St. Paul seeks consistency with pitching turnover

NORWALK — The standard has to start at the top. The St. Paul baseball program has won five Firelands Conference championships in the past seven seasons. The Flyers were one win away from making it six FC titles in the stretch. They have also won eight straight sectional championships. But that run of success will be challenged like no other year in 2025. St. Paul graduated five regulars from its lineup last season, which also included 86 percent of the innings pitched. Now, fifth-year head coach Aaron Fries will turn to the top of his lineup to try to keep the Flyers in contention. That will include the trio of senior shortstop Jacob Zuccaro, junior second baseman Landon Fries, and senior third baseman Gavin Thurston. "If you look when we faced other teams' No. 1s and 2s last year, three of my top hitters are back with Jacob, Landon and Gavin," Fries said. "Those three have hit good pitching well. We have a lot of confidence in them, and they will probably lead us." Zuccaro hit .358 with eight doubles, three triples, and one home run and scored 27 runs in 2024. He also had 12 RBIs. Fries batted .291 with a double, 13 RBIs and 19 runs scored. He also stole 17 bases. In 17 games, Thurston hit .273 with three doubles and eight RBIs. Also back is senior first baseman Ben Blum, who hit .250 with four doubles and nine RBIs and scored 13 runs in 20 games. Junior Gabe Snyder is back at catcher, where he played all 23 games for the Flyers (15-9, 11-3). All told, the graduated pitching trio of Kole Maxwell, Drew Kuhnle and Ashton Stang combined to appear in 24 games last season. They factored into 18 of the 24 decisions with 197 strikeouts in 124 innings. "We're going to start the season without a lot of varsity experience because of both injury and graduation," Fries said. "But we've been working hard, and I'm confident in our pitching staff that we have a lot of kids who can come in and throw strikes. "Some of them we're going to ask to do a bit more than that to keep hitters off balance," he added. "But we're going to keep it simple and use a lot more guys this year. We have a lot of kids who can give us some innings." That will include Landon Fries, who was 1-1 with a 3.59 ERA in five games with 16 strikeouts and 15 walks in 13 2/3 innings. Thurston threw six innings in three games. Sophomore Griffin and junior Izaac Snyder also appeared in one game each. In the season opener, freshman Alex Marsh threw nine shutout innings with 13 strikeouts and two walks in a 4-0 win on March 29 at Port Clinton. He has extensive travel experience, including helping a Lorain 14-under summer team win one of the largest state tournaments in the U.S. Landon Fries is working his way back from an injury. He threw 48 pitches in a non-league loss to St. Mary Central Catholic on April 1. His coach expects him back around the time FC games start (April 7-8). "But I have a lot of confidence in Alex, Gavin, Izaac and Isaac Kalizewski," Fries said. "Those guys will give us quality innings and will work themselves out as far as one through whatever as time goes on. "But that is what we will use scrimmages and the start of the season for — to let things sort themselves out," he added. "I'm bringing guys in with runners on base and trying different things to see who is going to work out best in certain situations." Griffin and Blum will also be big contributors on the mound as well. Zuccaro, Landon Fries and Isaac Snyder will likely make up the top of the order, with Blum, Thurston and Gabe Snyder somewhere in the next three spots. The bottom third of the order will include Marsh, senior Adam Roth (outfield), Kalizewski, freshman River Couch (OF), senior Garrett Cook (OF) and junior Brady Fritz (OF). Defensively, the middle infield of Zuccaro at short, Fries at second and Gabe Snyder behind the plate will be the strength of the team. "And with Gavin and Ben as seniors at the corners, that will be our strength of our team, and that's shown in our scrimmages and first game so far," Fries said. "We'll have to develop the lower part of the lineup. It will be a work in progress with some of those guys, but we're confident in their abilities." That being said, Fries also feels his inexperienced players are much further along than he thought they would be at this point. "So while I expect some growing pains, I am really confident these areas can become strengths sooner rather than later," he said. The Flyers are 1-2 entering a scheduled non-league game Saturday at Mohawk. St. Paul is 67-39 overall and 44-12 in the FC over the past four years. During the eight-year run of sectional titles, the Flyers are 131-63 overall (.675 inning percentage) and 89-23 (.787) in the FC. "Our expectations don't change," Fries said. "We expect to compete for the FC and make a run in the tournament. No matter who we bring back, that doesn't change. We want these kids to play up to the expectations." Fries cited South Central, coming off a district title last season and a co-FC title with the Flyers, as the favorites. "Crestview should certainly be up there, and I like Western Reserve's group," he said. "And Plymouth, Monroeville and New London all have nice pieces. The team that comes out and plays the most consistent will come out on top."