Catawba Ridge head baseball coach Stas Swerdzewski was all smiles when he spoke to his players.
The Copperheads had just secured a 10-0 win over Northwestern in five innings to complete a sweep of the Trojans.
In the first game of the series on April 15, a 6-1 Catawba Ridge victory, the Copperheads earned a third-straight region championship.
“It feels great,” Swerdzewski said. “These seniors, man, that’s the group. They’ve come in, and some of these seniors have played all four years at the varsity level. It’s just a really great accomplishment in a way for these seniors to end their careers. Obviously, they’re hungry for more than that, but it’s definitely one of the steps and one of the goals that we had at the beginning of the year.”
It’s that senior leadership that has maintained the momentum for the defending 4A state champion that returned eight starters from last year’s team.
Among them:
- Senior pitcher Peyton Dhein, who has won each of his seven starts for the Copperheads this season, posting an ERA of 0.36 while striking out 62 for the season.
- Senior outfielder and pitcher Jackson Mullen, who has a .432 batting average with a 1.228 OPS with five home runs behind the plate while also posting a 4-1 record with 41 strikeouts.
Swerdzewski said theat amount of wisdom on the roster has prevented complacency from seeping into the locker room, and it’s made his job as a head coach much easier.
“The beauty of having that many leaders on the team is they know what the expectations are and they hold each other accountable,” Swerdzewski said. “It’s really nice to have people with that experience, with that knowledge of what we’re trying to do here.”
Catawba Ridge has also gotten big production from some of its younger pieces, including sophomore Caden Glauber, who has a 7-0 record with a 1.15 ERA and 60 strikeouts; and sophomore Bryce Meil, who is the team’s top reliever, striking out 27 across 16.1 innings and has yet to allow an earned run.
From opening the season with wins over the No. 2 and No. 6 teams in 5A and the No. 2 team in 3A to its current 21-2 (14-1) record, Catawba Ridge has distinguished itself as one of the best teams in the state with a No. 4 ranking and is the highest-ranked team in its class in the most recent SCBCA poll, according to MaxPreps.
However, Swerdzewski said that his team still has room to grow as the regular season comes to a close.
“Earlier this year, we had some games where we didn’t have a very good two-strike approach,” Swerdzewski said. “A lot of strikeouts and not putting pressure on the defense. If you looked at us this week, we got back to what we need to do in order to be the team that we can be. Our philosophy is trying to put pressure on the defense, and when you punch out and strike out, that’s not putting too much pressure on them.”
As the Copperheads head into “Rivals Week”, Swerdzewski said his team still has a lot to show before playoffs start next week.
Winning the region puts Catawba Ridge in the best position possible to succeed in the postseason as the team continues to roll.
“The guys know what is required for us to win games, and we want to keep that momentum going into the playoffs,” Swerdzewski said. “I think it’s definitely going to help having that experience that we had last year in terms of when it does become playoff time, we should be comfortable. But in baseball, anything can happen. We know that, so we got to go out there and earn it, but we’re super excited to get out there.”
Catawba Ridge will next go on the road to play in-town rival Fort Mill at 7 p.m. on April 22.
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