Brother Martin shows pitching depth in summer league semifinals and championship

Brother Martin coach Jeff Lupo found every chance he could go get his pitchers some work during the summer baseball season.

On Tuesday, six Martin pitchers combined for two runs allowed over 14 innings as the Martin-based K’s for Kids won two games that secured the championship of a summer baseball league.

The Crusaders used three pitchers in each of the two wins as they defeated Rummel-based Malcolm M. Dienes 3-1 in a semifinal and Pope John Paul II 8-1 in the championship the Crescent City Sports prep summer league.

“I think all of them really commanded the strike zone,” Lupo said. “That was the biggest thing. We didn’t beat ourselves with walks and free passes, and that led to us being mentally ready defensively to where, in 14 innings, we made only one error.”

Rising senior Cole Navarro (three innings), left-hander Patrick Laiche (two) and Blaise Tingstrom (two) pitched the first game. Cole Heap (two), Jude Tingstrom (three) and Drake Amedee (two) pitched the second.

The first trio combined for four hits and five walks allowed with three strikeouts. The second grouping allowed three hits, walked two, hit a batter and struck out nine — the last four by Amedee.

“Everything is starting to come together,” said Navarro, an all-district selection by 9-5A coaches in the spring. “That’s great when you end the summer like that. You know next year everybody should come back better.”

Martin (10-1) beat Rummel (7-3) in the semifinal with two runs in the third inning and another run in the sixth. Christian Michel singled in a run that broke a 1-1 tie in the third.

Reece Roussel drove in three runs over the two games — first with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning against Rummel and then a two-RBI double during a four-run third against Pope John Paul II (6-4).

“We have a lot of depth,” Roussel said. “We can rely on a whole bunch of people, everyone throughout the lineup. It just makes it easy, knowing if we fail that we have someone behind us to pick us up.”

Martin hopes success in the summer leads to a championship in the spring.

Jesuit (2022 summer champion) and Lutcher (2023) won LHSAA state championships in the seasons after they won the summer league title.

“These kids, a lot of them have been playing a while, and we had a couple of quirky circumstances which led us to getting knocked out of the playoffs in the quarterfinals,” Lupo said. “They didn’t like it. They realize time is fleeting. They want to take advantage of that and make this count. They’ve committed themselves to really buying in and doing what we ask them to do. It’s been really cool to watch.”