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By Ron P. Coderre
The 2013 TriTown Sr. and Jr. American Legion Baseball season ended on the field last week with the Sr. squad posting an 8-19 record and the Jr. unit finishing 6-10. The official closing of the season will take be July 26 with the Awards Banquet and steak dinner scheduled for A.L. Post #67 in Thompson. The featured speaker of the evening will be recently appointed Assumption College baseball coach Mike Rocco.
Rocco, who assumed his role at Assumption on June 19, has a solid baseball background as both a player and coach. Prior to accepting the Assumption position he coached for three seasons at Lesley University, where he turned the program around from a team with no victories to leading the Lynx to 13-17 record in his final season. In 2012 he was named the New England Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year. Rocco also had a stint as an assistant coach at Daniel Webster College in New Hampshire.
A native of Tewksbury, Mass., Rocco began his coaching career with the Billerica American Legion program, after having served for one season on the Lowell American Legion staff. He’s also worked as a coach in two collegiate summer leagues, this year with the Nashua Silver Knights of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League and in 2008 with the Keene Swamp Bats of the New England Collegiate Baseball League.
Rocco earned his bachelor’s in communications from Bryant University in 2007 and holds a master’s degree in athletic administration from Endicott College. While at Bryant, Rocco was a four-year starter as a first baseman. He completed his career as the program leader in games played with 204 and third in career hits with 221. In addition, he also holds the NCAA Division II career and single season records for putouts.
Interestingly he has the distinction of helping the Bulldogs reach the Division II College World Series during his freshman year, when he was also recognized as the Northeast-10 Freshman of the Year. As a sophomore, Rocco was a member of the Bryant basketball team that advanced to the Division II National Championship game.
The Awards Banquet will also feature the presentation of the Joe Lindley and Louis Bates Awards to Jr. team players and the Rene “Doc” Desaulniers Award, the Coach Tom Auclair Award and The Executive Committee Award to Sr. team players. The committee announced it will also unveil another award in honor of a local individual who has been instrumental to the TriTown program that evening.