Baseball from the Union Leader: "Daniel Webster baseball team prepares for NCAAs"
This article orginally ran in the (Manchester) Union Leader on May 13, 2012. You can see the original article here.
By JIM FENNELL
New Hampshire Union Leader
Nashua - Kory Kiro of Goffstown knows all about the bad days of Daniel Webster College baseball. He lived them.
Kiro was a freshman when the Eagles went 7-24 — their 16th straight losing season — so, the senior is soaking in the feeling of preparing for the program's first trip to the NCAA Division III tournament.
"It's unreal," Kiro said. "I never thought we'd be here."
DWC coach J.P. Pyne, now in his fifth season, turned around the program and did it building on base of in-state talent. Sixteen players on the roster are from New Hampshire.
Kiro was named the New England Collegiate Conference pitcher of the year and redshirt freshman Kyle Brigham of Hudson (Alvirne) was named rookie of the year. Junior catcher Tyler Bonin of Litchfield (Campbell) was honorable mention all-conference.
Brigham, who started out at Southern New Hampshire, said he transferred to DWC because he was familiar with several players on the team, including former high school teammates Korey LeLievre and Zach Hurley, spoke so highly of the atmosphere at the school and the work of Pyne.
Pyne, the former head coach at St. Anselm, said it took a while to build a report with in-state players. He remembers the first recruit he ever called after getting the job, a catcher from a New Hampshire high school, told him he wasn't sure where was going, but "I know I'm not going to Daniel Webster."
"It was hard to change the perception locally," Pyne said.
Three straight seasons of 20-plus wins has changed that perception and, now, a trip to the NCAAs is sure to make the program even more competitive in a state where there are top teams in both Division III and Division II.
"Talented players in New Hampshire have a lot of choices, there are some real good programs in their own state," Pyne said. "I want us to be one of those programs. Going to be tournament this year is a really important step."
