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Cranberry League proves beneficial for Cook

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With his college baseball season cut short due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, Mike Cook got the work he needed from the Cranberry League.

Mike Cook’s freshman campaign on the diamond at Babson College was cut short in March due to COVID-19. While it was a decision he was expecting, that didn’t make it any easier to handle.

“The entire team was devastated when we heard the college season was canceled,” Cook said. “We started off the year winning two of three games from one of the top teams (College of Trinity) in the nation and were poised to have a special year, building on all of the work we put in during the offseason.”

Cook never got on the field during the Beavers’ first three games. So he knew, he had to find a way to stay sharp. He began the summer simulating live games with local athletes from schools, such as Babson, Harvard and Dartmouth. Then, he got word the Cranberry League was planning to play ball.

“To get the news that there would be a season for the Cranberry was really exciting, everyone was dying to get back on the field to play some ball games,” said Cook, a three-time Patriot League Keenan Division All-Star at Whitman-Hanson Regional High.

Cook joined the Weymouth Shamrocks with a few of his college teammates and the experience was beneficial. 

“Being able to put to work and refine the plethora of skills I learned from freshman year fall baseball and winter practices while in games was really gratifying,” Cook said. “I feel like I was also able to really focus on hitting and work out a bunch of bad habits I had developed in my swing during the course of the season and feel really good moving forward, something that only in-game at bats help you figure out.”

Shamrocks general manager Brian Fisher noticed the improvement.

“Mike’s bat really heated up midway through the season and throughout the playoffs,” Fisher said. “His calling card was his defense and [he] was a rock in the infield for us.”

 At the plate, Cook hit .306 for the Shamrocks, who fell to the eventual league champions, Braintree White Sox, in the playoffs. In the field, Cook started the season at third base, before he was plugged in at shortstop as an injury replacement. 

“We work really hard on the small details at Babson that others sometimes overlook and being able to use the entire summer to nail down my pre-pitch movements, internal clock, and routes to the ball helped me take my game to the next level in the field that I’ve never had in my arsenal before,” Cook said. 

And Cook said he’s going to continue to hone in on his skills as he sets his sights on his sophomore campaign. 

“I’m working everyday in the gym to get stronger and quicker for when we’re able to get back to game competition,” Cook said. “I approach everyday to make not only myself better, but more importantly to make everyone around me better. I’m overly optimistic about having our season in the spring and I feel like I have to have that mindset, because I’ve worked everyday with the expectation that it will be played since we got sent home last school year.”

‘I’m going to miss the heck out of them’: W-H baseball senior captains leave legacy

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The W-H baseball senior captains. / Photo by: Sue Moss

W-H’s baseball senior captains helped lead the program to two Patriot League Keenan Division crowns, a pair of playoff wins and a 61-25 record.

When Pat Cronin returned to his alma matter, Whitman-Hanson Regional High, four years ago to coach the baseball team after spending the previous 35 springs as East Bridgewater’s skipper, he had a lot of work to do.

That included several decisions, such as: finding out what had and hadn’t worked, deciding who could and should play where and assessing who could be a contributor.

Three then-freshmen —Mike Cook, Ethan Phelps and Rian Schwede — made his life a little easier. They only required a few minutes of observation before making a decision.

“I saw their love for the game — they love baseball — and I saw they were natural athletes,” Cronin said. “They could play at the varsity level.”

So Cronin, who made a four-year commitment to W-H when he was hired in 2016, decided he wanted to take them on the ride with him.

Four years later, the program appeared in the tournament each season — which ended an eight-year playoff drought — captured two Patriot League Keenan Division crowns, won a pair of playoff games and racked up a 61-25 record.

“They’re my three,” Cronin said. “They’re my guys that have been with me since Day 1. They’re legacy is very much tied to those championships.”

A three-time all-star, Cook, who is headed to play college baseball at Babson, was a constant at second base and in the middle of the order for the past three years. He never hit below .300.

“He can run, he can make things happen, so he’s solid,” Cronin said of Cook. “Mike is even going to be better in the next four years when he gets to Babson and starts to really compete against some really good players. You’re going to see him get much better.

Mike Cook never batted below .300. / Photo by: Sue Moss

Cook said the groundwork for the Panthers’ success during his tenure was laid by the seniors when he was just a freshman.

“They set the tone,” Cook said. “Nick Haley, Nate Perkins, Jared Pendrak, the three captains, they were unbelievable for us. They we had year after year guys that came through and did what they needed to do.”

Schwede agreed.

“We really turned it around my first year with Nick Haley, Brenndan Rogers and Nate Perkins and it was cool to play with them the first year and understand what it’s like to be a part of a really winning program,” Schwede said.

But without Schwede’s arm, that success may not have continued. W-H’s ace for the past two seasons and a league all-star since he was a sophomore, the Endicott College baseball-bound righty pitched to the tune of a 1.47 ERA over 146 2/3 innings. Cronin didn’t mince words when talking about Schwede’s impact.

Rian Schwede was W-H’s ace for the past two seasons. / Photo by: Sue Moss

“He was the guy,” Cronin said. “He was as good as there is in this league. He learned what pitching is all about. He has the big pitchers’ body. He has the big right arm and he understands exactly how I want it done.”

Phelps — Schwede’s partner in the outfield when he wasn’t on the mound — turned in a solid career bouncing between the mound and centerfield.

Ethan Phelps was a league all-star as a junior. / Photo by: Sue Moss

“He grew a lot,” Cronin said of Phelps. “Our seniors are the guys who hit above .300 and he was one of them.”

Phelps said he felt the culture shift when Cronin took the helm.

“It’s a great program, a lot of history in the past few years,” Phelps said. “When Cronin started, he pretty much changed around the whole program.”

Cronin said his senior captains helped establish the baseball program as a team that’s serious about winning.

“They’re the leaders who talk the game and walk the game in school too, and now the kids in school look at the game differently,” Cronin said of his captains. “It’s manifested in who they are as people. So when they see Schwede or they see Cook or they see Phelps and they know they’re baseball players and they respect them, then they respect the game. I think we’re in a good place.”

Each captain said the biggest thing Cronin taught them was how to stay level headed.

“I think just being a leader,” Cook said. “I’ve always been a hot head growing up. I used to always be the kid crying on the field and throwing a tantrum, but coach and everyone else has always stayed on me and helped me be more composed and that’s definitely helped me a lot.”

Said Phelps: “He taught me to keep my temper at ease because a lot of the times it gets out of hands.”

Said Schwede: “Freshman year I was a little bit antsy, I didn’t really know how to control a lot of things, but I think over the last four years, he’s kind of really kept it pretty strong on me.”

Cronin said there’s really only one way to term these past four seasons. That’s exciting.

“They knew what I thought and knew what they thought and it made it a nice smooth ride,” said the skipper. “We had a lot of great wins here. They’ve helped a lot. I will miss them. It’s been great having them, and I’m going to miss the heck out of them.”