MALDEN — Ever since the Massachusetts Baseball Coaches Association started hosting its annual All-Star Games, the organization has been finding ways to honor individuals who have changed the sport locally, coaches and officials alike.

This spring, the MBCA decided to honor the players themselves by adding an additional All-Star showcase to the usual two, with junior selects taking on the sophomores in what was described as the ‘Best of the East Battle’ to begin the day’s events.

Thanks to a complete team effort, the juniors were able to earn bragging rights in the opener. Bishop Fenwick standout Nick Villano finished with a pair of hits and scored two runs, earning Most Valuable Player honors for his team as the juniors coasted to a 7-0 shutout of the sophomores at Rotondi Field.

“There’s a lot of good players here,” Villano said. “It was an honor to be here in the first place, never mind just win MVP. Feels good to personally play well, but it’s also good to play alongside some of the best players in Massachusetts.”

The juniors wasted no time getting the bats heated up, as they quickly had a few runners reach to start the first. Newburyport’s Connor Stick proceeded to bloop a two-run single to center, and his team had a 2-0 lead out of the gate.

Later on, in the top of the third, Malden standout Ryan Coggswell stepped to the dish with runners on first and second. He lifted a sac-fly to deep right, plating another run to make it 3-0, a score that would hold until the fifth inning.

Then, chaos ensued as the juniors batted around, tacking on four more runs. The most critical hit of all came off the bat of Andover’s Ben Workman, who laced a two-run single to left to break things open.

Meanwhile, the juniors also received stellar pitching, with five players combining for the shutout. Milford’s Damien Carter was named the Most Valuable Pitcher of the game for his group after firing a 1-2-3 third inning.

“I just tried to throw my fastball, get up in the count,” Carter said. “Then threw a couple of curveballs when I was up in the count, and it worked well.”

A longtime member of the MBCA and current baseball coach at Swampscott High, Joe Caponigro was caught slightly off-guard when asked to serve as skipper of the juniors for the afternoon. Given the unique, yet fun circumstances, he was more than willing to step in for a few hours.

“(I found out) when I walked in around quarter of three,” chuckled Caponigro. “I’m on the executive committee with Steve Freker, and he said they needed help. I didn’t anticipate coaching, but in these games, you don’t have to do a lot of coaching. Just let the kids play, and as you saw, they performed well.”