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2025 New England High School Team Previews

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2025 Spring Team Preview: Staples (CT)

WESTPORT, Ct. - For the fifth time in the past eight seasons Staples advanced to the LL state championship game. Three key pitchers are back from the 2024 team  which lost in the finals for the second year in a row.

“This is a very mature team with playoff experience,” noted head coach Jack McFarland, who has a 309-147 record at the school, winning LL state crowns in 2017 and 2019 along with FCIAC titles in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2019.

Penn commit Kai Nee, Seton Hall recruit Mason Tobias and Trinity College signee Andrew Oppenheimer are back to lead the way on the mound this season for the Wreckers. Nee, the fifth-rated senior left-handed pitcher in New England, was 5-1 with a 1.25 ERA last year, Tobias, a junior RHP, finished 3-2 with a 2.85 ERA while Oppenheimer was 5-2 with a 2.10 ERA.

A two-way college commit, Oppenheimer, a shortstop in addition to pitcher, hit .325 last season and will be part of an impressive batting order that includes Brandeis commit Cooper Brundige, Trinity commit Jake Goldshore and Jules Cicero. Brundige, an outfielder, hit .375 a year ago, Goldshore, a catcher, averaged .285 and Cicero, the 37th-rated junior shortstop in New England who plays second base for Staples, carried a .385 average last year.

“Pitching and defense are the strengths of this team,” explained McFarland, whose biggest loss from a year ago is outfielder Jack Farnen, a .385 hitter now playing at Hobart. “If our lineup produces, we will be tough to beat.”

Bruce Schlegelmich, the 18th-ranked 2027 right-handed pitcher in New England, and sophomore outfielder Cole Landgraf are newcomers to watch according to McFarland, who points to staying healthy as the keys to success this year for a program that has two playing professional baseball (Ben Casparius with the Dodgers and Hiro Wyatt with the Royals organization).

“Pitching, defense and aggressive baserunning,” McFarland said in describing the program at Staples, which had Gatorade Players of the Year in 2017, 2019 and 2023.

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