Tyngsborough's high-output battery
Veteran-novice duo has team off to a solid start
A few days each week, Danny Ubele admittedly loses focus in the classroom. His mind will stray from his books, or the words of his teacher, and his attention will shift to an entirely different setting: the baseball field.
"I can barely concentrate in my classes on game days," said Ubele with a laugh.
"I'm thinking about who we're facing, what the game plan is. I'm mentally preparing pretty much all day long. I hope my teachers don't know. I try to do a good job of trying to pay attention in class, but it's tough not to think about the game."
Maybe his game day focus is paying off - on the diamond. The defending Division 3 North champs from Tyngsbor ough High are 4-0 in the games that he has started behind the plate, and 5-2 overall.
Though this is his first year catching at the varsity level, Ubele has been calling games from behind the plate as a Little Leaguer.
Last season, Ubele was a varsity starter as a freshman, playing first base. While he is one of the youngest players on the senior-laden Tigers' roster, his batterymate, senior Mark Lane, is a four-year varsity player with experience and leadership.
"It's an interesting combo," said Tigers head coach Ken Connerty. "One is a veteran guy and the other is a young guy who's been solid so far, but I'm sure he'll have some growing pains as all young players do. I actually had another sophomore start at catcher in the first couple games, but then switched him with Danny, who was at third. It's a pretty critical position, but Danny's done well with Mark so far."
On the hill, Lane is 3-0 and has not allowed an earned run in the last 21 innings pitched. With a commanding fastball and a clean curve, the lefty generally uses the two-pitch combination to leave batters baffled.
This winter, Lane worked extensively with pitching coach Mike Fahy, perfecting his throws at the indoor batting cages in Lowell. Ubele joined him to both revive his catching skills and improve his offense.
Ubele moved from batting sixth last year to batting cleanup this year; he leads the team with 12 RBIs. After catching Lane all winter, his assessment of Lane is positive.
"When Mark's not overwhelmed or frustrated, kids can't hit him," said Ubele. "But sometimes he gets flustered, and that's when I try to calm him down. He tends to overthink things sometimes, but I try to bring him back down. The relationship between a pitcher and catcher is really tight. It's huge. A pitcher has to have complete trust in you. It's the only way it'll work."
Lane agreed.
"Dan's got a lot of talent and he's really athletic," said Lane, who is headed to Bentley College in the fall. "I think we're working on getting to know each other and we talked a lot in the winter and then after practices about what I liked to throw. He's pretty young, but we were in the same AAU program last summer, so I think our comfort level is growing. I did overthink things a lot before, but my pitching coach helped me a lot to get over doing that."
"Coach [John Palumbo] told me like 10 minutes before the game started that I was going to start as a pitcher," said Knowles. "I was really nervous about it. The other starter had stiffness in his arm, so I guess Coach thought I should fill in. The first inning, we had a ground ball error and I thought, 'Oh no.' The second inning, I sort of settled into it and was able to find the right spots and it took the nerves away a bit."
Senior Will Zimmerman, who was originally scheduled to start, should return to the Tigers' rotation when they travel to West Boylston on Tuesday. Zimmerman's twin brother, Pete, is a catcher and had his own perspective on Knowles's performance.
"We have three starters and two relievers," said Pete Zimmerman. "We've got seven seniors and had the same team pretty much for the last two years, so I'm sure he was nervous about coming in as a new guy. We've always been a strong defensive team, and I think that helped him knowing there's a solid defense behind you."
Last year, the Tigers qualified for the Central Mass. Division 3 tournament, where they lost in the second round. Palumbo graduated only two players in outfielder Matt Gordon and pitcher Dan Kroening.
"It was the first game I played in, but the guys were really supporting me through it," said Knowles. "It's easy to approach them about things, which I think helps the team grow close."
Sapna Pathak can be reached at sportsgalsp@gmail.com.
