Lessard tapped as new Salem High baseball coach
Dec. 9—Northeastern Conference baseball often has a family-like feel to it, with all the coaches being friendly rivals that have known each other for ages.
Count Matt Lessard as the newest member of this special group.
Salem High named Lessard, 29, as its new head baseball coach earlier this week. An assistant at Ipswich High running the fall ball program the past several seasons, Lessard has ties to the NEC from his six years of coaching in the locally-based Vikings baseball program.
"I'm very excited," Lessard said. "I've been fortunate to know a lot of the guys up in that league from different programs over the years and it's a really great baseball league."
Lessard takes over a Salem High program that went 7-11 last spring, winning a Division 2 North playoff game, in coach Jesse Amaya's only season. A longtime assistant of former coach Gavin Softic, Amaya moved back to his native California this summer, opening up a prime local baseball gig.
"Being at a Division 2 level, playoff-wise, Salem's still a fairly big school. A lot of programs have three baseball teams (freshman, junior varsity, varsity) whereas in recent years we've had two," Lessard said. "Developing depth, growing talent and growing those numbers is something Zack Lamkin instilled in me in Ipswich. He's done a great job getting numbers up there and I want to have that same approach of growth."
Lessard has already been around Salem, having attended a couple of football games this fall to get to know some of the students and surroundings.
A lifetime baseball aficionado, he grew up in New Hampshire and pitched at St. Anselm College before entering the coaching ranks.
"Coaching started off as a nice thing to do on the side, and then you develop a passion for helping kids develop and realize you want to take it to that next level," said Lessard, who started with the Vikings since he graduated from St. A's with Greg Crovo.
A math major in college, Lessard works at Liberty Mutual in Boston and now lives in Medford. He loves crunching numbers and sees himself using those strengths to find the best ways to breed success on the baseball diamond.
"I think the best approach is a hybrid between the small ball and the traditional style, depending on your team's strengths," he explained. "You have to cater to the dynamics of your team. I'm definitely an analytics guy, and it'll be important to see how we're performing and adjust towards the strengths of the club."
From a pitching standpoint, one of Lessard's areas of expertise, the simple theory of throwing strikes remains paramount.
"You want the velocity to accompany that and you want to limit walks. One thing I've learned over the years is free bases will hurt you," he said. "The biggest thing is developing a repertoire that can keep hitters off balance and then improving arm strengths. At the end of the day, it is about throwing strikes."
Though the Witches graduated some key players from last year's team, there are some talented returners including slugger Jack Doyle.
"There's still a lot of talent there and I know there's a lot of potential," said Lessard, who was grateful to Salem High athletic director Scott Connolly for the opportunity as well as Viking boss Marc Crovo, Lamkin and Swampscott coach Joe Caponigro for all their support.
"I'm really looking forward to getting started," he said.
