By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

For as long as he can remember, Oliver Lareau has found himself either on the ice playing hockey or on the diamond playing baseball. 

Although her loves both sports, baseball is tops on his list.

“I liked the game of baseball and thought that it would be something that I could play forever,” the outgoing Ashland sophomore said. “I love the atmosphere of the game, getting to play it every single day in the nice weather.”

Having grown up through the town league, it was around the eighth grade that he realized that he had the talent to continue to play baseball.

“That year I was having a really good season with my club team, the NWS Devils,” he said. “And the coaches though it would be a good idea to try out for the high school team.”

Lareau already had it in his head that he was going to show up for the Clockers baseball tryouts during the spring of his freshman year, what he didn’t know was how tough it was going to be.

“Tryouts were really nerve- racking as I didn’t know a lot of people,” he said. “But eventually I realized that a lot of friends were also trying out, so it eased my mind a bit, but I still had to go out and do the best that I could to hopefully make the varsity team.”

The freshman did manage to make the varsity squad and soon after found himself playing almost every single game that year either in right field or on the mound pitching. Although he had a decent season, he thought that he could have played much better than he did. 

In addition to playing the outfield and pitching, Lareau also has seen some action at first base, but of all the positions, he prefers being on the mound. 

It was during his Little League days when he was first handed the ball and almost immediately found that he loved the position.

“I was so into pitching I started going to as many camps as I could. At that age all I knew and wanted to do was throw as hard as I could,” Lareau recalls. “Sometime around the seventh or eighth grade I realized that I couldn’t always get away with just throwing the fastball, so I had to work on developing a changeup and slider.”

The Devils Coach began to work with Lareau on his pitching mechanics, his arm slot and explosiveness while also teaching him how to throw other pitches. According to the soon to be junior, success came pretty much immediately.

“Hitters couldn’t keep up with my fastball once I learned how to throw off-speed stuff,” he said.

Despite loving to be on the mound and in control, Lareau will play wherever Ashland Coach Matt Messer needs him to play; outfield, first base or pitcher — it doesn’t matter as long as he’s on the field helping his teammates.

This past season the lefty pitcher went 2-3 with a 4.5 ERA, pitching 35.2 innings and striking out 26 batters. At the plate he batted .330 with an on base percentage of .384 with 22 hits, 13 Rbi and 15 runs scored in 66 at-bats.

Lareau noted that he is currently the Clocker’s leadoff batter but is unsure why as he is not one of the fastest kids on the team. Instead, he just enters the batter’s box looking to just put the ball in play.

“Oli is a competitor and lives for sports. As a lefty pitcher he comes from the side making it difficult for batters to square up,” the Ashland skipper said. “Hitting wise, he’s the toughest out and only struck out once during the regular season. He has an awesome approach at the plate and on the basepaths – we are lucky to have him.”

With two years still to play on the high school level, Lareau will concentrate on getting better so that by the time he graduates there are colleges that will want him to play for them.

“I know that I need to work on getting stronger and improving the quickness on my pitches,” he said. “By playing with the Devils during the summer it will also help my game when the high school season resumes next spring.”

Messer firmly believes that upcoming junior has the chance to play baseball in college if he continues to work hard, lift, and compete. Next season will be a big year for him to get noticed, so playing well will get him that first foot in the door.

When next season with Ashland rolls around, Lareau is looking to be a good leader to the rest of the team, while working as hard as he can every day and play his best when on the field. Hoping that everything will continue to improve and one day he will be able to achieve his ultimate dream of playing collegiate baseball.