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Left: Matt Blachuta celebrates earlier in the season after hitting a home run. Right: Pitcher Jacob Hines. Photos by Celine Hines.

New England weather a frustration for team
It comes with the territory when playing an outdoor sport in New England, but the weather really did a number on Putnam Science Academy’s baseball team last week.
Four games on the schedule, not one of them was played. Wednesday’s game at Brunswick was rained out. Saturday’s doubleheader at Winchendon was cancelled because of snow and cold temperatures. And Monday’s game at Post University, while not weather-related was nonetheless canceled as the team was boarding the buses to make the ride to Waterbury.
“It’s definitely frustrating having the weather get the best of all four of our games,” pitcher Jacob Hines said. “It’s most especially irritating after coming off a weekend winning both our games and our bats were starting to get hot (a doubleheader sweep of Bridgton Academy on March 30 in which PSA scored 23 runs) and it can really affect the momentum of our hitting.
“However, we took this week for team bonding and training even harder to prepare for a big week against two Top-10 teams (at Winchendon Monday and at Salisbury Tuesday) and then we have our home opener at Dodd Thursday. So our pitchers are all available for this week’s schedule and then the following week is a big week as well.”
Outfielder Matt Blachuta echoed those sentiments and wanted to focus on the positives.
“It’s frustrating to go a whole week without a game but we are going into the new week with confidence considering the games (against Bridgton) went very well in every aspect.
“Also New England can be very unpredictable. I’ve lived here my whole life so you get used to it. Last week we got snow, this week it’s going to be in the 60s. It’s unpredictable but I think we are ready for a big upcoming week.”
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy

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