Who Taunton baseball can depend on and what they need to do to three-peat in Division 1

The back-to-back defending Division 1 champion Taunton High baseball team looks a little different this year, and it's not just those sleek new orange-pinstriped black jerseys.

Gone are such key figures as Ryan MacDougall, Dawson Bryce and Braden Sullivan, who all now ply their trade at the NCAA Division 1 level. In are some newer faces who mainly came off the bench or played junior varsity last year, while others such as the Cali twins, Brady Morin and Dwayne Burgo have stepped into their roles as senior leaders.

So far, the Tigers (7-2, 5-1 Hockomock League) are handling themselves well, especially after going through one of the toughest stretches of the season last week that saw Taunton play five games in seven days. Starting with an 11-0 win over Canton, the Tigers then fell 6-2 to Franklin, beat Mansfield 12-2, fell 8-1 to BC High and then turned around and beat Plymouth North 4-1.

"Everybody in the league is really competitive," Taunton coach Blair Bourque said. "We played a couple of non-conference games last week that we added to our schedule to beef it up a little bit. We want the competition and these guys are very competitive, so they're hungry."

The Tigers followed it up with a 7-1 win over Xaverian Wednesday to end their vacation stretch before returning to action Monday with a 3-0 shutout over Attleboro. Morin pitched a near perfect game, save for one close-call single by junior Mason Kolczeweski, striking out eight in seven innings of work

"Brady did a fantastic job today," Bourque said. "He was very efficient, pitched to contact and the defense did a great job behind him."

Now on a three-game winning streak with 13 games left to play, Taunton knows it has the tools to succeed, but can take nothing for granted. Here are some of the key players who are giving the Tigers their best chance to earn their third straight state title.

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Brady Morin

The senior Johnson and Wales commit mainly came out of the bullpen for the Tigers as a junior, often having to battle out of tough situations, something Bourque feels has paid off quite well.

"We knew he's a guy we could trust," Bourque said. "He's stepping up. He's a leader for us and this is what he expects out of himself and this is what we need."

Now a starter, Morin is 3-1 through his first four starts, giving up seven runs on 17 hits and six walks while striking out 20 in 20 innings of work. He's gone all seven innings in his two most recent starts and recorded shutouts against both the Blue Bombardiers and Sharon in the season debut.

"I've felt good," Morin said. "I've had a lot of good starts and my team's behind me to help me out. When I'm down, they go out and get me, and then I stay up and we just keep playing how we play."

Caden Lindskog

The junior third baseman showed glimpses of what he was capable of last spring while filling in for Bryce last year, but has truly established himself for the Tigers this spring.

One of the most consistent hitters in the lineup, Lindskog is batting .459 with eight runs and seven RBIs through his first nine games, earning at least a hit in every game except the no-hitter by BC High. It was much of the same against Attleboro, where he led the way going 1-for-3 with a pair of RBIs, one coming off a sacrifice fly to right while the other came off a single to right.

"He's in the middle of the lineup for a reason, so we want him putting the barrel on the ball and he has good at-bats," Bourque said. "He's a pretty mature hitter for not having a ton of varsity experience, so we're happy to get the production out of him that we've been getting, so hopefully he keeps seeing the ball well and keeps driving in runs."

Bourque also praised his efforts fielding in the hot corner, noting he's been holding it down with some strong efforts after winning the position this offseason.

The Cali Twins

Now the longest tenured members of the varsity team, senior outfielder and Assumption commit Andrew Cali and senior shortstop and UMass Lowell commit Brayden Cali know what it takes to win it all and have been passing on those lessons to the underclassmen.

"They're great leaders, they're great kids and very talented baseball players," Bourque said. "They're not the biggest guys, but they're strong and they can handle it, so we'll hop on their backs and go as far as they can take us, but they do a great job on the bench of getting guys going."

Both twins contributed to the win Monday, with Andrew, at the bottom of the lineup, coming home off a sacrifice fly by Lindskog and Brayden, from the leadoff spot, driving in junior second baseman Jace Galante off a single to right. Two of the fastest baserunners at the Tigers' disposal, Andrew had nine stolen bases while Brayden has eight, with both using that speed to stretch out some runs.

Both have been strong fielders as well, with Brayden making four putouts of his own against Attleboro.

The Seniors

Though the Cali twins may have been on varsity the longest, they're far from the only seniors with varsity experience. Their cousin and pitcher Jack Cali, a Wheaton commit, has been the ace of the Tiger rotation, going 3-0 in all three starts allowing two earned runs on 10 hits and three walks while striking out 17 in 18 innings of work.

Senior outfielder Dwayne Burgo, another Wheaton commit, showed off his fielding skills with strong diving catch against the Blue Bombardiers and snapped a three game hitless skid with a single while getting on base in all four at bats.

"He's a leader for us and he's a big bat in the lineup," Bourque said. "We need some production out of him and he knows that, so hopefully moving forward this is what kind of sparks his offensive game."

Elsewhere, younger players have slotted into new starting roles and delivered, such as Galante at second and sophomore Joe Benoit at first, who had a strong varsity debut against the Eagles in the season opener, going 2-for-2 with a pair of triples and a run.

What they need to fix

Now roughly halfway through the regular season, the Tigers know there are some things they need to tighten up if they want to defend their title. For Bourque, one of those is capitalizing on turning runners on base into runs, with Taunton having left seven runners stranded against Attleboro.

"When we try to move runners over, we've got to make sure we execute," Bourque said. "It's something we failed to do (against Attleboro), but we were fortunate to have the right guys in the right spots when it was clutch time. Caden and Brayden stepped up, but we've got to do a better job of understanding the situation, moving guys over and getting them into scoring positions where we can make things happen."

Overall though, Bourque feels as long as his team can continue to make those adjustments and continue to grow together, they'll be all set in the long run.

"We're just trying to get better every day and that's our ultimate goal," Bourque said.

Taunton Daily Gazette sports reporter Cameron Merritt can be reached at cmerritt@tauntongazette.com. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @CamMerritt_News. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to the Taunton Daily Gazette today.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Midway through the season, a look at Taunton baseball