April 18, 2007
Nashua Telegraph:
DWC Appeals To Local Players

Published: Tuesday, April 15, 2008
By GARY FITZ, Telegraph Staff

Daniel Webster College baseball coach J.P. Pyne sees it as a marriage made in heaven. First you have the talent-rich Nashua area when it comes to high school baseball talent. Then you have an in-town college that is anxious to build a solid program.

The Eagles are just 4-19 this spring, including Saturday's doubleheader split with cross-town rival Rivier. But Pyne has already begun tapping into that local talent.

He's very high on sophomore center fielder Rob Leary of Litchfield, who helped lead Campbell to the Class M title two years ago. Leary played at Nichols College last year, did a short stint at Southern New Hampshire University in the fall before landing at DWC in January.

So far this spring Leary is hitting .355, while leading the team in hits (19) and home runs (two).

"He's a big, strong kid and one of our fastest players,'' Pyne said. "He's gotten real comfortable since we moved him to center field.''

Pyne saw Nashua South graduate Trevor Duggleby play for American Legion baseball last summer and convinced him to come to Daniel Webster.

He's played in all 22 games so far, hitting .273, and has been a workhorse either on the mound or in the infield. As a pitcher Duggleby is 0-5 with a 7.95 ERA, but he's been a workhorse, leading the team in innings pitched.

"He never comes of the field for us,'' Pyne said. "We're ing that by the time players like Leary and Duggleby are second-year players, we'll have built a solid group around them.''

And it takes all kinds of players to build a program. Sophomore infielder Joe Welsh of Litchfield is playing baseball again after taking three springs off. He's hitting .258 so far this spring.

"There's a kid who works three jobs to pay for school,'' Pyne said, "and really appreciates the opportunity to go out there and play baseball every afternoon.''