have been a preseason player of the year. He and Jason carried us last year. They tore up the league."

Locke got off to a rocky start, but rebounded to bat .278, leading BC with 21 doubles and 13 stolen bases. A career .354 hitter at BC, Locke hit safely in 42 of 59 games.

His slow start was understandable, after having wrist surgery in the fall of 2003.

''It was nothing major, but I missed some fall baseball," he said. ''I tore some cartilage in my wrist sliding into second during the summer, and for the rest of the season it really never got better. I didn't get to swing until mid-January. The first couple of months of the season really was my preseason, just getting into shape."

Delaney picked up the slack. He led the Eagles in batting with a .368 average, and also paced BC with 77 hits and nine home runs. He was selected to play in the New England Collegiate All-Star Game at Fenway Park and had three hits, including a home run over the Green Monster.

What impresses Hughes about Locke and Delaney is how they deal with adversity. ''It's easy when everything is going good," he said. ''I like to see how a player reacts when things are not going good. I want to see how they handle adversity and how they compete in those situations."

Hughes watched how Locke dealt with his wrist injury, then saw Delaney react to adversity at the start of last season.

''Jason was not playing well and not really being a good teammate when we were 3-13. I called him in, and we had a conversation," said Hughes. ''He accepted criticism the right way and changed things. I threw a lot at him. I was very honest with him. And he immediately changed his approach to the game. And he didn't sulk. He was determined to make the season right. He showed me what sort of character he has."

Delaney's teammates noticed it, too; they elected him their team captain this spring.

''It is an honor to be named captain by your peers," said Delaney. ''I've been with the six or seven seniors for four years now. I told them all, in my mind, they are all captains. They are just as much a captain as I am."

Locke and Delaney would like to continue playing baseball after they graduate this spring. Both have been contacted by pro scouts over the years, and hope to sign professional contracts.

''There was some interest in high school and last year, but it didn't work out. But it is all for the better because, looking back on it, the best road I could have taken is the road I took," said Delaney. ''Graduating from BC with a degree and go play baseball from there, and have some fun before I have a real life."

Locke hopes for the same.

''I've talked to a few teams," he said. ''Hopefully, I'll have a good season and have a shot of playing in the minors when I graduate. The way things are going, Jason and I will probably be on the same team again."