Bentley's Roche wins praise, award

Bentley College baseball coach Bob DeFelice calls freshman outfielder James Roche "the real thing." Considering that DeFelice just completed his 40th year at the helm, it's safe to assume he knows what he's taking about.

Roche, a former Globe All-Scholastic from Arlington High, drew praise from the veteran skipper after a brilliant first season in which he led the Falcons in several offensive statistics. At season's end, Roche was named Northeast-10 Conference Freshman of the Year.

"He is already one of the premier players in the NE-10, and this is a tremendous conference," said DeFelice.

The only player to start all 47 games for the 22-25 Falcons, either as the right fielder or designated hitter, Roche led the team in batting average (.342), doubles (11), home runs (7), RBIs (32), slugging (.521), on-base percentage (.403), at bats (190), hits (65), and total bases (99). He also stole 10 bases in 12 attempts.

"The number of players being drafted by Major League Baseball from the NE-10 is getting higher, and for a freshman to come in and hit seven home runs is just incredible," said DeFelice. "His numbers on the season were phenomenal, and because we played mostly freshmen and sophomores, a lot of what we did fell on his shoulders. It's safe to say, taking the pitchers out of the equation, that he's one of the top three freshmen I've coached in my years here. Where he goes from here, well, I think he will get even better."

DeFelice said that Roche got off to a slow start last fall, and based on what he saw then, his initial thought was to rotate him with another freshman when spring came around.

But Roche showed offensive promise on the team's swing through Florida, and his defensive play picked up considerably. "He just worked hard and tried to learn things," said DeFelice. "He played exclusively in the outfield the last half of the season as his skills continued to improve."

Roche reached a batting average high of .390 on the 10-game Florida trip before slumping to a low of .295 nearly a month into the season. He attributed that to the length of the season.

"Physically, I was in good shape and seeing the ball well," he said, "but mentally it took some getting used to, playing all those games. In high school, we were lucky if we played 20 games in the whole season. A month into the season, we had already played more than that. Also, it took a little getting used to the travel. Once I learned to relax, I was all right."

Roche picked up the pace and finished the season with a nine-game hitting streak (15-for-37), lifting his average from .327 to .342. He had 19 multihit games, including four-hit games against St. Anselm and Bridgeport.

"It was a great season, much more than I ever could have hoped for," said Roche. "But there is room for improvement. I especially want to improve the mental part of my game. There were times I'd be in the outfield and my mind would wander. I want to be in every pitch of every game."

Eleanor "Elle" Logan, who helped lead the Brooks School in North Andover to New England and national rowing championships in 2004 and 2005, is now competing on a world level.

Logan teamed up with Caroline Lind of Greensboro, N.C., to capture the bronze medal in the women's pairs at the 2008 Rowing World Cup in Munich. China won the gold in 7 minutes, 49.94 seconds and Germany the silver in 7:56.62. Logan and Lind checked in at 8:00.45. It was Logan's first race in a senior-level international event, while Lind is a veteran with two world championship gold medals on her resume.

Logan, who also led Brooks to New England basketball titles in 2003 and 2006, is a sophomore at Stanford, where she attained all-PAC-10 and All-America honors her freshman year. She is on sabbatical and training at the Olympic Training center in Chula Vista, Calif., where she hopes to land a berth on the US Rowing Team in the summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

At 20, she is the youngest person bidding for a spot on the team.

In an interview published on the Stanford athletic website, Logan was asked about the rigors of training for the Olympics.

"The hardest part of training with the national team and trying out for the Olympics," she said, "is trying to not let the lows get too low and the highs get too high. If I have a bad practice, I try to figure out what I can improve on and go from there. If I have a good practice, I see what worked well and continue to build off of that."

This is Logan's first foray into women's pairs. In her other medal-winning performances, on the international or national level, she competed in junior eights and fours and intermediate fours.

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