By Connor Mahay ‘22

The Brother Rice baseball team is rolling. The squad has not lost a game yet, going 13-0 in its first 13 games of the season. The team started Catholic League play this past week against St. Ignatius, Montini, and Marmion.

The Crusaders headed to St. Ignatius on Tuesday to face the wolfpack. The bats did not work as usual for the Crusaders, but stellar pitching from Junior Cole Van Assen kept St. Ignatius in check. Brother Rice kept on swinging and eventually put up five runs to beat St. Ignatius 5-1. Van Assen pitched a complete game, allowing only one run.

Cole Van Assen said, “I felt great going into the game. I knew I was going to pitch well and we were going to win.”

On Wednesday, the rolling Crusaders went on the road to Wheaton College to play Montini Catholic. Montini came out hot, putting up four runs to the Crusaders three in the first inning. That was about as long as Montini would stay in the game as Brother Rice proceeded to put up 20 more runs to Montini’s four more runs the rest of the game. Many of the bench players got an opportunity to participate in the win.

Senior Nick Daugherty said, “It was great seeing all of the guys get in the game. Seeing how much hard work and effort those guys put in everyday and watching them get in the game was awesome. Watching Danny Durkin get a hit was my favorite moment of the year, so far.”

Then, the Crusaders hosted their first home Chicago Catholic League Blue game on Saturday against Marmion. The bats were hot once again in the first inning with the Crusaders scoring five runs with two outs. Senior Christian Holmes kept his hot streak going by hitting a home run to left center field. The Crusaders continued to add 10 more runs over the course of the next three innings. Incredible pitching from Jake Fenton and Casey Giemzik kept Marmion out of the score column. Brother Rice beat Marmion 15-0 in four innings.

Senior Christian Holmes said, “My first homerun of the season felt great off the bat, and it just made me feel that there were plenty more to come.”

Brother Rice’s baseball team will look to stay hot heading into more CCL Blue play.