Hawks well-armed in bid for Berks III crown

A smile comes across Hamburg catcher Nate Gilbert’s face when he’s asked about staff ace Tristan Baer.

Baer’s a linebacker and fullback in football and wrestled at 189 for the Hawks; he’s known for his toughness.

“He brings that straight into baseball season,” said Gilbert. “He’s very intense.”

And confident. Baer is being counted on as the Hawks’ No. 1 pitcher this season. He takes over for one of the Berks League’s most dominant pitchers of last season, Hunter Shuey. He is unfazed by that prospect.

“I hope to be better than him, honestly,” Baer said matter-of-factly.

Baer doesn’t need to do that. Simply being good will be good enough. The Hawks have plenty of key parts. They’ve got more pitching depth than a year ago, solid hitters in Baer, second baseman Conner Licklider, shortstop Luke Bensinger and Gilbert, speed at the top of the lineup and some promising freshmen.

“We can be just as good as the state semifinal team,” said Baer, pointing back to his freshman season, 2019, when the Hawks went 21-8, reached the Berks League and District 3 Class 4A championship games, and the PIAA semis. “We have the potential.”

Hamburg coach Nick Evangelista, who has twice taken teams to the state semis in the past six years, is not about to disagree. He likes what he sees.

“These guys don’t have a ton of experience, but they’re very talented and we have a couple of really good arms to go with them,” said Evangelista, who will have, at most, three seniors on the field. “Every time we play we have a chance to win the game.”

The Hawks finished 13-9 (they lost six one-run games) and in the middle of the pack in Berks III last season but could be looking at their first division championship since winning the Berks II title in 2019. They’ll battle Oley Valley, last year’s Berks III runner-up and the District 3 Class 3A champ, for the top spot.

Like a year ago the division will be balanced and tightly bunched. Defending champ Wyomissing took heavy graduation losses and the division’s ace pitchers — Shuey, Garet Blankenbiller of Oley Valley and Aidan Cirulli of Wyomissing — are gone. Whichever team develops the best pitching will likely rise to the top.

Evangelista thinks he’s got enough good arms to get it done.

“We’re as deep as we’ve ever been,” he said. “We don’t have as many overpowering arms — we’re not going to wow someone with 15 strikeouts — but we have guys who can get outs.”

Baer, Licklider and Austin Miller will be the key guys on the mound. Baer, who threw 35 innings as a junior, has the most experience of that group and is looking for big things. He posted a 2.40 ERA, struck out 43 and allowed just 21 hits. He was named to the all-division team.

“He was somewhat in Hunter’s shadow (last year), but Tristan had a really good year,” Evangelista said. “We just happened to have a pitcher who struck out 125 batters.”

Baer, who will pitch for Penn State-Harrisburg next season, says he learned a lot from pitching with Shuey; he has learned to relax more on the mound.

“As a kid, I always over-thought it,” he said. “Now, I’ve learned to go with the flow. Some people will get hits; you’ve just got to let ’em make contact, get outs. Over time, I’ve gotten better with that.”

Gilbert thinks Baer is poised for a big season.

“He’s more consistent with his fastball and more confident with his offspeed (pitches),” he said. “He’s throwing his curve with more confidence. When he’s like that it’s very hard to hit him.”

Baer will hit in the middle of the Hawks’ lineup. He batted a team-best .397 last season and led the team with 24 RBIs. He’ll have plenty more RBI opportunities, with freshman speedster Scottie Dunleavy at the top of the lineup, followed by Licklider, Bensinger and Gilbert. All-State running back Diohnny Ruiz has been added to the roster; his speed will make him a threat as courtesy and pinch runner.

“We can hit,” Evangelista said. “We don’t have easy outs at the end of our lineup. But to win playoff games you have to beat really good pitchers and we don’t have a lot of experience with that. I’m confident they’ll get better and handle it by the time the situation arises.”

Baer remains confident.

“I expect a lot out of this team,” he said. “We have the potential. Everything’s there.”