MAKING AN IMPACT AT NECC. Top: North Reading players in their Hornet baseball days, from left: Ryan McAuliffe, Keith Linnane, R.J. Warnock and Colby Maiola. Bottom, with NECC Coach Jeff Mejia, from left: Linnane, Maiola, McAuliffe and Warnock. (Courtesy Photo)
HAVERHILL — Ryan McAuliffe, Riley Warnock, Keith Linnane and Colby Maiola have been playing baseball together since their days in Little League. Maiola and Warnock played on the Blue Jays together and won the Little League Championship. Linnane has been catching McAuliffe since AAU, winning the U13 National Title at Myrtle Beach, S.C. and the New England ASU Super Division Title at U14.
All four players came together at North Reading High School and won 73 games over a four year span along with four Cape Ann Division titles, three Division North state appearances, two state semi–final appearances and one state championship, which is a pretty impressive achievement.
But none of the four players ever thought they would all be playing together in college, let alone going to the Junior College World Series in North Carolina.
Warnock and McAuliffe both graduated from NRHS in 2013 with Warnock going to Division I University of Rhode Island. McAuliffe decided to stay locally and attend Northern Essex, which is coached by North Reading resident Jeff Mejia, also co–owner of the RAC Baseball Training Facility.
Linnane and Maiola graduated a year later, after captaining the Hornets to another successful season, going all the way to the state semi–finals. Maiola committed to Assumption College to play baseball and Linnane was off to Florida on a baseball recruitment trip. But none of the young men envisioned they would all be playing together in college.
With Linnane unsure of where he wanted to go to college, he talked to McAuliffe and Coach Mejia after Northern Essex went to the Junior College (JuCo) World Series in McAuliffe’s freshman year and thought it would be great for them to play together. But never did they expect that they would soon be joined by their tri–captain from NRHS, Riley Warnock, who decided to transfer in over the summer.
Championship teams are built from being strong up the middle, so the only piece that was missing was their former center fielder, Colby Maiola, who was attending Assumption in the fall and decided to transfer to Northern Essex for the next semester, which completed the final piece to make a run at another successful season together.
Northern Essex went undefeated in their conference and only lost two games, going 28–2 and winning the Regionals and qualified for the JuCo World Series for the fourth consecutive year.
All four players had a successful season at their respective positions.
McAuliffe went 7–0 during the regular season with a 1.98 ERA and 57 strikeouts and was a regional first team selection and Regional Player of the Year.
Warnock, playing shortstop, batted .375 with a .947 fielding percentage and was a first team regional selection and Gold Glove winner.
Maiola, playing center field, batted an impressive .367 and led the team in home runs with four and was named regional first team and was also a Gold Glove recipient.
Northern Essex’s season ended in a 10–7 loss. Tyler, Texas went on to win the JuCo World Series. But it was a dream for these four young men to play together again and to go to the World Series for the last time.
McAuliffe accepted a scholarship to D–1 St. John’s University in New York and is on the draft board for the upcoming MLB Draft. Warnock accepted a scholarship to play ball for Ave Maria University in Florida. Linnane and Maiola have another year of eligibility at Northern Essex and another opportunity to play together this summer for the North Shore Navigators in the Future Collegian League.
