It has been so far, so good for the Bethlehem Christian Academy baseball team.
In the first full season of varsity competition for the Knights, BCA has gone undefeated in region play and posted a 17-2 overall regular season record. The only losses came to teams in larger classifications in the GISA, one of them in extra innings.
How dominant were the Knights this spring against opponents from Region 1-A? Consider the following:
•BCA outscored its opponents 108-2.
•One team forfeited the game after not being able to record three outs against the Knights in the bottom of the first.
•The closest game was a 4-0 win against Thomas Jefferson on March 23. In the rematch, BCA won 9-1 to seal the 1-A title.
Pou said he believes the competition will be tougher in the state playoffs. BCA received an opening-round bye and will host the quarterfinals beginning Friday against Randolph Southern.
Two games will be played Friday beginning at 1:30 p.m. with a third game, if necessary, set for Saturday at 1 p.m.. Randolph Southern is the No. 3 seed from Region 3-A and upset Memorial Day, the No. 2 seed from Region 2-A, in the opening round.
“We know the deeper into the playoffs we go, the tougher the competition will be,” Pou said.
One area of improvement the BCA coach has stressed throughout the season has been situational hitting.
“We have to realize you don’t have to step up to the plate and aim for the trees every time,” the coach said recently. “You can compile a lot of runs by taking it a base at a time.”
While BCA is among the favorites to contend for state, Pou said without seniors on this year’s squad, it will be interesting to see how the team responds under pressure.
“We’ve come a long way but we also have plenty we can do better,” he said. “We will be tested in the playoffs. There is no doubt about that.”
Perhaps the signs of things to come began for BCA in the very first game of the 2012 campaign. The Knights defeated Crisp Academy, the defending Class A champion, 5-2. That win, along with plenty of on-the-field talent, seemed to provide the spark for BCA to excel this season.
Overall, the athletic program is young at Bethlehem Christian Academy. Pou said he understands how a successful athletic program can help build a young school.
The BCA coaches were still ironing out the pitching rotation earlier this week for the opening series.
“We have four or five guys we feel confident in,” Pou said.
The coaches will keep the team’s routine as normal as possible this week.
“We beat Thomas Jefferson in our last game for the region title so that was like a playoff game in some ways,” Pou said. “We will keep everything the same this week. We don’t know a whole lot about our opponent but we know they do play in a good region. They are in the quarterfinals of the state playoffs and that means they will be good.”
KNIGHT NOTES: While Nick Pou was named Region 1-A Coach of the Year by his peers, six players were selected for the All-Region team.
Juniors Jared Martin, Matt Masters, Jordan Fountain, Niko Mailloux, sophomore Ben Morgan and freshman Ramon Rivera were named to the All-Region 1-A team last week.
BCA enters the postseason ranked No. 1 in Class A.
