Marineau Has High Hopes for Young Cheney Tech Baseball Team

Gary Marineau pointed to some fresh ink on the inside of his right forearm and told a story about the boys’ basketball team at Nathan Hale-Ray High School. The Little Noises were a young, inexperienced group who finished 7-13 and fell short of qualifying for the state tournament. But they showed their first-year coach enough to earn a subtle reference on his storybook arm.

On a Friday night in Cromwell after the last game of the season, Marineau looked into a quiet locker room and said, “See you guys at 2:30 on Monday.” The players looked confused and didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what to expect, but planned on being at the school either way.

At 2:30 on Monday, all of his players reported to the gym ready to work - CIAC rules allow teams to continue practicing until the championship game - and practiced hard for two weeks after their season ended. The story was about heart, dedication and commitment. It could have been a story about any Marineau-coached team.

Marineau is preparing for his 18th season as Cheney Tech’s head baseball coach and now speaks enthusiastically about another young team. Cheney lost seven starters to graduation, including Dan Lima whose name was penciled in at shortstop for every game the past four years, but this young team comes with experience. The Beavers are returning a core of players from last year’s team that went 12-9 and lost to Bacon Academy in the first round of the Class L tournament.

“Everybody leaves eventually,” said Marineau, who will take a 234-138 record into the 2012 opener at home against Goodwin Tech on Wednesday, April 4. “We lost Scott Roy. We lost Nick Jones. He was a two-time All-American and I think the kids look at this as an opportunity.” Roy went on to pitch at the University of Hartford and was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2004, while Jones starred at UConn-Avery Point, Manchester Community College and St. Gregory University in Oklahoma.

Lima is now at Clark University in Worcester where he is the starting third baseman and will definitely be missed at Cheney, but his former teammates are showing capabilities of their own.

“Right now we have a senior (David Raymond) and a 14-year old (Isaiah Quiles) trying out for shortstop,” Marineau said as his team took a quick break between fielding and hitting drills. “It’s cool. It brings the competition out and it’s not only for Dan’s spot. When you look at it, we had seven guys leave from last year’s team. There are seven opportunities out there. That’s the way they are looking at it.”

Pitching will be Cheney’s strength with three solid starters in Mike Musumeci, Merlyn Herrera and Tim Cate. Musumeci, who is a junior and was Marineau’s choice to start the tournament game, and Herrera, who was 4-1 with a no-hitter as a freshman, are known commodities. Cate, who is a freshman from Manchester, was not.

“He was a surprise to me, but not for the people from the youth programs in Manchester,” Marineau said of the promising lefty. “I usually don’t get kids that are real polished from the AAU level or travel baseball, but this kid is ready and will throw varsity innings this year. He has a really good curveball, command of four pitches and great mound presence.” In a scrimmage again Morgan High last week, Cate pitched two scoreless innings with four strikeouts.

Herrera, who hit .348 last year as a freshman with only one strikeout in 80 at-bats, is Marineau’s first-ever sophomore captain and capable of playing anywhere on the field when he is not pitching. Junior right fielder Nolan Fleming (.316) is another solid offensive weapon and is also a captain, as is senior first baseman Ricky Brown. Senior Paul DeDominicis returns as a third-year starter behind the plate and Marineau will lean on a trio of sophomores – Tom Blazys, Ryan Davis and Juan Resto – to play key roles.

“This team is really together like a family,” according to Marineau, who is now the coaching dean of the three Manchester high schools after East Catholic’s Jim Penders announced his retirement in January. He drives an hour each way for practice from Old Saybrook and his players know he isn’t just there to put in his time and go home. They feed off his energy; work hard for him, for each other and for their school. And visa-versa. 

Marineau weaves stories about his teams and family effortlessly as if they are one, and rarely gets through a conversation without mentioning his wife Lisa, or their son Tristan, who is his assistant coach; or their daughter Courtney, who passed away in 1997; or their three adopted children, Toby, Taber and Sharay. When the Marineaus moved from Manchester to the shoreline two years ago, Gary looked into coaching opportunities closer to home, but despite the ride, doesn’t want to leave any time soon.

“You see these guys who want to show people that we lost seven guys, but we are still going to win. To me, that makes me want to come back,” he said.

Marineau’s team waited patiently for him to finish up a conversation with an old friend, but it was obvious they wanted to get back to work. “Look,” said Marineau, as he waved appreciatively at a Florida-like sky in late March. “I could have said, ‘it’s Friday, it’s a beautiful day - no practice.’ I could go to the beach with my kids, but we said 4 p.m. and they are all here.”

Marineau still has room on his arm for another story and the 2012 Cheney Tech baseball team is starting to write it.

Are you a fan of Manchester Patch? Then show us the love by following us on Facebook or Twitter! It's the best way to get updates on all the latest news and information in Manchester as it happens. And don't forget to sign up for our Daily Newsletter, which sends all the latest news and info from Manchester Patch direct to your inbox each morning.