PLAISTOW, N.H. — Three years ago, Mike Santosuosso got his first taste of varsity baseball.
A freshman for Timberlane Regional, he played outfield on a one-win club.
“We had some good leaders on that team. Nobody was giving up, but it was definitely discouraging,” he said. “You would get on a bus for an away game and you’re 0-12, so you’re kind of hanging your head. It was discouraging. But now, we’re much better and it’s a much better feeling.”
During his sophomore campaign the win total went to four. Last year it doubled to eight and the Owls qualified for postseason play for the first time in five years. Santosuosso played a big part in the turnaround, slugging out 15 hits and playing a flawless right field.
“Competing in the state tournament for the first time was really cool,” he said. “We made a big jump last season to get to the playoffs. It was great to see the work pay off because we have all been down the field seven days a week, putting the work in for four years now.”
Adjustments have played a big part in Santosuosso’s baseball career. Going into his junior year, he was moved to right field. And if you have ever been to the home baseball field at the high school, you know how tough that job can be.
“There’s no fence,” he said with a laugh. “You’ve got to know who is up at the plate. If you are playing in too far and they have a big hitter up who puts one over your head, you’re going to be running for a while.”
Has that happened to Santosuosso?
“It’s definitely happened a few times. There was a time last year when somebody got a hold of one and I was running for a long while,” he said with a big grin. “It wasn’t fun. You’ve got to play that part of the field deep and keep everything in front of you.”
Timberlane head coach Alex Horgan said that — just like right field at Fenway Park — it takes a special player to be able to handle that spot.
“He has power in the line-up, but his best attribute is the way he plays the outfield,” said Horgan. “He can track down any ball and throw out anyone with his cannon of an arm. Our right field is big and Mike is basically a second center fielder who takes away a lot of (potential) hits.”
While Santosouoso has learned the tricks of playing right field at home, he believes offseason work will help improve on his .248 batting average from a year ago.
“I needed to see the outside pitch better and needed to see the off-speed pitches better. I really needed to work on seeing the ball,” he admitted. “I worked with some guys in the offseason and they helped me bigtime. I needed to improve on picking the ball out of the pitcher’s hand and reading the spin early with off-speed pitches. I could hammer the fastball but definitely needed to work on seeing the curve and the change-up.”
The Owls open their season on Monday at home against Merrimack.
“I think (offensively) that I’m ready for the season and I’m more prepared even more than last year,” he said.”My goal is to hit .300 on the season.”
But more importantly, his No. 1 goal is to help the Owls get back into the playoffs and win more games this season than the combined total of the past three seasons.
“Our pitching is a big strength this year. We have a lot of guys who want to mainly be pitchers and who put in a lot of work in the off-season and are looking to make big jumps,” he said.