St Sebastians School - Arrow Yearbook (Newton, MA)

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in its direction. From a schedule point of view we relished the change that called for us to engage in eleven contests, in contrast to the five and six games of the two preceding years. It was, however, in the make-up of the School nine that we took the most satis- faction. Having gained athletic strength from the arrival of many new classmates, we could point with pride to the presence of four Sophomores in the St. Sebastian line-up. We had Mul behind the plate, Sull and Myron covering the right-hand side of the infield, and Paul McGrath holding down a garden berth. Veterans, for the most part, succeeded in holding down the other positions: Jimmy Collins toed the slab, Hank was at short, and Dan O'Brien and joe O'Connell resumed outfield posts. One other newcomer made the grade also when '45'sJimmy Wiles took over the hot corner. April 12th marked the opening of the '44 campaign, and we threw out the Hrst ball in a contest with Rivers that produced a 14-3 victory for the Red and Black. For the first time in the School's history, out batsmen demonstrated terrific power with the stick and that same prowess carried us to con- secutive and impressive wins over Angel Guardian, 18-5, and Browne and Nichols, 9-1. The latter contest was played at B.C.'s Alumni Field and it will be long remembered as Jimmy Collins' bid for admission to Baseball's Hall of Fame. Up until two were gone in the last of the ninth, Jim had a no- hitter, but at that point his mound rival, Lyons, rifled a scorcher over the infield and the charm was broken. In our next appear- ance we were humbled 7-4 by Noble and Greenough, chiefly by reason of Goodale's effective hurling. Checked temporarily, we roared back to the fray and submerged Brookline's J.V.'s rather easily by a 12-7 margin. The Closing weeks of the season sent us into action six more times and we emerged from these frays with honors even. Injuries crippled us for our meeting with Roxbury Latin, and the experimental line-up that had Bob Baker, Mul and Ed Phillips in the out- field, found Dan O'Brien converted to third and Charlie McCarron appearing behind the plate. As it turned out, a lengthy home-run by Roxbury's Connors, which we judged to be patently foul, turned the tide against us, 7-4. Visiting Portsmouth Priory next, a 16-4 landslide allowed Jimmy Collins to coast to an easy triumph, and perhaps we came home too complacent, for the next two frays had to be chalked up on the wrong side of the ledger. In the first of these contests, West- wood High got to Joe O'Connell in the third and we lost a 9-5 verdict. In the second, Roxbury Latin faced us again and cashed in 5-4, on our failure to hit in the pinches. We rang down the curtain on the season's com- petition, however, by duplicating our April Win over Rivers and by edging Westwood, 8-7. The Chestnut Hill lads had the mis- fortune of tangling with us when we were putting on a power exhibition that featured circuit blows by Mulhern, Phillips and Collins, not to mention Bob Baker's triple and two doubles. The final count was 19-6. In continuance of the Red-Blue game tra- dition, Mul's Blues bested Jimmy Collins' Reds on a 5-4 count, and it was Sophomore Paul McGrath's four-base blow that gave his classmate, Mul, the winning captain's placque. The Faculty game proved to be a disappointment, however, for the professorial group, that had boasted of its triumphs in the two preceding years, gave the Varsity nothing in the way of competition and suc- cumbed to a 22-6 rout. With the bats and balls packed away and the season's record filed in the School archives, we could well be proud of the first Red and Black diamond aggregation tutored by Coach Murphy. Seven wins in eleven starts against high- grade opposition! St. Sebastian's seemed well under way toward its share of athletic re- nown. The School's enrollment for 1944-45 was more than 125 boys, and, just as the increased student body had proved an important factor in our Football campaign, our diamond forces could not help but benefit by the influx of many new candidates. We watched the pre-

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JO 1945's UNDEFEATED TEAM S'nzf1Ji11lq.' Fr. Cuffc, Ellurnl, Bullock, McNabb, Mulhcrn, McGrath, Coach Murphy .S'e.zfed.' Pickanxl, O'Bricn, McAuliffe, Captain Barry, Sullivan, Collupy, Gibbons

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l l l PEERLESS PAUL McGrath limbers up his wing season cage workouts and speculated as to how many new faces would appear in the Varsity line-up. When the weather per- mitted, the daily sessions were held outdoors, although the Spring that promised to be so beautiful did not quite come up to expecta- tions. The men of '46 lived up to our ex- pectations, however, and there were no fewer than six of our classmates on the nine that faced Huntington School to open the season here on our own field. Once again the heady Mul was behind the plate to catch Paul McGrath's fast ones, Johnny Ellard was at the hot corner, Sull held down the keystone sack, while Myron Bullock and newcomer John Pickard roamed the garden. The Class of '45 donated Hank Barry to cover the shortfield, and '48 provided two Red and Black ball chasers, Andy McAuliffe at first and Billy Gibbons in centerheld. The opening game with Huntington on April 20th proved extremely satisfactory to the St. Sebastian home crowd. To begin with Paul McGrath was in fine fettle, being just wild enough to make his fast ball particularly effective. In the course of the contest he set down sixteen of the opposing batmen by the strikeout route, and grudgingly gave up two l hits to the in-towners. The issue, indeed, was never in doubt for we broke into the scoring column with two runs in the second, gathered four more in the third, and added two in the fourth and two in the sixth to chalk up a 10-3 victory. Offensively the big gun in our attack was Freshman Andy McAuliffe who announced his arrival on the Varsity by blasting out four out of five. As a supporting cast, Hank Barry, Myron Bullock, Paul McGrath and Bill Gibbons contributed two bingles apiece. The out- held might as well have had the afternoon off, for Myron was the only gardener to register a put-out. To start the second game of the season on May 2nd, Coach Murphy nominated a new- comer to toe the slab and our home crowd went into raptures as 15-year-old Sophomore Bob McNabb mowed down the Browne and Nichols batsmen with machine-like regu- larity. Encouraged by the fact that his mates went out and garnered a four run lead for him in the very first frame, the rookie hurler displayed a world of stuff and excellent control. Half way through the contest, it dawned on us that he had not given up a hit, and from that point on we rooted hopefully for a no-hitter. For us, the spectators, the tension was terrific, because we recalled Jimmy Collins' bid of the season before that was spoiled with two down in the ninth. McNabb proved adamant, however, refusing to be flustered, and went on to chalk up the first no-hit game ever pitched by a St. Sebastian moundsman. In gaining his laurels, the youthful slinger struck out 15 rival swingers and yielded only two passes--a striking contrast to his B and N opponents who walked 12 The base-hits column also gave us credit for punching out 12 bingles, which, together with the generosity of the Cambridge pitchers, were converted into an impressive 15-O decision for the Red and Black. Once again Freshman Andy McAuliffe was chief hitsman with three out of five, while Mul, Dan O'Brien and Bill Gibbons turned in two each. Our third contest found us playing host