WARREN HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL TEAM 1945 (Class of 2002)

Seven All State baseball players on the same team!  And one of the best pitchers in the history of Rhode Island Interscholastic baseball! This Warren High baseball team, coached by Charlie McCanna, was one of three to win the Rhode Island State Championship.  (Charlie Burdge, who was serving in the military in 1945, coached the 1939 and 1946 State Champions.)

The squad captured the Class C Southern Division with a record of thirteen wins and two losses. They were led by All State pitcher Roger Higgins.  Higgins, who had been named the All State pitcher in 1944, broke his own state strikeout record, fanning two hundred and fifteen in the regular season and two hundred and forty-four overall.  (It is believed that these records have stood the test of time.)  Roger pitched no-hitters against Cumberland and Sacred Heart, a one-hitter versus South Kingstown, and nine shutouts overall.

The Class C championship was nabbed with an overwhelming win over Burrillville.  In the state playoffs the Redskins defeated West Warwick, 6-1, East Providence, 5-4, and the Townies again, 3-1.  In the final game McCanna surprised everyone by starting George Wakem, a seldom-used thrower of junk.  Higgins relieved with the bases loaded in the eighth inning and struck out four of the five batters he faced.

Players who made at least one appearance in the starting lineup during the season were All State outfielder Ben Coccia and All State pitcher Higgins; future All Staters Pat Barba, freshmen Buzz and Jim Barry, Ace Boulanger, and Harpo Tavares; Huck Henneberry, Mendy Mendillo, Duck Muccino, Joe Silva, Leon Urban, and Wakem.

After Higgins was named the All State pitcher in 1944 and 1945, Boulanger earned the same honor in 1946 and 1947.  Barba, the two Barry boys, Boulanger, Mendillo, Muccino, Tavares, and Urban also played on the 1946 State Champions and the 1947 State second place team; Warren lost in the 1947 playoff finals to La Salle, who starred Warrenites Slick Cariglia and Johnny Karcz.  Unfortunately Jim Barry and Urban, along with Ted Wyrostek, did not complete the 1947 season due to suspension; if they had, who knows what might have happened.

Other 1945 team members were “Pee Wee” Amaral, Alfred Charette, Wesley Peck, Gerry Sampson, Richard Vargas, and Wyrostek.

The following team members have been inducted into the Hall of Fame as individuals: Buzz Barry, Jim Barry, Boulanger, Higgins, and Tavares.