Early taste of winning has Saints eager for more

Every time Berks Catholic wins a baseball game this year it’ll distance itself from last season, the worst in program history. The Saints went 5-15; catcher RJ Emrich cringes thinking about it.

“We hated losing,” he said. “Quite frankly, it just stunk last year. Everybody wants to win. So, when you get a taste of that, you want to keep winning.”

The Saints got another sweet taste Monday, thanks in large part to Parker Nein, who spun a five-hitter in a 5-2 non-league win over visiting Fleetwood.

Nein pounded the strike zone, with 19 first-pitch strikes against 26 batters. He let his outfielders run around and make plays and made it look easy.

“That’s where he excels, pitching to contact,” said Saints coach Brandon Shurr. “He’s not a blow-it-by-you-guy, he’s gonna pop you up, get a groundout and just really pound the zone and throw a lot of strikes.

“He throws a couple pitches for strikes in different counts, keeps ’em off-balance. And really lets his defense work. That’s been our biggest thing: Making other teams hurt us, rather than giving it to them.”

The Saints (3-2) didn’t hit much but they made the most of their six singles and took advantage when the Tigers (2-2) opened the door for them a couple times. The Saints, on the other hand, kept their mistakes to the minimum, didn’t give away extra outs and ran the ball down when the Tigers connected.

Left fielder Isaac Pichardo made an outstanding play chasing down Jake Karnish’s first-inning drive and center fielder Maxx Mace recorded five putouts. All told, Nein got eight flyball outs.

“We had timely hits, good defensive plays, (and were) able to just scratch enough runs to get the win,” said Shurr. “They hit a lot of balls in the air; we put a little more pressure on them by hitting some balls on the ground.

“When you hit the ball on the ground there’s a lot that can go wrong defensively. When you hit a ball in the air all you have to do is catch it. That’s what we’ve been hammering to the guys.”

Nein did his part. He gave up five hits, including a well-struck double by Mark Piskorski and a triple by Dalton Young, and struck out six.

The key? He didn’t walk a batter.

“Getting ahead early is what you want to do with a team that can hit the ball like this,” said Nein, a sophomore right-hander who has as many wins (two) as walks this season.

“He was hitting his spots,” said Emrich. “Everything was clicking. He put a lot of work in during the offseason, put a lot of work in during practice, during bullpens.”

The Saints are certainly a different-looking club this season. Shurr went with a youth movement last season, with six different freshmen seeing time in the starting lineup. They’re still young: The lineup Monday included four sophomores and two freshmen. Emrich, Pichardo and right fielder Christopher Avram were the only seniors.

Freshman DH Dennys Rodriguez-Rivera had the key hit in the three-run second, slicing a line drive just inside the right-field line to bring home two runs. Junior Kevin Lawlor continued to deliver. He went 2-for-2 with a walk to push is batting average to a rather ridiculous .800.

Emrich and Lawlor had back-to-back RBI singles in the fifth after Fleetwood had pulled within 3-2 in the top of the inning. That seemed to energize Nein, who retired the side in order on 10 pitches next time out and completed the job with a one-two-three seventh.

“That really helped us,” Nein said of the fifth-inning two-spot. “When I went back out I knew I was working with a lead.”

The Saints, who made the Berks playoffs five straight seasons between 2014-18, took their lumps last season Berks III. They figure to challenge for a playoff spot this season. Hamburg, which has won its first two games, remains the division favorite but the Saints seem capable of challenging defending division champ Wyomissing, defending District 3 Class 3A champ Oley Valley and Schuylkill Valley.

Beating a solid Fleetwood team, which also figures to make a run for a postseason spot, will only help their confidence as they head into league play this week. Berks Catholic is scheduled to open Berks III play Wednesday against Schuylkill Valley, though weather could change those plans.

“The kids have been great,” Shurr said. “They really put in a lot of work in the offseason. We made a choice last year to go really young. To their credit they got stronger, they got faster, they continued to work at baseball in the offseason. To be able to get three wins out of the gate is really a credit to the work they put in and where we want to continue to grow as a program with a young group.”