By Tom Haley
Rutland Herald Correspondent
Green Mountain Union High School’s Rex Hill and Dylan McCarthy can’t get enough of baseball. The diamond is their passion and after helping the Chieftains to a regular-season 13-2 record this spring, they are filling up their summer by playing not only for the Bellows Falls Post 37 American Legion baseball team, but the Connecticut Crush, an elite travel team.
You can’t be everywhere, so they do miss some Post 37 games when there is a conflict but they will be available for coach Bill Lockerby’s Legion squad in the Vermont State Tournament in Colchester if it qualifies by finishing in the top four of the Southern Division.
The experience in Connecticut began last summer when Twin Valley graduate George Molner, coach of the Connecticut Edge, asked Dylan’s father Matt McCarthy if Dylan would be interested in playing for the Edge team.
Matt is the Green Mountain Union varsity baseball coach and saw it as a great opportunity for his son.
“It’s more games, more practice, more reps. It doesn’t hurt,” Matt said.
This summer, Hill joined his GMUHS teammate in playing in Connecticut. Hill will be a junior in the fall and McCarthy a sophomore.
The Crush is an under-16 team, meaning that McCarthy is playing up an age division.
“If Dylan were playing in his own age group, he would be a man among boys,” Crush coach Michael Wall said.
“He has such a presence on the mound. He is never too low or never too high.”
McCarthy and Hill bring a glittering high school resume with them to the Nutmeg State. They were both first-team All-Marble Valley League selections.
McCarthy was 4-2 with a 2.80 earned run average for the Chieftains with 55 strikeouts in 39 innings. Hill was 6-0 with a 2.33 ERA and piled up 55 strikeouts in 29 innings.
That gave the Chiefs a formidable 1-2 punch on the mound but they also were solid at the plate. McCarthy batted .302 with three homers, 13 stolen bases and drove in 19 runs. Hill batted .282.
Matt McCarthy said he would put the playing level of the Crush as “the equivalent of Legion baseball around here.”
When it’s over, they will have played between 30 and 40 games with the Crush this summer and more with the Bellows Falls Legion club.
“They both love baseball,” coach McCarthy said.
It was actually a Vermont connection that put the move to Connecticut in motion. Following graduation from Twin Valley, Molner went to Division I Fairfield University in Connecticut to pitch for former University of Vermont coach Bill Currier.
“I had known George for a long time so he asked if Dylan wanted to come down there and play,” Matt said.
The Vermonters are getting plenty of playing time with the Crush. Both are pitching. McCarthy is an outfielder and Hill a middle infielder.
One adjustment from high school is the switch to wooden bats with the Crush.
Wall said when he first heard he was getting a couple of Vermont players on his team, he laughed.
But they have blended with their teammates in a seamless manner and McCarthy has become the No. 1 pitcher on the staff.
“The kids down here have really taken to them,” Wall said. “They get out of the car after a 2 1/2 hour drive and play with a smile on their face.
“They love the game. If I said that we were playing 10 games today, they would do it. There isn’t much they say no to. They are phenomenal young men. They are kids who make you want to wake up and get to the ball field to coach.”
Wall seeks out quality teams for the Crush’s schedule.
“We play good competition so they are getting what they came down here for,” Wall said.
Hill bats either leadoff or in the No. 2 hole and McCarthy brings power to the No. 4 or 5 spot in the order.
They both throw hard, as their strikeout totals during the high school campaign indicate.
Wall sees McCarthy hitting another growth spurt, which could add even more velocity to his pitches.
“The sky is the limit for him,” Wall said.
Wall calls Hill a “dirt dog,” a compliment to his hustle and grit. It makes him perfectly suited to Wall’s style, which puts a premium on bunting, running and stealing bases.
Bellows Falls Post 37 would have had uncommon pitching depth with the hard throwing Kendal Heath as one of the headliners. Unfortunately, Heath was derailed by Tommy John surgery in his final season of Legion eligibility.
Still, Lockerby’s team has Windsor’s Seth Balch and Bellows Falls’ Jackson Brown along with Hill and McCarthy when they are available. There are others who have also pitched, giving Lockerby plenty of options.
If Post 37 can make it to the playoffs when McCarthy and Hill are available full time, Lockerby’s club will have the type of pitching depth needed for the rigors of an eight-team, double elimination tournament.
No matter what the summer holds, McCarthy and Hill will have logged dozens of innings and built up a storehouse of memories.
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