Third baseman and pitcher Eddie Dias.

By Mike Rubin

“It was frustrating because we thought we had a much better team than our record indicates,” said third baseman and pitcher Eddie Dias. “It was kind of tough because we thought we had a chance to finish with at least seven or eight wins, and we didn’t get it done.”

On the mound was the trio of Tom Simas, Matt O’Donnell and Dias. Simas, who emerged as the ace of the St. Clements’ pitching staff, fired a no-hitter in his high school season finale. Despite mustering an earned run average of less than 4.00, Simas couldn’t lead the Post 19 squad to many victories.

“We didn’t hit the ball, and we were shut out a few times,” said Dias. “It was tough because we came in with a lot of confidence that we were going to score some runs, but in the end, we never did. If we were able to score on some opportunities, then I think our record would’ve been a lot better.”

Tough losses included a 1-0 defeat to Ashland, a contest where O’Donnell fired a two-hit masterpiece along with a pair of 2-0 losses and 3-0 losses.

Contributing players for Post 19 included Tom Kervick, Jimmy McCune along with Yondo Nyadjroh, Eric O’Brien, Sean Simas along with Clyde Wayshak, Jake Dwyer, Dom Mastascusa and Mike Nicholson.

“We had a great group of guys, and it was definitely a lot of fun,’ said Dias. “It’s tough because the wins came few and far between, but it gave me an opportunity to play some baseball with a lot of close friends.”

As for the competition, Dias was impressed with the lineups from an offensive and defensive standpoint.

“Some of the lineups we faced had kids in college,” said Dias. “But I thought we handled them pretty well and we held them in check for the most part. As for our hitting, I was just surprised that we couldn’t get a lot of runs. We had a lot of guys who hit well during the high school season, but when it came to playing summer ball, we just couldn’t get the big hit.”