To no one's surprise, it's been a return to form for Wilde in his return to the two-time defending Futures Collegiate Baseball League champions.

LEOMINSTER — No matter the level of competition, Aidan Wilde has proven to be productive at the plate.

It was more of the same to start last summer as he went 1-for-3 with an RBI, two runs and a walk in his debut with the Worcester Bravehearts. Then, in the second game of the season, Wilde was the hittee instead of the hitter, floored by a fastball to the helmet that sidelined him for two concussed stints totaling five weeks.

"Then I tried to get back into the groove of things later in the season," Wilde, who turns 21 on Monday, said last week after batting practice at Doyle Field.

Alas, it was to no avail.

Wilde, a 2018 graduate of Milford High who batted .476 during four varsity seasons in high school and .313 as a freshman at Stonehill College, earning him the distinction of being named the Northeast-10 Conference Rookie Hitter of the Year, finished with a .200 average for the Bravehearts.

To no one's surprise, it's been a return to form for Wilde in his return to the two-time defending Futures Collegiate Baseball League champions.

"He's been great," manager Alex Dion said. "He plays first and third, so he can do multiple things for me. I can put him in the lineup five nights a week, and he's been hitting. So it's been fun."

Indeed, the 5-foot-11, 195-pound Wilde entered Saturday's NESN-televised matinee at Brockton batting .280 with 4 home runs, 12 RBIs and 15 runs in 82 at-bats while playing 22 of 26 games.

Wilde's production has been meaningful, coming early — as was the case with a three-run homer in the first to set the tone in a rout of Westfield on Wednesday — and late — see the two-run, fence-clearing shot in the seventh in a close win over Nashua on Aug. 1.

"I think that at any point in the game when you can get on or have an impactful at-bat, it's something you look forward to and try to take advantage of," said Wilde, who, in 2017, became the first Milford American Legion player to clear the fence at famed Fino Field in five years before repeating the feat the following summer.

Wilde had a storied, two-sport career at Milford as a four-year varsity starter in hockey and baseball.

A skilled, smooth-skating and sharp-shooting forward, Wilde posted a career line of 78-34—112 and helped Milford and then the co-op of Hopedale-Milford-Millis earn three postseason berths. He was a two-year captain.

Wilde was equally proficient in baseball. He recorded more than 100 hits, helped the Scarlet Hawks qualify for postseason play as a freshman and a junior, and served as captain his final three seasons.

Dion was the coach for Wilde's senior season after serving as an assistant the previous three years. They've extended their on-field relationship to six straight years via the Bravehearts.

"Again, it's probably the only time I'll ever get to do this in my life," Dion said. "Get to see a kid from 15 and now turning 21 (on Monday), how he's grown since his freshman year when he literally wouldn't say a word ... to being named a captain as a sophomore on our team and really watching him grow and develop and mature as a leader.

"You still don't get a ton out of him, but he's witty, very, very bright — he's a super smart kid — but he'll make you laugh, too. He gets it; he's a really good team guy for us."

Wilde is really, really good in the classroom, as well.

A National Honor Society student who graduated in the top 10 in his class at Milford, Wilde has a 3.6 grade point average at Stonehill. He's in a program that has him on track to graduate with a degree in physics next May and then to matriculate to the University of Notre Dame, which is a sister school of Stonehill, to earn a degree in engineering.

In the meantime, Wilde is especially enjoying his sophomore season with the Bravehearts.

"I think the opportunity to play for a team that is close to home is something special, especially when it's a good organization like the Worcester Bravehearts," he said. "They really take great care of us and give us an opportunity to play competitive baseball in the area."

It's an opportunity against high-level competition that Wilde is, once again, proving to be his usual productive self at the plate.

Rich Garven writes for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette of Gannett.

Original link: https://www.milforddailynews.com/sports/20200809/milfords-aidan-wilde-regains-his-batting-form-with-worcester-bravehearts