Here are the results of Saturday’s high school action involving teams from Salem County
BASEBALL HADDONFIELD 6, WOODSTOWN 2: Rocco String had two hits, drove in both of the Wolverines’ runs and pitched an inning and a third of one-hit relief. String hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last two appearances.
COLLINGSWOOD 11, SALEM 0: Jairo Mendoza went 3-for-3 with two RBIs and Chase Ladik spun a two-hit shutout with nine strikeouts over five innings. Caleb Clair and Chase Pomper had the Rams’ two hits.
The Rams loaded the bases with one out in the first inning, but couldn’t get the runs home. They also had runners at second and third with none out in the fifth with the same result.
MOORESTOWN 7, WOODSTOWN 1: The Quakers hit three home runs and pulled away with four runs in the sixth inning. Woodstown grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Hannah Hitchner scored on an error. Hitchner (double), Tulana Mingin and Ellie Wygand had the Wolverines’ three hits.
MAINLAND 9, WOODSTOWN 1: Mainland pulled away from a 1-1 tie with five runs in the second inning. Cara Delia had three hits for Woodstown, while Kayla Brown and Grace White had two hits apiece. Brown drove in the Wolverines’ run with a first-inning single.
DEPTFORD 11, SALEM 0: Annaliese Underwood homered and Grace Logue held the Rams to two hits and struck out six. Logue retired the first 13 Rams she faced before Phoenix Holland and Cimiyyia Corbin had back-to-back singles in the fifth.
TRACK PENN RELAYS: Schalick’s 4×400 relay team of Nylan Sutton, David Stewart, Reggie Allen and Michael Eberl ran a 3:33.40 and placed seventh in the high school boys race. Stewart ran a second leg of 51.50.
Here is the Salem County sports schedule for the week of April 28-May 4; all events start at 4 p.m. unless noted
Sunday
BASEBALL Mainland Coaches vs. Cancer Pennsville vs Cedar Creek, 9 a.m.
Monday
BASEBALL Wildwood at Schalick
Diamond Classic Pennsville at Rancocas Valley SOFTBALL Salem at Cape May Tech Schalick at Wildwood COLLEGE BASEBALL Salem CC at Delaware County CC, 3 p.m. GOLF Clearview girls vs. Schalick, Centerton CC, 3:30 p.m. Pennsville vs. Penns Grove, Sakima CC, 3:30 p.m. Woodstown vs. Wildwood, Union League National, 3:45 p.m. Salem Tech vs. Gloucester Catholic Clearview vs. Schalick, Centerton CC, 4:15 p.m. BOYS TENNIS Washington Twp. at Schalick
Tuesday
BASEBALL Camden Eastside at Salem SOFTBALL Paulsboro at Salem COLLEGE BASEBALL Salem CC at Anne Arundel CC (2), 2 p.m. GOLF Schalick girls vs. Delsea, Birches/Wash. Twp. GC Schalick vs. Overbrook, Kresson GC BOYS TENNIS Wildwood at Schalick BOYS VOLLEYBALL Riverside at Salem Tech, 3:45 p.m.
Wednesday
BASEBALL Pennsville at Salem Bridgeton at Schalick, Elmer LL, 6:30 p.m. SOFTBALL Schalick at Cumberland BOYS TENNIS Schalick at GCIT BOYS LACROSSE St. Joe’s at Woodstown
Thursday
BASEBALL Penns Grove at Pleasantville COLLEGE BASEBALL Lehigh Carbon at Salem CC, 3:30 p.m. GOLF Pennsville, Schalick, Woodstown in Carl Arena Tournament, 8 a.m. TRACK Salem at SJTCA Meet, Delsea
Friday
BASEBALL Salem at Overbrook SOFTBALL LEAP at Salem COLLEGE BASEBALL Salem CC at RCSJ-Gloucester, 3:30 p.m. COLLEGE SOFTBALL REGION XIX TOURNAMENT at Mercer County CC Salem CC vs. Mercer CC, 10 a.m. Delaware Tech vs. Lackawanna, noon Salem-Mercer winner vs. Del Tech-Lackawanna winner, 2 p.m. Salem-Mercer loser vs. Del Tech-Lackawanna loser, 4 p.m. GOLF Cedar Creek vs. Schalick, Centerton CC, 3:30 p.m.
Saturday
COLLEGE BASEBALL RCSJ-Gloucester at Salem CC (2), noon COLLEGE SOFTBALL REGION XIX TOURNAMENT at Mercer County CC Elimination game, 10 a.m. Championship Game, noon If necessary, 2 p.m.
Schalick holds off Cape May Tech to win Coaches vs. Cancer game, includes details on Friday’s high school action involving Salem County teams
BASEBALL Mainland Coaches vs. Cancer Schalick 10, Cape May Tech 9 Atlantic City 13, Bridgeton 1 Audubon 5, Paul VI 2 Mainland 5, Rumson-Fair Haven 1
SCHALICK 10, CAPE MAY TECH 9: The Cougars scored four runs in the visitors’ seventh to take a 10-6 lead, then held on in the bottom of the inning as Cape May Tech scored three to make it a one-run game. Luke Pokrovsky received an autographed Mike Trout baseball as his team’s game MVP.
The teams matched run throughout the game. The Cougars held leads of 2-0, 3-2, 5-4 and 6-5 before closing it out in the seventh.
The Cougars batted around in the inning and plated runs when CMT misplayed Matthew Lamazza’s bunt, sacrifice flies by J.T. Fleming and Ricky Watts and Jake Siedlecki’s RBI single. The Hawks got within a run, but the Cougars cut down a runner at third for the second out and Lucas D’Agostino got a strikeout for the final out.
Fleming, Watts and Siedlecki all had two hits and two RBIs. Pokrovsky had two hits, including a leadoff homer in the fourth to tie the game at 4-4.
Regular Season GATEWAY 11, PENNS GROVE 2: The Gators pulled away from a 2-2 tie with four runs in the fifth inning. Sean Greene and Jack O’Connell both had three hits and two RBIs for the winners. Bristol Scott had two hits for Penns Grove.
SOFTBALL PALMYRA 15, SALEM 5: Aubrey Wagner’s one-out RBI single in the third inning broke a 4-4 tie and Palmyra pulled away with eight in the fourth. RBI singles by Cimiyyia Corbin, Kyla Henderson and Morgan Johnson helped the Rams rally from a 4-1 deficit to tie the game 4-4 in the top of the third.
Johnson went 3-for-3 with two RBIs for the Rams. Phoenix Holland had two hits.
TRACK PENN RELAYS: Schalick’s boys 4×100 team of Kenai Simmons, David Stewart, Reggie Allen and Michael Eberl ran a 45,59 in qualifying. The Cougars ran third in their heat behind Huntington (N.Y.) and Mainland Regional.
Salem, Schalick girls 4×400 teams rn well at Penn Relays; roundup includes scores from Thursday’s Salem County sports action
By Riverview Sports News
PHILADELPHIA – The girls 4×400 relay teams from Salem and Schalick both finished in the top 10 of their respective Friday races at the Penn Relays Thursday.
Schalick’s team of Gia Martellacci, Grace O’Neill, Gabriella Simonini and Jordan Hadfield placed eighth in the high school girls division with a time of 4:30.47. Southern (Harwood, Md.) led the field at 4:07.11.
Martellacci got the Cougars started with a leg of 1:04.69 that had them in the top five and Hadfield brought them home with a leg of 1:05.70.
Salem’s team of Anyzha Williams, Rhionna Timmons, Sairis Jimenez and Anna Buzby finished fourth in the South Jersey Small Schools race, running 4:11.34. It was the first team in school history to medal there in any event.
The Rams had been in the top nine all race, with Buzby bringing them home with a final leg 59.99. Willingboro won it at 4:02.97.
Their 4×100 team of Karima Davenport-White, Buzby, Timmons and Dayana Jones ran a season-best 50.63.
PENN RELAYS GIRLS PRELIMS 4×100: 71. Salem (Karima Davenport-White, Anna Buzby, RhiOnna Timmons, Dayana Jones) 50.63; 92. Schalick (Caileigh Schalick, Zoe Jenkins, Gia Marellacci, Brooke Watt) 55.83 4×400: 8. Schalick (Gia Martellacci, Grace O’Neill, Gabriella Simonini, Jordan Hadfield) 4:30.47 4×400 South Jersey Small: 4. Salem (Anyzha Williams, Rhionna Timmons, Sairis Jimenez, Anna Buzby) 4:11.34 BASEBALL Delran 5, Woodstown 3 BOYS TENNIS Pennsville 5, Penns Grove 0 Woodstown 5, Bridgeton 0 BOYS LACROSSE Woodstown 12, Sterling 5 GIRLS LACROSSE Haddonfield 20, Woodstown 6 GOLF Triton 177, Pennsville 225
Here are the scores and highlights from Wednesday’s high school action involving Salem County teams
BASEBALL SCHALICK 9, LOWER CAPE MAY 3: Luke Pokrovsky gave up three hits and struck out 13 in a complete game and the Cougars (6-6) broke it open with a five-run second inning to bounce back from a tough loss the day before. J.T. Fleming and Ricky Watt both had three hits and a pair of RBIs. The 13 strikeouts give Pokrovsky, a junior, 185 for his career.
WOODSTOWN 8, AUDUBON 3: The Wolverines answered Audubon’s three-run rally to fourth to get close with three in the fifth to pull away. Brent Williams, Blake Bialecki and Dante Holmes all drove in a pair of runs. Holmes’ RBIs came on a two-run double in the fourth that made it 7-3.
GLASSBORO 9, PENNS GROVE 2: Gavin Dillard had two extra-base hits and two RBIs for the Bulldogs, who scored two in the first inning and never trailed. Elijah Crespo, Ryan Hunt, Ethan Brooks and Bristol Scott had hits for the Red Devils.
PITMAN 13, SALEM 1: Connor Sharkey drove in four runs and Hudson Rue and Jackson Austin each drove in three for the Panthers. Ethan McDonnell-Longo went 2-for-2 and drove in the Rams’ run in the fourth inning.
2 IN DIAMOND CLASSIC: Pennsville and Woodstown both are in the field for the 50th annual Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic.
Pennsville is the No. 24 seed in the 32-team field and will visit No. 9 Rancocas Valley on or before May 1 in a Top Bracket game. The Eagles would get the Camden Catholic-Eastern winner if successful.
Woodstown is seeded No. 26 and will play at No. 6 Delsea in its first-round game. The Wolverines would get the Bishop Eustace-Audubon winner if successful. Notice above they beat Audubon today.
The title game is May 16 at Alcyon Park in Pitman.
SOFTBALL PITMAN 12, SALEM 3: The Panthers broke a 2-2 tie with a run in the third, then broke open the game with eight runs in the sixth. The teams matched single runs each of the first two innings until Pitman broke on top. Julliana Love had three hits and Raegan Wilson had two for the Rams. Love and Morgan Johnson had RBIs.
GLASSBORO 19, PENNS GROVE 2: The Red Devils scored both their runs in the top of the first, but the Bulldogs responded with 13 runs in the home half of the inning. Jarlene Vichi had the Red Devils’ only hit and RBI.
GOLF WOODSTOWN 131, OVERBROOK 174: Jacob Schermerhorn and Jeffrey Covely both shot 32 to lead the Wolverines (10-3) at Kresson GC. Kyle Brainard came in with a 33 and Joey Olbrich posted a 34. PITMAN 208, SALEM TECH 245: Pitman’s Owen Boulton was medalist at Sakima CC with a 49. Jack Bermann posted Salem Tech’s low score (59).
WASHINGTON TWP. 195, SCHALICK GIRLS 250: Washington Twp. Delaney Schwartz (46) edged teammate Ryli Zee by a stroke for medalist honors at Wedgewood CC. Casey Widdifield posted Schalick’s low score (61).
The Taliaferro Foundation’s Ginsburg Football Classic expanding to include youth flag football, moving to Total Turf, high school 7-on-7 field filling quickly
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
After three strong years playing at the high school complex of its foundation namesake, the Adam Taliaferro Foundation Larry Ginsburg Football Classic is expanding and moving.
This year’s fifth annual event, scheduled for June 29, is heading 15 miles down the road to the expansive Total Turf Experience in Pitman. It had been staged the last three years at Eastern High School in Voorhees, where Taliaferro played his high school ball before moving on to Penn State and living one of the most inspirational stories in sports of all time.
Most people recognize the Classic as a 7-on-7 showcase for South Jersey high school football teams, but this year the event is adding a flag football element for youth teams and needs more room for the demand with the potential for making Total Turf its permanent home.
“We started off with it at Rowan University, then we moved it to Eastern High School and now we’re trying something a little bit different,” executive director Gus Ostrum said. “The high school tournament is staying in place, but we’re also trying to start up a subsequent flag football tournament for the youth leagues.
“That’s why we moved it to Total Turf, because they do the flag football tournaments all the time. They do things for high schools all the time, so they’re very familiar with their facilities. They have great indoor and outdoor facilities over there. It’s an incredible facility.”
The move has gained some early support.
“Total Turf is a really nice facility,” Pennsville coach Mike Healy said. “I’m excited mostly because it’s closer to us. Eastern was very nice. Total Turf has all sorts of stuff in it besides sports. It’s a cool place to watch sports.”
The field for the high school tournament is filling quickly and nearly halfway to its cap of 16 teams.
Four Salem County teams played in it last year – Healy’s Eagles, Penns Grove, Schalick and Woodstown. Of that group, only runner-up Penns Grove has yet to commit for this year, but former Penns Grove coach John Emel is bringing his new West Deptford team. Timber Creek and Mercer County’s Nottingham also are said to be committed.
With a guarantee of three games, the tournament is an early summer test for the teams’ passing games and secondaries. Woodbury won it last year.
“Last year we were competitive in our games,” Pennsville coach Mike Healy said. “This year I’d like to take the next step and finish with a winning record. It is early in the summer so we will still be learning and working on some new things.”
Organizers hope to attract at least a dozen teams for each of its two flag football divisions – 9-10 and 11-12.
“With the first year it’ll be a little bit harder because they don’t really know us and we’re going in there introducing ourselves to those coaches and groups so it’ll take some time,” Ostrum said. “We hope at least for 12 teams in each division. If we can grab 16 that’d be wonderful, but we’ll see what happens and hopefully it will work out OK for us.
“I know over time it will. The event we had at Eastern with the high schools has a lot of acceptance now, but it took time to get there. It doesn’t just happen overnight.”
They also would be open in time to an offering for the fledgling high school girls flag football market.
Cover photo: Penns Grove coach John Emel accepts the runner-up trophy on behalf of his team at last year’s Taliaferro/Ginsburg 7-on-7 Football Classic at Eastern Regional High School.
Here is a look at what happened Tuesday in Salem County high school sports
SOFTBALL WEST DEPTFORD 12, WOODSTOWN 1: The Eagles broke open a scoreless game with nine runs in the fourth inning. Isabella Kwashek went 4-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs.
Tulana Mingin had two of Woodstown’s four hits and now has 120 for her career, 12 shy of the school’s all-time record. Cara Delia and Kayla Brown had their other hits. Brown drove in their run in the fifth inning.
GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC 11, SALEM 1: Madelyn McGinn drove in three runs and Brooklyn Carcaci struck out 10 in five innings to lead Gloucester Catholic.
Julliana Love scored in the first inning to give Salem a 1-0 lead. Gloucester Catholic tied it in second, then took the lead with three in the third. Love had two of the Rams’ four hits. Raegan Wilson and Morgan Johnson had the other two.
BOYS LACROSSE Kingsway 7, Woodstown 5
BOYS TENNIS PENNSVILLE 5, PENNS GROVE 0 Gabe Schneider (P) def. Alex Ramirez Martinez, 6-0, 6-0 Maddox Efelis (P) def. Poyraz Erdonmez, 6-0, 6-1 Brody Wiggins (P) def. Ricardo Vichi, 6-0, 6-0 Noah Flitcraft-Noah Bohn (P) def. Angel Perez Herrera-Stuart Mondragon, 6-0, 6-0 Luke Chamberlain-Sawyer Humphrey (P) def. Pablo Sanchez Correa-Adan Gonzalez, 6-0, 6-0 Records: Pennsville 10-1, Penns Grove 2-4. TRACK Gloucester Catholic, Wildwood at Salem Penns Grove at Glassboro Woodstown at Pennsville
BOYS VOLLEYBALL Camden Tech 2, Salem Tech 0 (25-13, 25-11)
PENNSVILLE — Whether it’s two outs, two strikes or three runs down in the bottom of the seventh, Pennsville coach Matt Karr preaches to his players to never give up.
The Eagles didn’t give up Tuesday and were rewarded for it with a come-from-behind victory over a county rival.
Faced with a three-run deficit entering the bottom of the seventh, the Eagles rallied for four runs and escaped with an 11-10 victory over Schalick, breaking the heart of a team coached by a Pennsville alum.
Chase Burchfield got the game-winner on a one-out, two-run double to left center right after Peyton O’Brien’s two-run bases-loaded single got the Eagles close the hitter before. Burchfield said it was his first-ever game-winning walk-off hit on any level of baseball.
“First one, my whole life, honestly; I’ve hit a 10-run-rule walk-off, but nothing like that,” he said. “That’s just how we’ve been trying to play all year. In the past years we probably wouldn’t have won that game, so I feel like this team has more fight than last year’s.”
The Eagles’ rally started from the bottom of the lineup with pinch-hitter Mason O’Brien drawing a leadoff walk and 9-hole hitter Logan Streitz delivering a single. Luke Wood then walked to load the base.
A visit to the mound netted the Cougars a strikeout, but Peyton O’Brien came through with his two-run single to right to make it 10-9 and Burchfield followed him with his game-winner.
“One of our big team mantras is give the guy behind you a shot,” Karr said. “Our guys at the top are really good. We trust those guys and we gave them shots with guys on to cash in and they did.
“We’re still trying to work through those type of things. We’re still a young ballclub – we’ve got one senior – and we’re trying to learn there are ups and downs in this sport that when things aren’t going well or things don’t seem to be going right for you, you have to find a way to keep it together, stay level headed and push through to the other side and we were able to do that today.
“It’s been a challenge for us. When we find ourselves in a tight situation we’re learning to push through that and come out on the other side. I keep preaching to these guys that’s what playoff baseball is gonna be. If we want to make a deep run, we have to be able to compete in those kind of games because the teams we play are going to be good. Today was a good test and a great game for us to get that experience.”
Before Burchfield’s heroics sent the Pennsville players pouring out of the dugout the game belonged Jake Siedlecki. The Schalick senior parked a three-run homer on a two-out 0-2 pitch in the fourth inning to give the Cougars an 8-7 lead and then pitched three innings of no-hit relief until the Eagles figured him out in the seventh.
His teammates gave him an even bigger cushion by scoring two more in the top of the seventh.
Of the homer, which capped a seven-run Cougars rally, Siedlecki said, “when I go up to bat I just try to have fun. I think that pitch looked good to me. I haven’t been able to hit a high fastball all year and finally my barrel got to it.”
As a pitcher he had only gone longer than 2 2/3 innings once in his career and that was his first career appearance as a freshman (four innings and 96 pitches against Pitman). But the Cougars were running short on arms and they needed to get as much out of him as they could.
He wound up throwing 73 pitches, two more than he had in his previous four appearances this season combined. But he was fresh. He only threw 18 pitches last week, 10 in getting the final out of Luke Pokrovsky’s 16-strikeout Friday gem against Gloucester and eight in two innings the next day against Eastern.
He was on top of it early. Over his first three innings he allowed only two walks, neither runner past first base, and struck out five. He retired all the Pennsville hitters who got to him in the seventh the first time around.
“I’m not really a pitcher so I decided to have fun with it; they couldn’t hit my slider,” he said. “Then in the last inning I’ve never pitched that long and my arm never really felt that tired before, so my slider started being more of a hanger. I was still pitching strikes, but they finally got a hit and made good contact on it.”
Under the circumstances, Schalick coach Sean O’Brien thought his regular short reliever/closer “did a great job.”
“I said to the guys I would still go with him in that situation because I trust him,” O’Brien said.
Overall, the Cougars’ coach was happy with the way his team fought to get back in the game after being down 6-0 and 7-1 to give it a chance to win, but lamented a lack of execution in certain situations that could’ve put them over the top. Still, they should leave the ballpark feeling they can play with the top teams in South Jersey Group I, he said.
Schalick leadoff man J.T. Fleming had two hits and two RBIs. Ricky Watt also had two hits, including a two-run single to chase Pennsville starter Peyton O’Brien right before Siedlecki hit his homer.
WOODSTOWN 14, PENNS GROVE 2: Andrew Pedrick and Blake Bialecki both had a pair of hits and Pedrick drove in three runs to lead the Wolverines (7-5). Woodstown pulled away from a 1-1 game with three runs in the second inning, then after Penns Grove (0-7) closed within 4-2 it scored four in the fourth.
Thomas Boyles, the first reliever behind winning pitcher Cole Begley, struck out all five batters he faced. Seven of the eight outs Boyles has recorded in two appearances this season have come on strikeouts.
Here is a recent history of coach changes in Salem County high school football since 2003; with three new coaches this coming season, 2024 marks the most turnover in the county since 2009
EDITORS NOTE: This is the latest in a recurring series of in-depth interviews with athletes in Salem County. Coaches, if there is a player in your program with an interesting background or backstory the community would be interested in “Getting to Know …” forward details in an email to Riverview Sports News at al.muskewitz@gmail.com.
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
PITTSGROVE – Along the back wall of the Schalick baseball dugout there is a row of poster boards where each Cougar player can apply award stickers similar to helmet stickers the Cougars wear in football.
POKROVSKY
Everybody player on the team has a poster and every player has at least one of the rewards on their card – except the player you’d expect would have the most. But there’s a story to that.
Luke Pokrovsky’s poster is as empty as those that don’t carry a player’s name, but that’s because he just hasn’t gotten around to putting them on. Of course, that time will come.
The junior left-handed pitcher and right-handed hitting DH/1B/OF is one of the top players in South Jersey. He’s also the last of three brothers who have donned the Schalick uniform and has a real chance to surpass all their records by the time he graduates next spring.
He’s currently the Cougars’ ace pitcher (0.89 ERA/36K/15.2IP) and one of their best hitters (.400/7 RBIs).
He sat down with Riverview Sports News to talk about growing up with two baseball-playing brothers, committing to a baseball-only existence and all things that shape a young baseball player with a big upside.
At some point he’s going to get around to putting those stickers on his poster. And when he does, he’s probably going to need a bigger poster.
RIVERVIEW SPORTS NEWS: Well, since we’ve seen it, let’s start with this: What’s the story with the blank sticker card? I’d have thought with the year you’re having there would be stickers all over it.
LUKE POKROVSKY: One day we were practicing and it just got done raining and the field was destroyed with all the rain, so I hand-raked the whole entire field by myself – one of the drag-behind rakes – and everybody was doing stickers, so I still have to get all my stickers up there. It’ll end up getting a lot because of all the pitching ones and I have some hitting ones, too.
RSN: I’ve only been here for about a year, just about the end of the whole cycle of an athletic calendar, but I don’t think I’ve seen you in other sports here. Are you just a baseball guy or do you play other sports?
LP: I just play baseball here.
RSN: There’s always been a debate about diversifying or specializing in one particular sport. Why are you only a baseball guy and what are the advantages and benefits to being locked into one sport?
LP: I used to play basketball in middle school and I always wanted to play basketball in high school. We got to high school and I played with my brother Jarrett here. He always gets in the weight room and I wanted to get in the weight room, so in the off-season (going into his freshman year) I decided to not play basketball and get stronger, get in the weight room and try to get stronger to throw pitches faster.
I want to play other sports and I was thinking about playing basketball, but getting stronger and staying in shape, I’d rather do that. Playing basketball will keep you in shape, but you won’t have time for the weight room.
RSN: You come from a family of baseball guys – one brother’s at Penn and another’s at Seton Hall. Are there any more like you at home or others in the family who play or have played?
LP: No. My dad played (at Schalick) and my uncle played (at Schalick and Drexel).
RSN: How has your brothers’ success influenced your baseball? You could’ve played a mini-game at your house with a pitcher (Luke), catcher (Staus) and infielder (Jarrett) if you all got together at the same time.
LP: When Staus got committed to college, I was still very young, so I didn’t really understand anything, so he really wasn’t a big impact on my baseball. I played with Jarrett for my Little League and I started really enjoying it and he kept getting harder on me because I’m a lefty and he wants me to be strong as a pitcher.
I got to play freshman year with him for high school and it was fantastic. He kept being hard on me, trying to get me to be better, stronger, get in the weight room with him every single day, help me with my swing, all that.
When I got to watch Penn play I just realize how the pitchers are bigger and stronger they are compared to me. I just want to be able to play that next level and get stronger and be able to throw 90, 90-plus. I know I’m (currently) like low- to mid-80s fastball and trying to get my off-speed to go good.
RSN: Have you ever faced them in a game?
LP: I never got the chance to go against them and I really didn’t want to because they can both swing the bats good. I’d get smoked.
RSN: You’ve got a couple milestones coming up – 100 hits, 100 RBIs, 200 strikeouts (he’s currently at 73 hits, 64 RBIs, 172 strikeouts) – maybe even get them this season. Do they mean anything to you? Is one more important than the other? Will you eventually overtake your brothers’ numbers, and how sweet is that going to be? (Jarrett had 118 career hits and 139 strikeouts; Staus had 105 hits and 100 RBIs).
LP: All my brothers have most of the records here at school and I want to end up getting my name on it, so I was looking at the record for strikeouts and I realize I wasn’t that far away; it’s like 234 or 5. So then I was like I just have to try to strike them out and get all my pitches going. After I had that Gloucester game (Friday, 16 Ks in 6 2/3 innings) I was really excited because I only had 28 more strikeouts to 200 and I still have a whole ’nother year to go. That’s what my main goal is right now, 200 strikeouts.
I’ll always remember the Gloucester game because that was probably the best time I ever threw, the longest I ever went, the lowest walks and highest Ks. I don’t know what it was. It just comes.
RSN: And what about the 100-hit part?
LP: It’s kind of hard because everybody knows my name. Obviously I’m not going to get any fastballs. It’s harder and harder because I keep seeing curveballs, off-speed pitches. I’m trying to work in practice trying to get the off-speed pitches down to try to get my hits up trying to get to the 100 hits just like my brothers did.
RSN: Another thing I’ve always been curious about with pitchers is you’ve no doubt had managers come out to you on the mound either to get on your or get you going. What are some of the funniest or oddest things they’ve said to you either to break the tension or you’re your attention?
LP: Most of the time they come out, if it’s in the middle of an inning or an at bat, just to breathe and calm down and try to focus on the batter, not worry about any runners. I don’t remember any funny ones. There were definitely some, but I don’t remember any real funny ones. We joke around after, but not so much while the game is going on.
RSN: What do you do away from the field to relax and decompress. The other Luke – Pennsville’s Luke Wood – for example, likes Legos and Harry Potter. What do you do to get away from it all?
LP: I like to hang out with friends. I like to fish and hunt. During the offseason, in the fall, I love to go hunting with people from the team, just to be together with somebody else. I don’t like to do anything by myself, it’s just so boring. I got my first buck last year. I prefer duck hunting over anything. It’s so much fun.
RSN: It’s hard not to notice the tattoo running down the inside of your right forearm. It’s reads ‘Pokrovsky’ in script. What’s that all about?
LP: It was actually Jarrett’s idea. He wanted to get me, Staus, Jarrett, my dad all the same matching tattoo, so we all have it down our forearms. We just all wanted to match. It kind of hurt a little bit, but it has a good meaning.
RSN: What’s happening with you on the recruiting front? Is there a commitment? Where’s the most interest?
LP: I haven’t really gotten into looking at a school yet or really thought about it because I was thinking about going into a trade and try to do something with that, just go straight to work, so I don’t have to pay for all that schooling and stuff.
Both of my brothers keep saying that I’d just be wasting my talent, especially given I’m a left-handed pitcher, all I need to throw is like upper 80s and I’ll be good to go. I told them I’ll keep working. If the opportunity comes I want to take it, obviously. I was looking forward to summer, try to get in some more high-end showcases, but I haven’t gotten that far yet.
RSN: Lastly, are you pitching Tuesday against Pennsville and do you get any more amped pitching against a county opponent? I think you drew the start against Woodstown in the opener. In eight career appearances against Salem County teams (25.1 innings) he has a 3.03 ERA (his career mark over 103 innings is 2.98).
LP: I’m not pitching (against Pennsville). I’m pitching Wednesday against Lower Cape May. I’m one of the top pitchers on the team and (Coach Sean O’Brien) is going to give me the best teams to go against and I’m excited to go against real talent and I’ll be challenged a little bit. I like seeing our bounce back. We’ve already played some of the teams before this season and we lost and I wanted to bounce back and try to help the team out more, especially on the mound.
