By BRIAN TORTELLA
Correspondent
On X @tortreports
ELMER — Martin Foust knew a challenging task awaited him and the rest of his Haddonfield High baseball teams against Schalick on Thursday in the opening round of the prestigious Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic.
Schalick came into the game 10-0, one of the last remaining undefeated teams in the state entering the game. Senior pitcher Luke Pokrovsky, a University of Pennsylvania recruit who’s just one strikeout away from 300 for his career and owns a 1.40 ERA this season, was the opposing pitcher.
But none of that fazed Foust, who glady embraced the challenge and further proved that he is quite the ace himself. Foust struck out seven and allowed just one unearned run in six innings as 24th-seeded Haddonfield knocked off No. 10 Schalick, 10-4, in the opening round of the tournament that has tested South Jersey’s best baseball teams for more than 50 years.
“That pitcher (Pokrovsky), he’s a D-1 arm, but he bleeds just like I bleed, he’s flesh and blood just like me, so I knew that nothing puts him apart from us except from his performance,” Foust said. “In my head, I know each pitch I have to attack the hitter. I’m always happy to help our team out and push us on to the next round. I know the stats might scream my name, but I just have to thank my defense and my hitting for giving me the confidence to go out there every single pitch.
“I saw the box scores of their other games, and I obviously knew they were a good team,” he continued. “I knew our team could handle anybody,” he added. “I have the utmost confidence in our guys. I’m really excited to move on. I’m taking it one game at a time. My old football coach used to say to me ‘the most important game is always the next one,’ so I don’t want to get too far ahead.”
Said Haddonfield coach Justin Singleton, “he’s unbelievable. I’m going to miss him when he’s gone. He’s so consistent in his work ethic. He’s the same guy every day — doesn’t get to play a lot in the field, doesn’t get a lot of (at-bats), but never opens his mouth in a negative way. He’s a great teammate and he’s just a bulldog.”
Nine Haddonfield batters recorded a hit as the Bulldawgs won their fourth straight to improve to 10-4.
“We’ve been rolling recently. We had a tough one last Friday (in an 11-0 loss to Allentown) and since then our mindset has been ‘kick the door down,’” sophomore shortstop Dan Keenan said. “We’re really excited (for the next round). We seem to be hitting a little bit of a stride right now. We just want to keep it going, keep it rolling. We’re on to the next.”
Keenan, who went 2-for-3 with a walk and three runs, singled and scored the first run of the game in the second inning and singled again in the fifth.
“I love what we’ve got here,” Keenan said. “We’re a bunch of brothers, we work hard at practice every day, and we believe in each other. We’re going to fight like hell for each other.”
“Getting an opportunity to get on the bus and come down here to play against a program like this, who is really good with really good players, is a great opportunity for us,” coach Singleton said. “To be able to come out of here with a win is great. I’m really proud of the kids.”
The Cougars (10-1, 5-0 Tri-County Diamond), making their first appearance in the Diamond Classic since 1996, arrived home from their senior trip at 3:30 a.m. but still had to wake up and attend school all day. Making the day even tougher, the school’s prom started at 6 p.m, just 15 minutes after the game ended.
“It’s tough at that age to come in and try to compete at your best, especially the seniors when they’re lacking sleep and not even practicing,” said Schalick coach Sean O’Brien. “And the other guys, you don’t know if they’re focusing on (prom) either. It’s tough.
“It’s fortunate we were able to get to this point and play in this game, because we played well all year. Just to have a game like we did today, it’s unfortunate but it’s not totally surprising just because of the circumstances.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Schalick hosts Overbrook on Monday at 4 p.m. Haddonfield hosts Delran on Saturday at 11 a.m., then travels to Eastern at 4 p.m. for the second round of the Diamond Classic.
