Welcome to “Norwin North,” where the weather gets cold and the bats get hot.
The Mercyhurst baseball team has become an offshoot of the Norwin program, a pipeline from North Huntingdon to Erie producing hits and quality starts up and down the lineup.
“We always kind of joke about this being ‘Norwin North,’ ” senior catcher Landon DiBeradin said, “so it is nice to see it translate to the collegiate level, especially with this being a new year for all of us.”
DiBeradin is one of five Norwin players on the Lakers roster. The players are making significant contributions this season.
The others are senior utilityman Jayden Walker, senior outfielder Eric Chorba, senior pitcher Jake Bazala and freshman catcher Ty Cupp.
“We have been doing really well, and that could be just us being a close group and our late-night hitting with each other has been paying off,” Walker said. “I think not only us but our whole team is a tight-knit group who really puts the team first. No selfish guys; we just look to make the next guy’s job easier.
“It doesn’t surprise us Norwin guys as we put in the work for it day-in and day-out.”
A recent three-game series put the Norwin alums on display.
The Lakers swept Maryland Eastern Shore in three games. Norwin guys accounted for five home runs, and Bazala was the winning pitcher in all three games.
Chorba and Walker each hit three home runs — two in one game — and DiBeradin added one.
Walker and Chorba, who hit Nos. 2 and 3 in the order, went back-to-back in the third game, a 10-4 win.
Chorba went 4 for 4 with two RBIs and a walk-off single in a 7-6 victory in Game 2. Bazala pitched one inning in relief to get the win.
In the opener, a 6-5 walk-off victory, Chorba launched the winning homer in the 10th inning, and Walker had the first three RBIs, including a two-run homer, and missed the cycle by a triple.
“The power has kind of come out of the blue,” Walker said.
One of Bazala’s wins came in a start, the other two in relief appearances.
“With all of us being older guys, we are the base of the team,” Bazala said. “All of us are fortunate enough to be in the lineup to make an impact, and I believe the connections we have made since the beginning of high school allow us to stem off of each other when it comes to games.
“The overall energy that the Norwin guys are able to bring and the results we can produce allows us to be successful even at the collegiate level.”
The Lakers have struggled to string together wins, so the sweep was significant. The first-year Division I program was 7-23, including a 6-9 mark in the Northeast Conference.
“As a team with a lot of seniors, we knew it would be important for us to step up and make an impact,” DiBeradin said. “We have been fortunate enough to be able to play alongside each other for the better portion of the last eight years, so we kind of feed off each other’s success and it creates a good environment for continued success.”
Chorba is having a career season. Through 29 games, he was leading the team with a .352 batting average and 38 hits to go with five homers and 15 RBIs.
Walker was hitting .295 with a team-best six homers and 20 RBIs.
DiBeradin (.279) had 13 runs and 13 RBIs, and staff ace Bazala had a 4-3 record with a 4.97 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 38 innings.
Chorba was named the NEC Player of the Week and joined Walker and Bazala as conference Prime Performers.