Prep Baseball Report

Division I Team Of The Week: Week 6 - Bishop Watterson


Bruce Hefflinger
PBR Ohio Senior Writer

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Division I Team Of The Week: Week 6 - Bishop Watterson

COLUMBUS - What a season it has been for Bishop Watterson, the Prep Baseball Report Division I Team of the Week.

Not only have the Eagles rolled out to an 18-1 record, but the 10th-ranked D-I team in the state is now a perfect 11-0 in the Central Catholic League with one game to play.

A 6-5 win over Hartley on Thursday and a 10-1 victory over St. Charles on Friday kept Bishop Watterson unblemished in conference play.

“Coming into the season we had high expectations from this group with so much experience back all over the field,” explained head coach Jeff Boulware. “Our leadership has really stood out this season. This group has spent a lot of time working on the mental side of baseball and has really bought in. We haven't always made things easy on ourselves, but with so many veterans we haven't had many moments when we've panicked.”

A perfect example came after Hartley took the lead on Thursday before Nick Kudika produced a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh for Watterson in a game Boulware had high praise for pitcher A.J. McAninch.

“I was impressed with A.J.’s performance against Hartley this week,” Boulware noted. “In the CCL we’ve moved from a home-and-home to a three-game series and this was A.J.’s second time pitching against Hartley, who is a good offensive team. They made some clear adjustments from his first outing and got to him a bit in the first inning, but again, no panic from A.J. as he went and made his own adjustments to their changed approach.”

Kudika, the 59th-rated junior right-handed pitcher in the state, threw a complete game against St. Charles the following night, allowing only four hits in a 76-pitch performance.

“He was very efficient, as he has been all year,” Boulware said of the junior who is now 6-0 with a 0.60 ERA, fanning 47 and walking eight.

McAninch, the 35th-ranked junior RHP in Ohio, is also 6-0 with 52 Ks and 10 free passes along with a 0.76 ERA. Senior Mari Hegenberger-Ellars, a Michigan-Deerborn commit, is 3-0 with a 1.33 ERA, striking out 17 while allowing six walks.

“We have been very blessed with a deep pitching staff this season,” explained Boulware, whose staff has a team ERA of 1.19 with 163 Ks and 51 base on balls. “Our top three conference pitchers returned in Nick Kudika, A.J. McAnich and Mari Hegenberger-Ellars and they have delivered. These guys, along with our senior closer Ryan Mulligan, have an ERA of 0.58 in conference play. They have just been dominating. Our big focus this year has been on efficiency and really pounding the strike zone. Our defense has improved because they've been more involved.

“Junior Elliott Schmidt has been a nice surprise on the mound as well and has eaten up valuable innings for us. We've overcome some of our deficiencies offensively with our pitching and defense.

“One of our areas of need coming into the season was to find a catcher and we've been very pleased with the play of junior Trae McAninch,” added Boulware, whose team is ranked 19th in the PBR Power 25. “He's really solidified things up the middle for us.”

The hitting has also been getting the job done, highlighted this week by John Baumel hitting a three-run walk-off home run in the last of the seventh for an 8-5 win over University School. Also this week, Charlie Bernotas, a senior committed to John Carroll, had a seventh-inning hit to tie the game with Hartley before Kudika’s game-winner.

“It was an exciting week of baseball for us for sure,” Boulware noted, a week that ended with the only loss of the season, a 4-2 defeat against Hillard Davidson.

“The first loss for this team won't impact us one way or another as our entire focus right now is on finishing out the CCL season playing good baseball,” pointed out Boulware. “We've got a big one left with DeSales on Wednesday.”

Sophomore Chance Strausbaugh leads Watterson with a .442 batting average.

“He is an extra base machine," Boulware said. “We've plugged him in at the top of our lineup recently and he has really sparked our offense.”
Kudika is hitting .429 in the three-hole while Baumel, the 105th-rated junior in Ohio, carries a .375 average with three triples and two home runs. Bernotas is at .345 with 12 stolen bases while junior Elliott Schmidt is batting .364.

“I like where we are mentally at this point in the year,” Boulware noted. “Our guys do a nice job of playing each pitch one at a time and not getting too up or down. If we can keep that mindset, especially in the tournament, we’ll be a tough out.”

Following Wednesday’s league finale with DeSales, the Eagles finish up the regular season with Johnstown and Centennial on Senior Day Saturday before taking on the winner of South and Dublin Jerome in the sectional final.

“Our bracket is loaded if you look at teams like Grove City, Lancaster, Teays Valley, St. Charles, Watkins Memorial and Olentangy but all of our focus will be on a really tough Dublin Jerome ballclub,” Boulware said. “It’s going to be a tough matchup for our offense with their pitching, but our guys will be excited and ready. 

“This is our first run back in the big school division in quite a long time and our guys are really excited for the opportunity.”

A Look Back At The 2022 Season:

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A Look Back At The 2021 Season:

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A Look Back At What Would've Been The 2020 Season:

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A Look Back At The Last Decade:

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A Look Back At The 2018 Season:

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A Look Back At The 2017 Season:

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