Tenth Annual Christie Serino Baseball Classic set for today in Malden

Field includes host Malden HS, East Boston and Greater Lawrence Tech

By Nick Toscani

Christie “Chris” Serino is one of the most influential and most revered coaches and mentors in the region’s history on the high school and college sports scene. He coached hockey at Saugus High, UNH, Merrimack College and Malden Catholic as well as baseball for many of his five sons’ teams through their growing years – as well as being the former baseball head coach at the University of New Hampshire. Coach Serino steered Saugus High to two boys hockey State Championships – its only state titles in any sports– as well as two Super 8 State Hockey Championships at Malden Catholic in 2011 and 2012.

Locally and across the region, many mourned his untimely passing in October 2012 from a battle with cancer while he was serving as athletic director and hockey head coach at Malden Catholic High School. He was only 62.

In 2021, Coach Serino and his family received a tremendous honor when the new Football and Track Stadium at the newly built Saugus High School was dedicated in his honor. Today in Malden, for the 10th time, the late Coach Serino’s legacy will be honored again with the playing of the 10th Annual Christie Serino Baseball Classic, where three teams will compete for the 2024 Championship.

The Serino Classic originated in 2014 – first hosted by Saugus High School, Coach Serino’s alma mater – and has been held continuously since then, except for 2020, when it was sidelined along with the entire rest of the high school season in 2020. Today, the Malden High School Golden Tornado baseball squad will host the Doubleheader at Pine Banks Park in semifinal and finals action, beginning at 11:00 a.m.

East Boston High School, the two-time defending champion, will play the Greater Lawrence Tech Reggies at 11:00 a.m. at Kezer Field at Pine Banks in one matchup, while Malden High and East Boston High will face off at 1:30 p.m. at Pine Banks in Game Two. Malden High played Greater Lawrence Tech on the road Thursday, after Advocate press time, in the first game of the tournament.

Malden High Head Coach Steve Freker said it has been an honor to memorialize Coach Serino all of these years. “He [Serino] was a leader and mentor to hundreds of athletes and coaches. There is really no one in this region who has made such an impact on so many lives in the high school and college ranks,” said Coach Freker, who is now in his 8th year at Malden High, his second time around as head baseball coach of his alma mater.

He was the head baseball coach at Saugus High from 2014-2016 and head baseball coach at Malden Catholic from 2000-2012, all of the years Coach Serino was Athletic Director. Freker coached baseball at Malden High from 1985-1999 previously, this being the 39th year coaching high school baseball. He was inducted into the Bro. Daniel Cremin Malden Catholic Hall of Fame and then the Bay State Games Hall of Fame in 2022, Mass. State High School Coaches (MBCA) Hall of Fame in 2016 and the Malden High Golden Tornado Hall of Fame in 2007.

While at Malden Catholic, Freker served under Serino, who was athletic director at the time, and also coached two of Coach Serino’s sons, Nick and Anthony. Both of the sons were D-1 scholarship baseball players at UMass Amherst. Nick Serino went on to the professional ranks with the Toronto Blue Jays organization, one of eight professional MLB baseball players from Malden Catholic from 2003-2012.

“We started the Serino Classic in 2014 at Saugus High and it was such a big success we brought it to Malden High when we returned here,” Freker said.

Malden Mayor Gary Christenson has attended all the tournaments held in Malden since 2017 and was expected to deliver the first pitch today.

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SERINO CLASSIC HISTORY

Held in Saugus:

2014, 2015, 2016

Held in Malden:

2017 – Malden HS

2018 – Malden HS

2019 – East Boston

2020 – No classic-COVID-19

2021 – Winthrop

2022 – East Boston

2023 – East Boston