WILLIMANTIC, Conn. -- When the COVID-19 pandemic threatened, and then ultimately cancelled, the Warriors' baseball season this past spring, the immediate future was clouded in uncertainty for players on the team. How long would it be until workouts could commence? How long until batters faced live pitching, and until pitchers could get back on the mound? When could practices, and games, commence, even with restrictions?
 
While those questions remain unanswered for next spring's games, for now, some summer baseball leagues have begun games once more. Three Eastern players are competing in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL), a wood bat league which sees six teams comprised of college-eligible players from around New England competing. Originally scheduled to open May 27, the FCBL started its season on July 2, about a month later than usual due to the pandemic.
 
Right-handed pitcher Josh Vincent (New London) and outfielder Ryan Bagdasarian (Glastonbury) play for the New Britain Bees, and right-handed pitcher Zach Player (East Hampton) for the Westfield (MA) Starfires. The Eastern trio – all transfers --  are making an impact on their respective teams for the summer season.

 

The 6-foot-3 inch, 210 pound Vincent has appeared in three games, making his first start July 17 but did not figure in the decision in a 6-4 loss to Westfield at New Britain Stadium. Vincent's first eight outs came via strikeouts before sawing off Westfield cleanup hitter Andre Marrero on an infield out to end the third inning. He finished his five-inning stint with nine punchouts and no walks and gave up eight hits and two (earned runs) without a walk, while hitting a batter. Vincent, who threw 57 of his 95 pitches for strikes, stood to gain the win after the Bees took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth, but the Starfires rallied to tie and take the lead with two runs in the eighth.
 
Vincent allowed just two hits and no runs to gain credit for the win in the team's opener in New Britain against Worcester July 2, and following his start against Westfield, had a 2.61 ERA with a staff-high 15 strikeouts in a staff-high 10 1/3 innings to go along with five walks for the Bees, who were 3-7 heading into a stretch of three straight road games.
 
Projected as a front-of-the-rotation pitcher this past spring at Eastern, Vincent started two games with a 1-1 record and 3.00 ERA in nine innings when the Warriors opened the abbreviated season with a 4-1 record. Vincent allowed one hit in four scoreless innings in the team's opening 12-1 win against Nichols College March 3 in Worcester, then was beaten by Trinity College, 5-3, four days later in Hartford. He gave up three earned runs in five innings in that game, with six strikeouts and one walk.
 
The right-handed-hitting Bagdasarian has appeared in six games with a .346 on-base percentage, .227 batting average (5-of-22), two RBI, three runs, two doubles and two stolen bases. Bagdasarian's first three hits, both doubles and both RBI came July 9 in a 15-6 home rout of Westfield. Five days later, he had two hits, a stolen base and run scored in a 3-2 victory at North Shore.
 
This past spring in his Eastern debut, Bagdasarian and started all five games in center field and batted leadoff. He was batting .400 through the first four games and settled at .300 (6-of-20) with a .391 on-base percentage when the season was stopped. He had driven in six runs and scored five, with half of his hits doubles. In the second game of the season against Albertus Magnus College, Bagdasarian had three hits (two doubles), drove I four runs and scored two in a 15-6 win.
 
Westfield was 5-4  prior to beginning a stretch of six straight home games July 17 against Nashua, trailing co-leaders Worcester and North Shore by a half-game.

Player, who like Vincent wears No. 35 for his team, gave up one earned run in 1 2/3 innings in relief in his only outing to date in the 15-6 loss at New Britain July 9. He fanned one and struck out one, allowing four hits.
 

In his second season at Eastern this past spring, the 6-foot-4, 220 pound Player had appeared in two games with a start and had not given up an earned run and only three hits with nine strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings. In a 6-2 win at Purchase College in his start March 8, Player fanned six and walked two and gave up only two hits over the first five innings for the victory.  As a spot starter at Eastern coming off arm surgery in 2019, Player was 2-1 with a 3.16 ERA in 25 2/3 innings with 27 strikeouts and 11 walks in eight appearances (four starts).
 
The trio's aspirations for this past season all included developing chemistry and capturing a Little East Conference championship. Vincent stated that when the season was cancelled, he was "devastated" because of how much promise the team showed in its first five games before its scheduled spring trip to Florida.
 
With the pandemic brings changes in locker room and field activity, most notably the x's that mark where players can sit in the dugout (the remainder of the roster has to sit in the bullpen), regulations against celebratory high fives and seed spitting, and vastly decreased crowd sizes. Even with the compromises, all three players say that it's worth it to be finally back on the field. Player says that while there were "a lot of nerves" and that it is an adjustment, he says it's good to be back on the mound. Bagdasarian says "obviously it's going to take a while for people to get used to facing live pitching," but "it's really good to get out there and get reps in." He also notes that due to many other leagues being non-operational this summer, the FCBL is "high intensity baseball" with tougher competition than anticipated.
 

In 2018 and '19, Vincent played for Chowan University, a Division II school in North Carolina, before transferring to Eastern last year. While there, he was 9-3-1 with a 5.15 ERA with 81 strikeouts and 37 walks. He remarks that playing D-II baseball sees a lot of depth on each roster, and particularly notes that nearby UNC Pembroke was a tough team to face. Prior to playing at Chowan, he played the 2016 and '17 seasons at UConn Avery Point, where he was 9-7 with three saves and earned an All-New England selection in 2017 when he helped the Pointers reach the national tournament. Among his wins was a 3-0 no-hitter over Massasoit CC.

Last summer, Vincent played with the Wallingford Silver Storm in the Connecticut Collegiate Baseball League (CCBL) after playing with the Martinsville (VA) Mustangs in the Coastal Plains League the summer prior to attending Chowan. He and Bagdasarian have played together on the UCAP national tournament team in 2017 as well as on the Bees, and he's confident that that type of teamwork and rapport will lead the Warriors towards great things in 2021. Vincent graduated from Eastern this past spring with a general studies degree, focusing on education and history, and is applying for the master's program with his last year of baseball eligibility, in which he is pursuing a Master's Degree in Organizational Management.
 
Bagdasarian transferred to Eastern this past spring after three semester at UConn in Storrs after playing the 2017 and 2018 seasons at  Avery Point., where he appeared in 34 of 45 games with a 1.000 fielding percentage.
 
Bagdasarian had played with the Glastonbury Arrows of the CCBL for the previous three summers, capturing a championship with the team in 2019. Although he has two years of eligibility remaining, he expects to graduate from Eastern in the spring with a degree in Business Administration, and hopes for success in marketing and advertising.
 
Player commutes an hour to pitch for the Starfires when they are at home at Bullens Field. This is his second season with the club, although he had an elbow injury last season, which he has had two surgeries on in his pitching career. The surgery prevented him from playing most of the season for the Starfires, where he pitched only once.
 
Prior to transferring to Eastern for the spring season in 2019, Player pitched in the spring of 2018 at Division II Franklin Pierce University, where, in limited work, was named to the Northeast 10 All-Rookie Team. For a 33-15 team, he was 2-0 with a 1.86 ERA in 9 1/23 innings over five bullpen appearances.  Academically, he is completing his degree in Psychology, a field he says he enjoys learning more about. In addition to pitching for Westfield this summer, he is coaching the 14U Connecticut Crush travel league team on the weekends.
 
While the status of the 2021 spring season remains unclear, the Warriors return  a promising returning nucleus appears to be very promising for the Warriors, who have lost only four seniors (three of them pitchers) to graduation. The 2021 season seems to be a continuation of that promise with the returning roster.
 
While all three are capable of individual accolades next spring, Bagdasarian summarizes that those hopes are clearly second to the success of the team. "It's really not so much about me, it's more about what I want to do with the team, and what we can accomplish together." Player shares that vision, saying he hopes to "go out there, stay healthy, and do whatever I can to help the team win."