By CHRISTOPHER TREMBLAY, Staff Sports Writer

Baseball has given Sutton’s Chase Falcon a chance to continue playing after his high school days are over. Following the Division 5 State Baseball Tournament Falcon’s baseball playing days will not come to an end; the senior will be taking his talent to Division 3 Catholic University in Washington D.C., where he was offered a roster spot with the Cardinals. 

“I’ve been playing baseball pretty much since the day I was born. My dad has always been a coach, so I grew up with baseball at a very young age,” Falcon said. “The activity of the sport, being an active kid, it gave me something to do. It was also a way to bond with my dad.”

Playing baseball in Sutton at a young age, there were not a lot of kids involved with the sport, so he found himself playing every position on the diamond at one time or another. Around the age of 13 he decided to transfer to the outfield on a regular basis.

“Having a younger birthday I could play with the kids my age, but I also had to play with the older kids,” he said. “It was playing with the older kids when I discovered the outfield. They needed an outfielder, I gave it a try and after making a few diving catches while having fun playing the position, I rolled with it.”

In addition to playing the outfield. Falcon occasionally found himself on the mound and while it was never a goal of his to be a pitcher he didn’t mind eating up some innings for his team whenever they needed it.

As an eighth grader he was able to play baseball with the high school, but by the time he actually entered the high school baseball happened to be one of the sports that was put on hold because of Covid.  By the time spring rolled around again, during his sophomore year, baseball was back in full swing. Falcon made the varsity team as the starting left fielder playing along side all the older kids he grew up playing with.

However, being on the younger side, Falcon noted that he needed to work on becoming a better hitter at the plate if he wanted to contend with the older players.

“I was on the smaller size but was very quick. I’d get a single and steal my way around the bases,” he said. “Over the past few years, I’ve been able to put it out of the yard, but I do not consider myself a power hitter. My main philosophy is to see ball, hit the ball into a gap and take second base, then let my teammates bring me home.”

At the time of this writing, Falcon was batting .509 with 27 hits (12 singles, 13 doubles, 1 triple and 1 homerun) while adding 17 RBI, 17 stolen bases and 16 runs scored. As a pitcher for the Sammies, the senior recorded 15 innings pitched, where he strikeout 25 batters and allowed 25 earned runs.

“Chase has solid footwork and a strong arm that has led him to be a very dependable part of our outfield. Offensively he has gone from a contact hitter to someone who now drives the ball, which is illustrated in his extra base hits this season.” Sutton coach Casey Cummins said. “He is always willing to help the team out in any way that he can, which is illustrated by his ability to play multiple positions for us.”

While he doesn’t mind taking the ball every so often to help his team out, Falcon would rather play in the field.

“I prefer playing the outfield, with my focus being on becoming a better hitter,” the senior said. “As a pitcher this year, I’m finding myself more in a reliever / closer role instead of starting. If I’m needed to pitch, I’d much prefer it as I get to come into the game and do my thing.”

In addition to being a hard-working student in the classroom, Falcon carries that work ethic onto the field where he does a great job working with the younger players.

“As a senior captain, Chase enjoys working with the younger players within the program and helping them through their struggles,” the Sutton Coach said. “His game and leadership skills have grown through the years tremendously.”

Although the senior enjoys working with the younger players, his greatest accomplishment is his defensive game. According to Cummins, his arm strength has improved through the years enough to lead the team in defensive assists this year.

“I take a lot of pride in my defense; it really means a lot to me. My mission is to be the best defensive player that I can,” he said. “Being on the smaller size I was not thought of as a hitter, so I had to do something that would allow me to stay in the lineup. My older brother (Ryan, 4 years older) always had a good arm, so that was something that I wanted to copy, so I worked with him on getting stronger to make those kinds of throws.”

Last spring Sutton, as a 13 seed in the Division 5 State Baseball Tournament, thrashed the number four seed Tahanto, 10-2 before falling to Pioneer Valley in a heartbreak in the round of eight. It was one win away from Sutton history.

“The team came together to make it as far as we could last year,” Falcon said. “This year we want to do that again, only going further. If we can get that extra win it would be the furthest that any baseball team at Sutton has ever gone. We are working hard to get that accomplished.”

Sutton will play in the Division 5 State Tournament once again this year as the 22 seed and will open up against Smith Vocational Tech.

Whenever the Sammies season does come to an end, Falcon will then begin to focus on the future of his baseball career.

“Playing professional baseball is every kid’s dream and although I will be attending a Division 3 college, that doesn’t see a lot of scouts I have not totally given up on that dream,” Falcon said. “I’m just going to go out and play the best that I possibly can. Catholic University has a great baseball program, but I am going for my studies. It has a different atmosphere to it, and I wanted to do something different, and everything just fell into place.”

If Falcon goes out and has himself a great four years of playing college baseball, his childhood dreams may be able to come true, but if things don’t work out in his favor, it seems that he will have accepted it and move on. At least he had the opportunity.