Extending the run

By Brad D. Bates
C & G Sports Writer

University Liggett baseball picks up where grads left off

The circumstances surrounding the 2009 Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett baseball team don’t immediately bring to mind optimism

But despite graduating arguably the greatest baseball player in school history in Curtis Fisher and saying goodbye to fixtures such as Michael Thomas, who caught every game of his four-year career with the Knights, Liggett coach Dan Cimini and the Knights are enjoying the start of 2009.

“They love the fact that people think we aren’t going to be that good,” said Cimini, whose team’s wins include a scrimmage against South April 2 by a score of 8-6, and a doubleheader sweep (8-1 and 6-2) of Plymouth Christian April 4.

“They’re looking at it as a continuation of last year. The team is coming together and hasn’t missed a beat.”

Those words take on more weight when not missing a beat includes extending the Knights’ regular-season undefeated streak to 43 games.

The reason the transition has been so seamless is because Cimini returns a core of seven players. What also helps is that Fisher and Thomas came back during the preseason to work with their former teammates.

“The cool thing was, and this is a coach’s dream, at our first practice at 6:30 in the morning, Joe Conway, Michael Thomas and Curtis Fisher all came to practice,” said Cimini.

“They missed it so much that they came out, worked with the guys and cheered them on.”

While they are too busy playing collegiate baseball — Fisher is serving a medical red-shirt year at Michigan State after suffering a pre-season injury; Conway, who graduated in 2007, plays for Aquinas College; and Thomas plays club baseball for Lehigh University — to help the Knights during the regular season, Cimini has found a few capable players to pick up the slack.

“We have guys back, including two freshmen who started every inning of every game last year,” Cimini said of starting catcher Dominic Jamett and shortstop Joseph Simon.

“It’s weird to have guys who are so young but have so much experience. I look at them more as juniors and seniors than sophomores.”

Despite starting every game in right field last year, Jamett is filling in at catcher for Thomas.

“Not that you don’t miss Michael Thomas, but Dominic has stepped in, and I haven’t freaked out yet,” Cimini said. “They’re two different builds — Dominic is pretty big, where Michael was smaller — so I haven’t called him Michael yet, but he’s been great.”

While Jamett picks up behind the plate, replacing Fisher — who set career school marks with 190 hits, 25 home runs, 217 RBIs and a career batting average of .528, and set pitching records with a 26-6 career record and a 1.49 ERA — will take a group effort.

“We will not replace what Curtis did offensively,” Cimini said. “But pitching, having guys come back who watched and learned a lot, is really going to help.

“They saw the attitude of expecting to win every game, and it’s still there. Sometimes you lose that star player that everyone sat around, watched and waited for to win the game, and everyone else had to turn their game up.”

Senior All-State honoree Tommy Graves is helping ease the loss of Fisher on the mound and at the plate.

“Tommy Graves will be our ace pitcher, and he went 6-0 as our No. 3 last year,” Cimini said. “He was first team All-State last year and was our No. 4 hitter.”

Taking care of Fisher’s vacated spot in center field is senior Jeremiah Manning, who will also serve as the Knights’ lead-off hitter.

While Graves and Manning step in to fill Fisher’s on-field void, Cimini believes a full team effort will replace the leadership that Fisher, Thomas and fellow seniors Patrick Gustine, Aaron Heaney and Zack Chopp offered last season.

“Tommy is real excited to step into the No. 1 role,” Cimini said of Graves. “But the guys that really stepped into the leadership roles are our sophomores.

“They’ve been with Liggett since middle school, and they’ve never lost a regular-season game, going back to seventh-grade. We have really balanced leadership. That’s why we don’t have one captain; we have a team of captains.”

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Brad D. Bates at bbates@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1029.