Jun 20, 2006
This spring Nick Callini pulled onto the highway, turned up the radio, and smiled at the "Welcome to Connecticut" sign. Callini didn't need a map. When he closed his eyes, he could trace every curve on I84 from Springfield, MA to Southington. He timed the traffic in Hartford, counted the exits to Queen Street, and listened to the music.
Three years ago Callini's first assignment as head baseball coach at American International College (AIC) was to learn the roads to Southington High School. It's an annual pilgrimage during the recruitment process that has already paid high dividends.
"I'm already starting to look at next year," said Callini. "I made my trip this year to get a look at some of the juniors at the end of their season...as always, they've got some guys that I like."
AIC has enjoyed a relationship with the Blue Knights that began with former Southington coach John Fontana. Catcher Mike Moneymaker was a recordsetter at AIC, so the Southington buzz began. When Callini joined the Yellow Jacket program, one of his first phone calls was Southington High School.
"When I first took over the program, I contacted (Fontana) when he was still involved," said Callini. "He helped start that pipeline again. Now, that he's gone, I've just maintained the relationship with Coach (Steve) Matyczyk. I even played with (assistant coach) Dave Yanosy when I was playing summer ball in Connecticut."
Next season, the Yellow Jackets could field as many as five Southington grads. John Lalla, Chuck March, and Brenden Blaschke have made commitments to play at AIC. They'll join former teammate Jeff Rustico and Bryan Soltis, the "grandfather" of the Southington connection.
"I know that they are coming from a well-coached program. I'm getting good ballplayers that know the game," said Callini. "I don't have to go teaching them everything again."
Callini was an assistant coach when AIC signed Soltis, but he's watched the junior hurler grow into the ace of the staff. Last season, Soltis (4-3) was the only pitcher on the Yellow Jacket staff to earn a winning record. In his 10 appearances on the mound, eight were starts. Soltis enjoyed the second lowest ERA (3.10) with two complete games. He led the team in wins, holding 240 batters to a .267 batting average. Soltis allowed only 17 extra-base hits, struck out 23 batters and allowed just five walks. And in the classroom, Soltis was one of two Yellow Jackets named to the Northeast 10 Conference All-Academic team.
"He's got like a 3.97 GPA. He's a really smart kid that does a great job in school. Naturally, when you do so well in the classroom as an athlete, those honors will come your way," said Callini. "He's done a great job. We've gotten two high quality years out of him. If we just had a little more in terms of offense and defense the last couple of years, he would have a really good record. But he's pitched excellently both years."
One of the reasons that Soltis enjoyed such success last year was because he was throwing at a familiar target. For the second year in a row, Soltis was throwing to Southington native Jeff Rustico. The former Blue Knight catcher played all 38 games, starting all but one. Rustico was nearly perfect behind the plate, earning a 989 fielding percentage. He had 157 put outs and 26 assists with only a pair of errors.
"The catching spot is so important. You've got to put somebody back there that your pitchers can trust. Otherwise, it affects what they do on the mound," said Callini. "When I took over, that was a great acquisition for us because I knew that it was going to firm us up for the next four years."
Last season Rustico led the team in hits (37), doubles (6), RBI (17), and total bases (tied, 43). Of all the major players, Rustico had the fewest strikeouts (14). Rustico kept the ball in play and was named to the Northeast 10 Third Team All-Conference roster.
"He's the backbone of our team. He's tremendously intelligent with his decisions and how he plays the game," said Callini. "He gets a lot of respect. I get a lot of umpires that tell me what a great kid he is. They say that it's great to work behind him. That can't hurt our pitchers."
For next season Callini wanted to find help for Rustico behind the plate, so he looked to the Blue Knights. Blaschke was the answer. Callini needed some help in the infield with the loss of a four-year starter, so he looked to the Blue Knights. March was the answer. Callini needed another strong arm to support his four starters, so he turned to the Blue Knights. Lalla was the answer. Each time, Callini had a need, the answer was found on the Southington roster.
"If I can keep getting guys from Southington, it's just going to make our trip to being what we want to be a lot quicker," Callini said. "We've been really happy with all the guys that we got from there."
