Malden athletic director Charlie Conefrey had some serious reservations about the future of the school’s longtime baseball program.
Steve Freker put them to rest in one meeting.
Five years after that sitdown, Freker and the Malden baseball program are flying high with a 12-2 record. Those dreadful days of yesteryear have been put in the rearview mirror once and for all.
“They certainly don’t make them like (Freker) anymore,” Conefrey said with a laugh. “I still remember sitting down with (Freker) just before Covid, talked about the issues at hand and he had all the answers.
“He certainly has the passion and knowledge. I remember he came into my office raving about this kid Davante Layne and how he’s going to be the next star at the high school. I told him how do you know that, he’s just a first-grader. Well, he’s a freshman and is leading our team in hitting.”
When you talk to Freker about it, he agreed the program needed an overhaul. He was also confident enough in his abilities and tireless attitude toward the sport and his beloved community to see a bright future.
“We just needed to go back to the basics,” Freker said. “I immersed myself in the Little League and Babe Ruth programs, I offered assistance to anyone who needed it. Joe Levine was a former player and now is the recreation director for Malden and he was a great help.
“I reached out to current and former players to get involved at the younger levels and they helped a great deal. Many of them volunteered to umpire at those games which was huge.”
If you play the word association game and can only use one word to describe Freker, the word Malden is as good as any. A 1977 graduate of Malden High, Freker was head baseball coach at the school for eight years and spent 15 years there before moving over to Malden Catholic in 1998.
Freker coached there from 1998-2014 and brought the school to heights no one in their right mind believed was possible. Within five years, not only was Malden Catholic competing in the killer Catholic Conference, they were on the verge of creating their own legacy.
In 2003, the Lancers entered the Division 1 North sectional tournament and proceeded to knock off higher seeds one by one. The joyride continued to the end where Malden Catholic emerged with the school’s first and only state baseball title with a pulsating 2-0 win over Marlboro.
This wasn’t going to be a one-year fluke as Freker, who was dubbed Mr. June for his postseason successes, led the Lancers to another sectional title as well as a sectional final appearance before leaving.
He spent two years at Saugus before returning home for good in 2017. Malden was going to be a major reclamation project but they clearly had the guy who isn’t afraid to roll up his sleeves and do whatever it took to turn it around.
“I’ve been a Malden guy all my life,” Freker said. “I’m very proud to be part of the city. I’ve moved 4-5 times and every time I wind up closer to the school. Right now, I am 200 yards away from the school.”
Freker’s players, past and present, generally wind up willing to go through a brick wall for him. They know they will also be first and foremost in Freker’s heart.
“Coach Frek is Mr. Malden,” said senior Robert (Bo) Stead. “He is the type of guy who will support every sport at the school. My freshman year here we were 4-16 and now we are 12-2 and that’s because of the culture he’s established here.
“He is such a generous guy as well. He is willing to help anyone who needs it and that’s not just with the baseball program. Coach Frek has done so much for those who are less fortunate.”
As much as Freker will speak about the hundreds of kids who have gone on to play college baseball or the assistant coaches who have returned to help, he’s just as proud to talk about the Nguyen brothers (Khiem and Khang) from Vietnam. They eventually gravitated to baseball and went to college where they became engineers with a big assist from Freker.
“I’ve been doing this for 40 years and I’ve taken the same approach from when I started,” Freker said. “My biggest satisfaction isn’t as much the wins and losses as much as it comes from being able to help people less fortunate, make things easier for them.
“I’ve been fortunate to develop a lot of close relationships over the years and cultivate resources which can help our kids (countless players arrived without the necessities such as gloves, cleats and bats). If I can contribute to making life easier for them, that’s all the fuel I need.”
Diamond dandies
Taunton’s Bella Bourque has already carved out a legacy and she’s not even halfway through her sophomore season. A starter on the state powerhouse squad since the eighth grade, Bourque cracked the 100-hit mark with a three-run triple in a 12-0 win over Oliver Ames.
Bridget Mulkeen had a huge milestone afternoon in Westwood’s 6-0 win over Medfield. The Holy Cross-bound ace pitched a no-hitter for her 40th career win and picked up her 700th strikeout.
Tyngsboro’s Kiley Hogan surpassed the 500-strikeout mark with 10 in a 7-0 win over Oakmont, a game in which she belted a pair of home runs.
In a Midland Wachusett League crossover, Kiley Hogan struck out 10 hitters to eclipse 500 for her career, and also launched a pair of homers at the plate as Tyngsboro blanked Oakmont, 7-0.
Haleigh Kelley went 2-for-3 with four RBI to crack the 100-hit, 100-RBI mark in Dighton-Rehoboth’s 12-0 win over Seekonk.
