NASHUA – Louie Bernardini’s first season as the Rivier University baseball coach wasn’t really much of a season at all.

So when the Raiders left town this week to head to Myrtle Beach, S.C. for a 2022 season-opening eight-game trip, there was a baseball buzz.

“We couldn’t be more excited to get down south and begin our season – like a normal season,” Bernardini said. “The guys are excited, the coaching staff’s excited, and we just want to get outside and play ball in some warm weather.”

That’s because the Raiders are playing almost as many games down south as they did all of last spring. It was good to be able to get out and play last spring after having no season in 2020, but just 10 games with plenty of COVID cancellations, just didn’t feel like a real season. And Bernardini, the former Daniel Webster College head coach, had just taken over the program after longtime coach Anthony Perry left to work at his alma mater, Fisher College.

“There was no spring trip, we were practicing outside only with masks, we had only 17 players on the team,” Bernardini said. “A combination of injuries, COVID issues and guys were not enrolled in school last spring for some of those reasons.”

And thus, it didn’t feel like a real season at all.

“How many coaches get a practice run at it?” Bernardini said with a chuckle. “Last year felt like a practice run. I’m trying to find a silver lining. It was my opportunity to get my feet wet with the program and just the players I had available to me, but also building those

relationships with my competitors … It was kind of a warmup season of what is now going to be a real season.”

What also helped the Raiders out this year was the fact they were able to have fall ball, always a springboard to a college program’s year.

“That sets the tone for the off-season and how guys jump into preseason Feb. 1,” he said, noting he was able to get a look at his 14 new incoming players. “It gives me an opportunity to teach (the new players) not just the x’s and o’s but the culture of the program. That way, preseason we’re running on all cylinders so there’s no more learning curve.”

And the Raiders, as they have the last few years, were able to use Harvey Woods Field on the former Daniel Webster College campus, which they will likely use for some of their home games later this season before they are able to use Holman Stadium. In fact, they played a fall ball game at Holman against Northern Essex Community College (Haverhill, Mass.) and Southern Maine Community College.

But since practice began last month, it’s back to using whatever area is available, indoors or out.

“We don’t get to play on a baseball field until we get there,” said Bernardini, whose team works out either indoors or on a simulated baseball diamond on Rivier’s soccer/lacrosse field, Merrill Field. “We’re fortunate to have the turf field to get full infield distance and have some live at bats. But it’s the competitive element that really changes the variable, and gives me a better look at how we’re going to compete week-in, week-out the entire season.

“This first week of baseball is definitely used as a measure. We not only gauge the talent we have, see how it matches up, but also gauge the competitiveness of the players, their mental toughness, and how they respond to adversity. Gives us a lot more data to work with than practices alone.”

Bernardini has been talking for the last year about having more of a Rivier presence at Holman, which normally, like most non-field turf outdoor facilities, is ready for use until sometime in April. The Raiders will have a lot of midweek-night games at the facility.

“I’m really going to push to expand our footprint at Holman,” he said. “And getting over as often as possible (including practices). I’d like to execute an entire fall season at Holman, but the relationship needs to grow, there’s got to be quid pro quo on both sides. It’s a (city) field, but we have a lot to give to the town as a program and an institution. I don’t see why we can’t expand our footprint there and make it feel more like home. More branding over there and more time.”

Bernardini said he will leave that to school officials, but notes that working with the Park-Recreation staff at Holman has been “great” in terms of flexibility with start times and having the field ready.

That’s for April, and the temps certainly may not be as warm as they will be this weekend at Myrtle Beach’s field complex, at 3051 Ripken Way.

•••

THE ROSTER

Bernardini has on his roster 11 who saw regular time in the 10 games last season – that’s 11 out of 28 players.

Some of the keys: Starting with pitchers, it would be senior Devin Albino of North Smithfield, R.I., who follows the philosophy Bernardini has been instilling since his few years as Raiders pitching coach before ascending to the top job.

“He’s a tempo guy, forces the offense to play at his pace, mixes his pitches well and forces the offense to beat him,” Bernardini said. “He just bought in to what we’re preaching … If he’s going to get beat, it’s because they’re stringing hits together.”

Sophomore Tim Scott of Lowell took last year off but he’s expected to fill a big mound role. Rounding out the staff mainstays are seniors Jake Mainey of Merrimack and Brandon Kelly of Lincoln, R.I. Kelly holds the school record for appearances in a season, a bullpen arm who can almost pitch daily. Mainey, a starter, is, according to Bernardini, “in the best shape he’s ever been in” and has developed a changeup to go with his fastball.

Other key returning position players include sophomore shortstop Pat Young (Billerica, Mass.), and junior first baseman Jack White of Long Beach. White, recruited from California, struggled last year after seeing action following the year off. Bernardini feels if he can get consistent, “He can shock the GNAC with how well he can hit. We’re looking forward to him having a big year.”

As for newcomers, transfer Jake Boudreau (from SNHU, a Pinkerton alum) is an outfielder with good baseball IQ who can also pitch. Another transfer, Frank Gulezian (formerly of Northern Essex) will likely play short on the trip in Young’s absence. He can move to third or Young, when healthy, can play there, too.

Bernardini likes the improvement of freshman catcher Cole Beckeritis out of Ipswich, Mass. “He’s not just gotten better every day, but every half hour,” the coach said. Pitcher Mike Overlan, a 6-2 freshman from Melrose, Mass., “has great stuff, it’s just about taming that fire a little bit,” Bernardini said. “Once he does that, he’s going to be hard to hit.”

But there’s a returning veteran that brings the program some cache. Nearly three years ago Perry and Bernardini recruited the first woman catcher to play NCAA baseball, Marika Lysczyk of Delta, British Columbia, bringing the program national attention. With the pandemic, being from Canada, she wasn’t able to get fully immersed into the Raider program until now after appearing in a few games in 2020 before the plug was pulled. She is on the mend from shoulder surgery in August and expecting to play at some point this season.

“She’s part of our brand at this point,” Bernardini said, saying she should be ready soon and has begun a throwing program, noting she has taken advantage of the NCAA waiver and has made several talks and public appearances about her history-making college career. Being able to play in the fall has helped the freshman, Bernardini said, but there’s a lot more to get used to.

“With college, the game is faster,” he said. “They were exposed in fall ball to the speed of the game. And the depth of the game in terms of the chess match we’re playing against each other when it comes to the bunts, the hit-and-runs, the steals, the fake steals, the fake bunts, and all the movement on offense.The freshmen weren’t used to that, but they’re ready now.”

Two nights ago, one of the Raider hurlers in a live situation issued a walk. That was a rarity and caught the head coach off guard, but made a valuable point.

“We had thrown so many strikes in the first few weeks of preseason,” Bernardi said. “We weren’t’ walking guys in these live at-bats, and I was going ‘Ball four?’ That was the first walk in three weeks.”

So Bernardini reminded his hitters they can indeed draw walks. “It exposed us on the offensive side, maybe our offense was being too aggressive,” he said. “In the meantime, the pitchers were doing an awesome job of working fast, projecting confidence and making the hitter swing.”

Bernardini says that while it’s his program now as he goes into his second year at the helm, the players have ownership, too.

“It feels like ours,” he said. “It’s their program. They’re the ones who go through all the hard work and the manual labor, graduate and become alumni of the program. They want to graduate and leave behind a legacy and I think that’s what’s going to start to happen. It’s going to snowball and we’re going to start to become competitive.”

There’s been a athletic department-wise increase in recruiting, and Bernardini certainly has gladly followed suit as next year he expects some 25-30 new players.

“Chris Shanahan (assistant coach, top staff recruiter) and I are still going to recruit the best baseball players we can find,” Bernardini said. “That’s just the expectation I have of myself and I think the campus has been elevating its recruiting efforts – but that’s always been my expectation and philosophy, that we’re going to recruit the best baseball players we can find and to win as often as possible.”

Bernardini is trying to instill the thinking into the program that the goal is to always win the GNAC, but realistically that will take time.

“We’re going to need more talent to get there,” he said, “but we’re definitely going to surprise some people this year for sure.”

The Raiders are looking to jump start the program, as college baseball in New England isn’t easy with the weather. The goal is to make baseball a serious sport in the athletic program.

“And it’s going to be,” Bernardini said. JoAnne (AD Merrill) has been awesome. She’s been on board with all my ideas, and I’ve got the support of (assistants) Chris Shanahan and Mike Henzley. Myself, Chris and Mike, we’ve won conference championships (elsewhere), Chris and I have both been to College World Series. You don’t know how to get to those places unless you’ve been there before.

“We all have an understanding of what type of talent it takes to win at this level, so we’re going to do what we can to go out and get it, bring it to campus and turn this program into a competitive, winning program.”

Last year’s 0-10 was simply one to forget with all the pandemic pitfalls, not one to use as a measuring stick. “When we finished our last game we didn’t even know it was going to be our last game,” Bernardini said. “We were still trying to find a way to go play a couple of more games.”

And if there was a COVID exposure, things were shut down for 10 days. Given a limited roster and a limited schedule, it wasn’t an ideal way to start his Raider head coaching tenure.

“When you become a new head coach, you battle with two options,” Bernardini said. “One, wipe the slate clean and bring in all new players, and try to turn it around quickly.

“Or two, have a sense of respect and pride in what the players have put in so far, and understand they don’t like losing; they want to win, too. So you make the transition with them. That’s a little bit more of a slower, gentle (approach).That’s the option I believe is the better option.”

So this year, the Raiders brought in 13-14 new players, and with the remaining nucleus, gives them a combination of old and new. Bernardini says the veterans can offer a great history lesson to the newbies.

“Without the veterans of the past, there’s no one to speak of how hard it was,” he said. “And I need that. I need that story, that history to come with us. You can’t just forget and neglect that history, so you know where you came from and how far you’ve come. We go out and win 12 games one year and then win 20-25 or in the playoffs, no problem. I’ve got guys here who were on that 0-10 team … I’ve got guys who can transition from that, speak to the history and how far it’s come. That’s why I believe in the slower transition than wiping the slate clean.”

The veteran players, Bernardini, “don’t deserve to be replaced. They deserve to go through (a rebuild) with me. Transform and see the wins.”

The fact the team is going south to start the season – the players did the fundraising – shows the program has a distinct goal and the school is on board with it.

“Credit to (the players) for coming through and helping us make it,” he said.

When the Raiders return from playing eight games in seven days, they’ll have a week to recover, restore the arms, and then ramp up for a March 19 twinbill at Wentworth and then Lesley on the 20th. A lot of the white stuff that is currently on the ground needs to disappear.

In the week before last weekend’s snow, with the ground completely bare, Bernardini jumped the gun and contacted the grounds crew that takes care of Harvey Woods. Oops.

“Every time it snows, after Christmas, I wonder to myself, ‘Will this be the last one?'” he said with a chuckle.

Rest assured, there will be no snow at Myrtle Beach, just baseball.