St. Mary's High School Baseball

Man-to-man, St. Mary’s has bucketful of talent

By D. Tom Patterson

“In seven years as head baseball coach Pete Pijl says he more excited about his 2007 team than any other. “That’s baseball,” he says, trying not to be overconfident. “Every year I coach, I’m more excited each year.” Oh really….

No one’s buying the coach’s sandbag of underconfidence, especially when you consider Pijl’s position-by-position analysis.
The smell of baseball is in the air. Let the magic begin.

CATCHERS: “We’re fortunate in that we have Jimmy McLemore, an all-league catcher coming back. And then we have a sophomore Michael Rivera, who will be playing, too and John Aschieris. Rivera came up last year and hit two home runs in his first game. McLemore will also pitch, and he’s going to be one of our big leaders. But we’re in good shape here, with lots of depth, and all quality kids who are hard workers.”

PITCHING: “We’re in good shape here, too, with a lot of veterans. Matt Lujan, a senior lefty, was the MVP of the Junior North-South game, which is one of the most-pretigious events around. He was All-League last year and we’re excited about how hard he has worked to get better. He’s one of our two top leaders on the team. We’re so lucky to have him. Another guy who will pitch a lot is Chris Escobar, a right-handed senior. He was Pitcher of the Year in the Tri-City Athletic League last year and he’s also going to be playing shortstop, too. Both Lujan and Escobar already have signed with the University of San Francisco. Another senior lefty is Zach DeValle, who pitched a lot this summer and really has improved his game. We’ve also have seniors Jimmy McLemore, a righty, and Thomas Berolzheimer, a right-handed pitcher who already has signed with Pacific.
All experienced, all seniors. This will be one of the strengths of our team.”

FIRST BASE: “We have a number of people here. We start with Lujan, when he’s not pitching. And we also have Jeremy Jackson who was an all-league designated hitter. And we also have a junior Matt Costa who may see some time there, too.”

SECOND BASE: “Beau Riley, a junior came up toward the end of last year. He can run, he can throw. He gets on base. He’s being looked at by Stanford and he’s a legitimate athlete. He can play centerfield, too.”

SHORTSTOP: “We have Chris Escobar and Michael Aschieris, who is identical twin to John Aschieris. You can’t tell them apart. Sometime when they are close together, I’ll just say ‘John,’ and then wait to see which one is looking at me. We also have a senior infielder, Corey Carter, who can play second, shortstop or third base. He’s already signed with Sonoma. He’s one of our fastest guys and I’m looking for him to bunt and looking for him to steal.”

THIRD BASE: “Michael Rivera (see catcher, above) can play third base, and so can Berolzheimer and Carter, too. We have depth, guys who can play at lot of positions, all over the place.”

LEFTFIELD: “We have J.P. La Croix, who was honorable mention all conference. He’s been contacted by several colleges. He’s a great defensive player who made only one error last year and he’s got a great arm. We got a lot of players who can fit in here. If you can hit, you may wind up playing in the outfield.”

CENTERFIELD: “Gerome Surrell is a junior who started last year. Only sophomore since I’ve been at St. Mary’s who made All-League as a sophomore on the varsity. And he was all-conference in football as a wide receiver. He’s got great speed and power. And he’s still raw. But he’s got a great attitude and he’s a great kid and we’re lucky to have a guy like this on our team.”

RIGHTFIELD: “Jeremy Jackson, Costa, the Aschieris brothers, Nick Mazzili is vying for time, you never know. It’s wide open.” “We have a nucleus of 14-15 guys and some juniors who will be making an impact. As a coach, I smile everyday I come to practice and try not to screw things up. The biggest thing when you have 20 players is to make everyone understand the team is what’s important.”

Five or six players who run like gazelles, defensive stars all around, experience. An offense that will be backed by super pitching. It’s all very exciting. Or as Coach Pijl says, “That’s just baseball.”