The opening stages of the season couldn’t have gone much better for Shoreline Christian School’s baseball team.
Outside of a loss to league-leading Darrington, the Crusaders are off to a near-perfect start at 3-1 in the Northwest B League and 6-1 overall.
“It’s been a real treat,” Shoreline Christian coach Marc Ensz said. “Hopefully the second half of the season we’ll come out just as strong.”
In its only spring break outing, Shoreline Christian topped Seattle Lutheran 5-2 Tuesday afternoon to remain in second place behind Darrington.
Sophomore David Fertello supplied three singles, scored twice for the Crusaders and notched the complete game win.
Fertello is 2-1 this season with a 2.14 ERA and has fanned 27 batters in 16.1 innings.
Sophomore Eric Dodd has posted at least one hit in all of Shoreline Christian’s games and has a 10-game hitting streak dating back to last season.
Dodd is batting a team-high .471 this spring, Jeremy Prins is hitting .462 and the Crusaders boast a .326 team average.
Notwithstanding the widespread offensive output, Ensz attributed the team’s prosperity to overpowering pitching — especially from Fertello, senior John Crozier (3-0, 1.40 ERA) and juniors Bryce Smead (three saves, 2.21 ERA, 18 strikeouts in 12.2 innings) and Brant Wahlman.
“Pitching has been our success story,” Ensz said. “I can throw in any of those four and pretty much get the same results. It’s been a real luxury.”
Shoreline Christian has three games scheduled for next week, starting with a matchup against Snohomish County Christian April 22 at Hillwood Park.
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