Page 12 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, MARCH 27, 2026 Led by six veterans and promising freshmen, Tide baseball looks to get back into the postseason Non-league host Mystic Valley begins Everett’s season at Malden Catholic on Wed., April 1 EHS Varsity Baseball Head Coach Malik Love congratulates his team for a hitless inning against Lynn Classical last season. (Advocate file photo) By Joe McConnell E verett High School baseball coach Malik Love is beginning his third season along the sidelines. One year ago, the Crimson Tide, though competitive, still finished up with an 8-12 record, and as a result, didn’t make the postseason. But Love thinks that they just might be turning the corner for more positive results. “We didn’t make the state tournament last year, but we showed signs of improvement,” said Love. Love welcomed around 25 prospective players to the first day of practice on March 16, and his optimism for a better future only got brighter after seeing some of the newcomers go through the drills. “I would say as a whole the freshman players so far have surprised me,” the veteran Everett coach said. “The (goal) for this season is to (play better) in the (Greater Boston League), and to make the state tournament.” The Everett boys were scheduled to play two road scrimmages this week – against East Boston on March 24 after press deadline and Winthrop on Saturday morning, March 28, at 11 a.m. – to get ready for the regular season, which will begin on Wednesday, April 1, against non-league Mystic Valley at Malden Catholic, starting at 4:30 p.m. The Everett boys will then be at Belmont two days later to take on the Marauders, another non-league opponent, at 4:15 p.m., before beginning the second week of the season at Malden (April 6, 4 p.m.) and Revere (April 8, 4:15 p.m.). They will finally return to Glendale for the home opener against nonleague Whittier Tech on Saturday, April 11, at 11 a.m. Love has six returnees – Charlie Govostes, Derek Soper, Tyler Freni, Armani Negron, Anderson Santiago and M.J. Guida – who will help carry the load to start the season on a varsity team that will suit up a total of 16 players. Most of the six veterans have considerable varsity experience, including Soper and Freni, who were steadying influences on the mound last year, but the coach admits that the team’s youthfulness might be a concern in the early going. “We are a young team that will go through growing pains,” said Love, “but the young kids do have a lot of experience playing the game, (just not on the high school varsity level),” said Love. As the team tries to come MJ Guida at bat for the Crimson Tide during last season’s action against Lynn Classical. together quickly, it won’t be easy, because the GBL is competitive across the board, according to Love, who added, “it could be any team’s day, so we just have to make sure that we prepare hard in practice in order to execute properly, regardless of (the competition).” The 2026 varsity roster includes seniors Charlie Govostes and Daniel Velasco-Arias; juniors Derek Soper, Tyler Freni, Armani Negron, Anderson Santiago, Moises Interiano and Santino Vega; sophomore M.J. Guida; and freshmen Luke Wood, Caden Foley, Christian Bruno, Nick Young, Xavier Calderon, Aiden Westgate and Luis Quintanilla. Love said that this year’s team captains would likely be announced by the end of this week, probably on March 27 prior to the aforementioned Winthrop scrimmage, once again after press deadline.
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