As any coach will tell you, it's important to establish a bond with the members of your team. But, for baseball head coach Marc Thibeault and senior outfielder Sean McCarthy, that connection was formed long before they took the field.

Thibeault and McCarthy are both graduates of Boston College High School in Boston, Massachusetts, and both will be alums of John Carroll.

Thibeault chose JCU because of the strong Jesuit presence, since his high school was also Jesuit.

“Carroll presented Jesuit academics and the chance to play Division III athletics,” Thibeault said. “It seemed like a pretty good fit.”

Thibeault also said it was a good time to see a different part of the country.

“I had never seen a cow before,” he joked.

For McCarthy, JCU was a place he had not envisioned attending initially, but then he stumbled across the Thibeault connection.

“I played for the same high school coach as Coach Thibeault,” McCarthy explained. “He encouraged me to look into John Carroll and then Thibeault got in touch.”

McCarthy had also looked at Fordham, Providence and Holy Cross, but JCU had a lot to offer.

“John Carroll had both strong academics and I knew I would get to play,” he said, “When you're playing a D3 level, you're not going pro, so I wanted to have strong academics, too.”

In addition to attending the same high school, Thibeault and McCarthy both commiserate on being Red Sox fans in a city of Tribe fans.

“It can get pretty bad,” McCarthy said frankly. “Cleveland roots against teams that are winning, so it's been tough.”

For Thibeault, he's glad to have at least one guy on the team he can discuss the Pats, Celtics and Sox with.

“Sean's my one ally,” he said. "Since he's been here, we've definitely had a pretty good run with two World Series and a Super Bowl."

Although having a strong connection is a blessing, it can also be a challenge.

“Sean and I have a connection, but as a coach I had to kind of distance myself,” explained Thibeault. “A lot of our experiences mirror each other and we can relate to a lot of the same things in terms of being away from home and the disconnect. We've had similar experiences from freshman year of high school to senior year of college.”

McCarthy shares a similar opinion.

“I played with the same coaches as Thibeault did, so we have a lot of the same experiences,” he said. “But I do get made fun of by my teammates.”

McCarthy, a graduating senior with a degree in psychology, plans to move back to Boston and work for a year before graduate school.

“One thing I'll always remember is my teammates,” he stated. “I almost transferred out as a freshman, but I fell in love with my teammates. They became like brothers to me.”

Thibeault will miss McCarthy's contribution to the team after this season. A player with over 150 career hits with designs to become the school record holder for career batting average, McCarthy has been a fixture in the JCU line-up since midway through his rookie season.

“Sean seemingly comes through all the time,” Thibeault said. “He's been doing that for at least three solid years. Right now, he's tearing it up with big hit after big hit. I would love to see him stay in this groove for the rest of the year."