BSB: Callahan Featured in Hockomock Sports

By Josh Perry || HockomockSports.com Managing Editor

In 2019, Attleboro went on a run to the Div. 1 South final where it faced league rival (and eventual state champion) Taunton at Brockton's Campanelli Stadium. Tim Callahan, at the time a junior starting shortstop for the Bombardiers, had no idea that it would be the last regular, competitive baseball that he would play for nearly three years.

The COVID pandemic stole Callahan's senior season at Attleboro, taking away the chance for the Bombardiers to follow up their impressive playoff run and challenge for a league title. His freshman year at Wheaton College was also significantly impacted, with the spring season limited to just weekend conference games and players having to pass twice-weekly COVID tests to be eligible to play.

With only a few games on the schedule, it was hard to work into the lineup. Callahan got only three competitive at-bats that year (although he noted that the mid-week intrasquad scrimmages gave him some opportunities to hit that might not have been possible in a normal season). Following the fall semester of his sophomore year, Callahan was cut from the Wheaton squad.

He continued to work with the Wheaton athletic department and went to classes in the spring, contemplating whether or not to stay in Norton as a student (since he really liked the school) and give up his baseball career.

During the summer after his sophomore year, Callahan joined up with the Canton A's of the Cranberry League. By his own admission, he had barely touched a bat for six months before the first game, but he did well (batting 0.364, according to the league's website) and he reignited the desire to keep playing.

Callahan entered the transfer portal and got in touch with the coaches at Lasell University. Late in the summer, his decision was finalized and Callahan made the switch. Since joining the Lasers and getting his second chance at a college baseball career, Callahan has done nothing but rake, moving up the career leaderboards in a variety of offensive statistics.

It wasn't where he expected coming out of high school, but Callahan found where he belonged.

"As soon as I got to campus and I got to know the guys on the team and we started practicing and stuff, I was really happy I made the switch," he said before Lasell's game against Curry. "I knew at the beginning I wasn't guaranteed anything. I had to come in and compete for a spot and then played pretty well in the fall and earned that spot for the spring. At the end of the day, I have a lot of fun playing baseball."

Hitters are always happy when they're producing at the plate and Callahan made an instant impact for the Lasers. He had 67 hits and batted 0.429 in his first year in Newton (with 13 doubles, three triples, 25 RBI, and 16 steals). He was named to the D3baseball.com and ABCA All-Region First Teams and was first team All-GNAC. Callahan led the conference in hits and average and set single-season school records in hits, average, and runs scored.

"I was a little shocked by it," Callahan admitted about his fast start. "Even though I took some time off, I've been playing baseball since I was five years old. As soon as I got back into the routine every day, I got back into the swing of things relatively quickly."

His journey to Lasell gave him a different perspective. With three years of baseball taken away from him, he had a better appreciation for the game.

"I just told myself to not have any more regrets with anything," Callahan said. "I was just going to give it my all and whatever happens, happens. I think that laid back mindset of not trying to do too much and just enjoying my time out there led to more success on the field."

"When I came back, it was kind of like this was my last opportunity to keep playing. I've already experienced the negative side of everything that could happen, I've been there before, so now just go out and play like I have nothing to lose. Just make the most out of it and play for as long as I can."

That message has worked wonders for Callahan at the plate. He followed up his stellar first season by batting 0.343 with 48 hits last season. He had his lone career home run, 10 doubles, and a triple. He drove in 30 runs and stole 23 bases. Callahan was named to the All-GNAC First Team for the second year in a row.

He has been on fire to start this season. Through 14 games, he had at least one hit in 13 of them. Callahan already has 28 hits and is batting 0.475 with 11 RBI, five doubles, a triple, and five steals.

"I have a lot of confidence when I get into the box right now," he explained. "Just the mindset of not having any fears when you get into the box, you versus the pitcher and just believing in yourself being better than the pitcher, gives you a lot higher chance of success."

Callahan added, "It helps that the guys around me in the lineup have been getting on base too. I'm getting opportunities to come up with guys in scoring position, which obviously makes a pitcher make more mistakes – leaving pitches down the middle for me to hit or trying to do too much and throw more uncompetitive pitches."

He is rewriting the Lasell record book every game. Last week, as he earned GNAC Player of the Week honors, Callahan broke the career record for runs scored (107). He is also the leader in career batting average (0.403) and OBP (0.467). He is second in career slugging percentage (0.518). Callahan is third in career hits (143), tied for fifth in doubles (28), tied for third in triples (five), tied for ninth in RBI (66), third in total bases (184), one away from 10th in walks (44), and tied for second in steals (44).

Callahan already owns the single-season record for most games, batting average, hits, total bases, walks (tied for first), sacrifice flies, and has the top two seasons for runs scored.

It's not just at the plate where Callahan is among the program's best. He is also 0.001 out of 10th in career fielding percentage, while being sixth all-time in chances (520) and put-outs (394), and seventh in double plays turned (41).

Even if the season ended after the win against Curry, Callahan's career at Lasell is among the best the program has ever seen.

Lasell coach Billy Uberti said, ""Hard to sum up the impact Tim has had on this program in a few sentences. His leadership, work ethic, and talent make others better on a daily basis. Tim will go down as one of the best players in our program's history. It's a pleasure to be around him."

"It's not something that I was necessarily expecting when I first came here," Callahan said about setting records. "Seeing the different posts here and there about the different records is cool but I try not to look too much into it at the end of the day."

"I only have one home run in my career, so that's the only time I scored by myself. If I get on base, I still need guys behind me in the lineup to move me around. I wouldn't score if it wasn't for teammates batting behind me in the lineup. It takes more than one person to create runs."

The Lasers recently returned from their trip to Florida and Callahan was impressed by what he saw from the team during a tough stretch that included 10 games in just eight days. After a heartbreaking, walk-off loss to Johnson and Wales in last year's GNAC tournament, Callahan sees the potential for this year's team to make more noise in the league.

"I think this might be the year where we can take that step," he said. "We have a lot of upperclassmen who have been in this program for a couple years now and they know how much time and dedication has been put into preparing for a season. It seems like it's going to be a really good year."

For Callahan, it's already been a really great career. It may not have started the way that he would have hoped, but there is still the possibility of a perfect ending.

Ed. Note – Callahan went 2-for-5 with a double and two runs scored on Saturday, as Lasell beat St. Joseph's (ME) 10-6 in the conference opener. The Lasers improved to 9-6 on the season with the win.

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