When the 2024-25 athletic season begins at Fitchburg State, there will be two new coaches leading two Falcon programs.

However, they will look familiar to the teams they will be taking over.

The Fitchburg State Athletic Department announced the appointments of Jim Ray and Joe Galvin as head coaches of the women’s volleyball and baseball teams, respectively.

Ray was Brett Pettis’ assistant last fall. He took over a team that went 8-17 overall and 2-5 in MASCAC play last season. The Falcons will begin the season later this month and take the field at Parkinson Gymnasium on Aug. 31 against Rhode Island College.

Galvin, who has been an assistant coach with the Falcons for the past three seasons, takes over the team following the departure of Shawn Manfredo, who took a position with player development organization Bay Sox Baseball.

Galvin, who also served as an assistant at Shrewsbury American Legion Post 397, takes over a team that went 13-25 this spring and 8-13 in conference play. As an assistant at Fitchburg State, he was deeply involved in recruiting for the team.

Manfredo was named the Falcons’ head coach in 2020 and earned MASCAC Coach of the Year honors after leading Fitchburg State to the regular-season conference title in 2021.

Short-term commitment is made early

With prep and youth hockey classes waiting for him, former Lunenburg/Ayer-Shirley star Ben Short announced his commitment to Merrimack College on social media over the weekend.

Short, a forward who currently plays for Winchendon School and the Islanders Hockey Club of the Eastern Hockey Association as a junior, is scheduled to join the Warriors for the 2027-28 season.

The 16-year-old has 26 points in 18 games, including 15 goals, while playing for his father, head coach Eric Short, with the Blue Knights during the 2021-22 season. He has since played 60 games at Winchendon School, scoring four goals and 18 assists in two prep seasons and working with USA Hockey at the development level for two stints.

The Short family’s college commitments are probably not over, but the next one probably won’t happen for a while. His younger brother, Drew, scored 11 goals and had 21 assists as an eighth-grader on the varsity team at Lunenburg/Ayer-Shirley last season.

Original Release Date: August 5, 2024, 12:55