Owen Fischl spent time at two Division II baseball programs in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.
He’s never enjoyed playing as much as he has this season with Division III DeSales.
Fischl, a Whitehall graduate and senior designated hitter, helped the Bulldogs win a three-game weekend series against reigning Division III national champion Misericordia with a three-run double in the eighth inning of Saturday’s rubber game. DeSales wound up with an 11-5 win that move it to 11-3 over its last 14 games.
The Bulldogs (13-7 overall, 6-3 MAC Freedom Conference entering play Tuesday) are in third place in the MAC Freedom Conference with four league series remaining. The top four teams quality for the conference tournament.
“Collectively, as a team, I feel like we’ve been playing excellent,” Fischl said by phone Monday. “This is my third school now, and I haven’t had as much fun as I am with this team compared to any other team. Nobody has played harder than us.
“That was by far, on Saturday, the coolest two games of my life,” he added. “Just the experiences in general and putting ourselves in the position to win that series. We needed everybody, all hands on deck, and everybody came through and did their job. It was awesome.”
Fischl reached base four times, scored twice and drove in four runs in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader. Travis Kerr and JT Anderosky also had two hits each as DeSales added to its strong offensive performance this season.
The Bulldogs began Tuesday leading the MAC Freedom Conference in batting average (.334), on-base percentage (.439) and slugging percentage (.463). They won the Misericordia series despite playing without injured corner infielders and lineup mainstays Jacob Rivera (first baseman, Liberty) and Colin Houck (third baseman, Southern Lehigh).
“Offensively, we expected to be very tough,” DeSales coach Tim Neiman said. “Our kids have tremendous at-bats, time after time after time. We played really, really good clubs in Texas in non-conference. And obviously, we took the trip to the Dominican Republic in early January, and I think we saw 14 guys that we counted throwing 90 mph or better.
“So whatever we see, it hasn’t really phased us a whole lot as we’ve gone forward.”
While the offense has stood out, DeSales has also received solid work from its pitching staff. Frank Parrotti (2.70 ERA) and Joe Ficoturo (3.32 ERA) have led the way for a group without an ace but plenty of quality arms.
Improved control over opposing running games has also helped the DeSales staff. The Bulldogs limited Misericordia to four stolen bases in their three-game series. The Cougars entered that series averaging 4.81 steals per game.
“We gave up way too many stolen-base opportunities last year, and it had to be addressed,” Neiman said. “Our pitchers have done an awesome job. Coinciding with that, we have a heck of a catcher in Gavin Zavorski. He’s been outstanding.”
The Bulldogs resume MAC Freedom Conference play this weekend against an FDU-Florham team that has struggled in conference play (2-7). They won’t have Rivera and Houck back then, but both could return later in April.
DeSales still has series against the two teams ahead of them in the MAC Freedom Conference standings, Stevens and Arcadia. The Bulldogs feel they can play with anyone given their work over their first 20 games.
“We had the mentality walking into Misericordia that we were going to take all three,” Fischl said. “And that’s the kind of mentality we’ve got to have carrying forward.”
Extra bases: East Stroudsburg (20-6 overall, 6-2 PSAC) swept a four-game series with Bloomsburg to stay in a second-place tie with West Chester in the PSAC East. Dennis Pierce (Quakertown) cracked three home runs in Saturday’s doubleheader to boost his season total to seven, which is tied for fourth in the PSAC.
• Palmerton grad Cole Serfass had six hits and five RBIs as Mansfield split a four-game series with Shepherd. The sophomore catcher entered Tuesday’s game against Slippery Rock hitting .319 with a .464 slugging percentage.
Stephen Miller is a freelance writer
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