By CHRISTOPHER TREMBLAY, Staff Sports Writer

Evan Remington has been playing baseball as long as he can remember and he will continue to do so on the next level come September of 2023 when he attends Assumption College in Worcester on a baseball scholarship. Although baseball has been his number one sport, the Oxford native also loves taking his game to the court for the Pirates.

“I began playing basketball in fourth grade for the travel team and haven’t stopped since,” Remington said. “It all began with a bunch of friends already playing and I thought that it would be cool to play with my friends on a travel team so I tried out.”

The Oxford athlete quickly realized that he loved the game of basketball, although not as much as baseball.

“The quickness of the game really got to me; baseball is a much more slowly paced game,” he said. “Basketball gets your blood going running up and down the court.”

When he entered high school Remington made the varsity basketball team as a freshman and although he only played occasionally he learned a lot about the sport that year including to be a part of post-season play with his Pirate teammates. When Remington did get into games during his freshman campaign he played the two, but since he has grown (he now stands close to 6’5” he’s playing center for Oxford.

“We didn’t have a bad season my first year on the team. It was an experience to play on a varsity team that got to go to the tournament,” he said.

Following his freshman season not only did Remington start to grow but he began working out to get stronger while working on his post moves, his free throws and all around shooting. However, while working hard to get more playing time as a sophomore, Remington and his teammates were hit with Covid and before they knew it their season was cancelled.  

“It was heartbreaking. I was working so hard to get ready for the upcoming season and we lose it,” Remington said. “It was really unfortunate as I was really looking forward to the season, but luckily I was only a sophomore.”

During Covid Remington continued to work and hone his skills so he was more than ready when his junior year got underway. Individually the Oxford athlete felt he had himself a pretty solid campaign and improved on his rebounding, especially as he continued to grow. While the rebounding was getting better Remington found that he wasn’t taking all that many shots.

With his coach looking for him to increase his shooting, Remington practiced his mid-range shooting during the off-season following his junior year. He noted that he was usually able to get into open space so he needed to be able to knock down more of those shots.

Getting ready to begin his fourth season with the Pirates, Oxford Coach David Aldrich would love to see his senior captain take his scoring to the next level.

“Evan is a complete player who does everything that is asked of him, he’s a coach’s dream,” Aldrich said. “He works hard and teaches the younger players. I’d like to see him average about 15 points and 10 rebounds for us this season.”

If he can move his stat line up just a little bit over last year’s performance, Aldrich believes that he will not only be a key to Oxford’s success, but he should once again be named to the All-Star team.

While his coach thinks that that he is capable of being that complete player all season long, Remington is hoping that he can knock down a lot of shots and haul down his share of rebounds for the Pirates this season while guiding his team to win after win and another playoff experience.

Although when he leaves Oxford High School for Assumption College he will primarily be focusing on his baseball career, he hasn’t ruled out basketball.

“I hope to continue playing basketball after high school; maybe join a men’s league,” he said. “I might even try out for the team at Assumption, but I don’t know if that is possible because of baseball.”

Baseball may be on the front burner once he graduates from Oxford, but the senior captain still has the entire season to put forth his best basketball effort and get his team into the State Tournament.