February 28, 2008 07:27 am Bill Kipouras
None of the guys on the Salem State College baseball team have asked Rob Coppola if he plans to use a cane when he steps up to the plate. When you're a 26-year-old newcomer and the second-oldest player in head coach Ken Perrone's 26-year tenure at SSC, then the wisecracks are likely. What else can he do but laugh off the good-natured zings? "Sometimes they call me Julio Franco (the major leaguer who is in his late 40s)," said the left-handed pitcher, first baseman and outfielder. The Revere native can handle being the butt of senior jokes. "Even coach (Perrone) said he might be younger than me," Coppola said. Ironically, the 6-foot, 210-pound Coppola once coached two of his current teammates, third baseman Mike Addesa and his freshman brother, when he was an assistant coach at Revere High School. Now living in Peabody, Coppola picked up almost 60 credits at Northwest Oklahoma State, an NAIA school, then went to Suffolk University before coming to Salem State as a junior. He has been so impressive that Perrone plans to use Coppola as an everyday player. "Rob had a great fall. He had five hits against Endicott in a doubleheader that closed out the fall program," Perrone said. "He's got good size and looks like he can have an impact on this team. I love his potential." If Perrone is a bit surprised by Coppola's performance so far, he should be. Coppola hasn't played in a baseball game in six years. During that time, he played fast-pitch and semipro softball, coached at his alma mater under Al Blasi and worked feverishly to pay off his Suffolk tuition bill. "Suffolk was expensive. There was a misunderstanding in grants and stuff and I owed $9,000 after one year," Coppola said. "So I left Suffolk and went to work as a bartender at the Border Cafe on Route 1 and also did construction. I also worked part-time as a temp postal worker in the Back Bay." Coppola, who was adopted as a 13-year-old by his aunt, Mary Sposito, actually returned to Suffolk. But he didn't play ball there, since the team practiced at Fields Corner in Dorchester and he was carrying quite a workload. So where did Salem State come into his life? Mike Addesa's father, Perrone said, had given him a heads-up on Coppola. "I was away from it for a long time, but now I'm living the dream again. I have a chance to finish what I started," the criminal justice major said. "I feel like a little kid again. Everyone looked at me kind of strange when word got around that I was 26, but I felt like I was back in high school. The mental aspect was a lot easier, but physically it took me a while. I got a sore arm from throwing, but after two weeks I felt OK in all the things I had to do." Coppola is like a pup compared to the previous "senior citizen" Perrone had. Jeff Blydell of Lynn was 33 when he came back to college to get his teaching degree. Blydell, a teammate of ex-Yankee Mike Pazik at Lynn English, was an agency male model for eight years and had attended UConn. He is still active in baseball, coaching the North Shore Phillies of the North Shore League in the summertime. But the senior citizen of all time at SSC was Joe Sweeney of Andover, who was 71 years young when he was playing doubles for the men's tennis team. nnn The Danielle Sherry basketball recruiting sweepstakes has boiled down to four schools: Suffolk, Salem State, Springfield and Emmanuel (which joined the process late, but had her for a visit). After visiting Emmanuel, Danvers' all-time leading scorer went to watch Suffolk play the same night. "I'm waiting to see where I'm accepted. That will determine my decision," she said. It says here it'll be either Suffolk or Salem State. Incidentally, her uncle and Celtics draft choice, Dana Skinner, finished a few points short of the 1,000-point milestone at Danvers High. He was at 996 points until he dove for a ball in a tournament game and injured himself when he slid under the scorer's table. nnn Kevin Van Lenten of Masconomet's boys basketball team may have set some kind of record in his regular season finale last week when he took five charging calls and fouled out. Masco coach Ben Hodges could not recall seeing a player take five offensive fouls in a game. nnn Congratulations are in order for former Beverly High hockey star John Paluzzi and his recent bride, Amy Seeley, also of Beverly. They were married at First Baptist Church in Beverly. Paluzzi would seem worthy of a Beverly High Hall of Fame nomination. He was a hockey captain at three different levels (Beverly High, Vermont Academy and AIC); a four-year BHS hockey regular; a three-time NEC all-star; team MVP twice, led BHS in scoring three times and had 140 career points. Paluzzi was third all-time in point production when he graduated. Bill Kipouras is a staff writer at The Salem News. E-mail him at bkipouras@salemnews.com.
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