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Worcester Bravehearts: Former St. Peter-Marian star P.J. Barry is at home in the outfield this summer

Bill Doyle
william.doyle@telegram.com
P.J. Barry should have no problem settling under fly balls at Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field for the Worcester Bravehearts this summer. [T&G Staff/Christine Peterson]

WORCESTER — P.J. Barry would have liked to play baseball near his Holden home for the Worcester Bravehearts last summer, but they didn’t recruit him, so instead he played in Kentucky for the Owensboro RiverDawgs in the Ohio Valley League.

His parents, Peter and Danielle, and sister, Julia, had to follow his games through online updates.

Barry hit .424 as a senior at St. Peter-Marian, but he admits he needed to improve at the plate to play for the Bravehearts, and he did. He understands the strike zone better and is more patient.

After red-shirting at St. Leo University in Florida the previous year, Barry played in 30 of the team’s 50 games this season and started 14. He hit .283 with no home runs and drove in seven. The Bravehearts were impressed enough to put him on their roster for the 2019 season.

“You grow up watching this team play every summer,” Barry said Wednesday at Hanover Insurance Park, “and you always want to be on that team. I understood why I wasn’t last year. I was upset, but there’s nothing you can do about it. I enjoyed my summer last year, and now I’m here, so I have no complaints.”

Making the Bravehearts roster isn’t easy. They’ve reached the Futures Collegiate Baseball League finals in each of their first five seasons, captured the league title outright in 2014 and 2015, and shared the championship with Martha’s Vineyard in 2018.

The Bravehearts will report Sunday and begin practicing Monday, but some could still be playing in the postseason for the college teams. The Bravehearts open their sixth season at 6:30 p.m. next Thursday at Hanover Insurance Park against Nashua, and they’ll host North Shore at 7 the following night, followed by a fireworks display.

The Bravehearts promoted Alex Dion from assistant coach to manager after J.P. Pyne left to become coach at Amherst College following last season.

Barry may have struggled offensively if he had played with the Bravehearts last season, but certainly not defensively.

Barry and fellow outfielder John Thrasher of the University of Hartford cover so much ground, Bravehearts baseball operations director Kevin Hartigan joked that the team wouldn’t need a third outfielder with them.

The 6-foot, 185-pound Barry is fast and gets a good jump on the ball. The middle infielders relay what the next pitch will be so he can move toward right on fastballs to right-handed hitters and toward left on curveballs or changeups. He’s careful not to move too soon so the batter won’t see him do it. Picking up the spin on the ball also helps him track down fly balls.

Barry said he can’t remember the last time he made an error in the outfield, but it was probably for St. Peter-Marian. He didn’t commit one for St. Leo this year, for the RiverDawgs last summer, or for East Side Legion the summer after he graduated from high school.

Barry has made several diving catches. His favorite came this year for St. Leo at Rollins College. He ran and dived to grab a fly ball a foot off the ground in foul territory from his left field position. What he liked best was that he hit the ground, rolled over, bloodied his arms and still held onto the ball.

At SPM, Barry was a T&G Hometeam All-Star in both baseball and football. He helped the Guardians win Central Mass. baseball championships at Hanover Insurance Park as a sophomore and a junior. In football, he played wide receiver and defensive back, and he also kicked 11 field goals his senior year to set a CMass record.

Although Barry has made more than his share of diving catches and clutch field goals, he’d prefer to collect a clutch hit, such as the run-scoring single he produced as a sophomore against West Springfield to tie a state semifinal game that the Guardians later won.

“Everyone is there watching you at that particular moment,” he said. “There’s nothing like it.”

Last summer in Kentucky, Barry lived in a rented house with seven teammates. This summer, he will stay at his home in Holden with his St. Leo and Bravehearts teammate Paul Coumoulos, an outfielder and first baseman. Barry moved his bedroom furniture into the basement so he can room with Coumoulos.

While Barry played in Kentucky last summer, his St. Leo teammate Brett Coffel caught for the Bravehearts and lived with Barry’s parents.

Barry said he enjoyed his time in Kentucky, except for the heat and the time the team bus broke down, and the players had to push it for close to a mile to reach a parking lot and wait for another bus.

—Contact Bill Doyle at william.doyle@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillDoyle15.