Even though he won two state doubles titles and a singles championship in high school, Justin Toler wasn’t expecting to graduate from Concord High last spring and play a leading role for the Endicott College men’s tennis team this spring. But that’s exactly what’s happening.
Toler has worked his way to No. 2 on Endicott’s singles ladder and he’s playing No. 1 doubles with junior Chris Kirkpatrick, the No. 1 singles player for the Gulls (6-4). Toler has gone 5-3 in his singles matches, a mark that includes two wins at No. 1 while filling in for Kirkpatrick and a 6-4, 6-2 win in Endicott’s Commonwealth Coast Conference opener last week against Western New England. And Toler is an even 5-5 playing on the top doubles team.
“For my first year I just wanted to get in here and learn some more and make friends. I didn’t really know if my game or my style would really work here until I started playing kids from other teams and winning,” Toler said. “So, yeah, it’s definitely surprised me a little bit.”
He’s not the only one surprised.
“We knew he was going to come in and make an impact on the lineup, but I didn’t think he’d be able to step into high end of the lineup and produce the way he has right away, especially in doubles,” said Jeremy Howard, who is in his fifth year as the head coach for both the men’s and women’s tennis programs at Endicott. “So we’re definitely pleased with that.”
Toler is one of four freshmen who have seen regular playing time for a relatively young Endicott team. Toler’s game, however, is not young, which is one of the reasons he’s been able to thrive at the next level.
“His serve-and-volley game is so old school that on the singles court a lot of people just aren’t quite ready for it,” Howard said. “Some of his opponents that I would otherwise say are equal players to him on the whole aren’t able to adjust quick enough to the serve-and-volley technique, and that’s been able to get him a couple wins that another freshman might not be able to get. And on the doubles side, it’s perfect because at this level you try to get everyone to serve and volley as often as possible, whereas Justin is doing it right away.”
Toler said there’s a definite jump in the level of competition at the college level, “you can tell these kids came to these schools to play tennis. You can tell they’re working hard every day.” But he also said the competition he faced playing for Concord helped prepare him for college. And, perhaps more importantly, playing for the Tide and being a captain helped him develop a feel for the team aspect of tennis.
“A lot of high school matches are not too difficult for a kid like Justin, so from a tennis perspective playing high school tennis might not have helped him that much, but I think him playing for Concord definitely helped from the team perspective and with being a good teammate,” Howard said. “Tennis is an individual sport and a lot of kids that come into college and didn’t necessarily have a great high school team dynamic don’t understand the college team dynamic, but Justin definitely does.”
Part of Toler’s contribution to the team dynamic comes with a bit of flair.
“The freshmen all have personality, and Justin has a lot of personality,” Howard said, “but he’s been able to back up that personality with play on the court.”
The coach also made sure to temper all the praise with a touch of critique, noting that Toler has made some typical freshman mistakes. But Howard sees those mistakes already being corrected and he sees a bright future for Toler.
“He’s got the potential to be a top-of-the-conference type player. He’s got a style of game that’s going to throw a lot of people off and as he develops mentally and physically, he’ll just become more of a force,” Howard said. “Down the road he’s got the potential to be a number one for Endicott and he can be an anchor for a team that could be at the top of the conference.”
Another Concord High product has helped the St. Joseph’s College (Maine) baseball team to an 11-2 start. Junior Josh Partridge, who is from Deerfield, leads the Monks with a 1.76 ERA and has allowed just 10 hits and three runs during 15⅓ innings of work as the team’s closer. Partridge has struck out 13, walked just two and is holding hitters to a .189 average.
Partridge received national recognition last month when he was named to the D3Baseball.com Team of the Week for the period ending March 12. He made three appearances during the week and allowed three hits, no walks and no earned runs in 8⅔ innings while picking up a win and a save. He was also named the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for those efforts.
It’s been a smooth transition to the bullpen for Patridge, who started in 10 of his 11 appearances last year. He led the team with 70 innings pitched in 2016, went 5-1 with a 2.70 ERA, had 55 strikeouts and 24 walks and earned Third Team All-GNAC honors.
After hitting .316 with an America East-best 51 RBI last year, University of Hartford junior Ben Bengtson is working to find those same kind of stats this season. Bengtson, who graduated from Concord High in 2014 with Partridge, is currently hitting .273 with 14 RBI for the Hawks (6-14).
Bengtson was hitting a robust .349 after Hartford’s home opener against Bryant on March 21, a game where he went 2-for-4 and delivered a walk-off single for the 8-7 win. After that, however, Bengtson went through a 1-for-18 stretch and his average dipped to .262. But he’s been finding a groove recently and is riding a four-game hitting streak.