Mass. Baseball Coaches (MBCA) Senior EMass All-Stars, Malden High’s McMahon, took on New Hampshire Stars Tuesday

‘Battle at the Border’ in 48th EMass Game was held at Holman Stadium in Nashua, N.H.

Special to the Advocate

A 21-player team of the best High School Seniors in Massachusetts had one more game to play. The Massachusetts Baseball Coaches Association’s (MBCA) 48th Eastern Mass. Senior All-Star Game had a New England flair this year, as the MBCA sent its Class of 2026 Eastern Mass. best on a trip north to take on the New Hampshire Senior All-Stars in a “Battle at the Border.” In a well-played game, the Mass. Seniors were bested, 11-7, by their New Hampshire hosts. Included on the roster was Malden High four-year varsity starter Ryan McMahon, a record-setting pitcher and outfielder, who was recently voted as Greater Boston League Most Valuable Player by the GBL coaches at their All-Star meeting.

The game was played Tuesday night at Holman Stadium (67 Amherst St., Nashua, N.H.). First pitch was at 6:00 p.m. The game was a collaboration between the MBCA and the Baseball Coaches Association of New Hampshire (BCANH).

“We hooked up with some coaches from New Hampshire at our annual MBCA Clinic & Convention in January and got into a discussion about All-Star Games,” said Senior Game Coordinator Dwayne Follette, the Plymouth North HS head coach who this year happened to reach a huge milestone, winning his 500th career game as a coach. “It just took off from there and here we are, headed to New Hampshire.”

There were a couple of “firsts” for this year’s game. This was the very first time Massachusetts would be playing New Hampshire in this game. It would also be the first time since 1978 that the venerable Frank Carey was not the driving force behind the game, as he stepped down from the helm after Game #47 last year.

Recognizing the former longtime North Reading High head coach, who is the all-time winningest high school baseball coach in Massachusetts history (726 wins/50 seasons) — with five of those wins being State Championships — Coach Follette announced the game has been named the “48th EMass Frank Carey Senior All Star Game.”

A slew of top-shelf EMass Seniors — many of them league MVPs — had been named to the team and would be playing Tuesday night, including:

P — Cole Arruda (Seekonk), Jason Bilo (Chelmsford), Cornac Heney (Hamilton-Wenham), Oliver Henke (Cambridge R&L), Danny Kenney (Plymouth North), Charlie Kruez (Archbishop Williams), Ryan McMahon (Malden)

C — Adam Caruso (Shawsheen Tech), Connor McLeish (Plymouth North), Matt Tracy (Lynnfield)

INF — Brady Beauparland (Dartmouth), Michael DeMaino (St. Mary’s-Lynn), Colin Garrity (Hingham), Aidan Murphy (Weston), Isaac Robinson (Reading), Caden Ross (Swampscott)

OF — Sean Kryczak (Franklin), Logan Our (St. John Paul II), Liam Powers (Mystic Valley Charter), Ty Strausbaugh (Bridgewater-Raynham)

COACHES — Steve Freker (Malden), Todd Dulin (North Andover), Billy Drew (Plymouth North), Connor Pratt (Plymouth North)

GAME COORDINATOR — Dwayne Follette (Plymouth North)