McNicholas baseball takes family approach to success

MT. WASHINGTON – Sister Sledge sang about it. The Pittsburgh Pirates adopted it. The McNicholas High School baseball team lives it now.

Some 35 years after Willie Stargell and Pirates made “We Are Family” a baseball anthem, the McNick team is chock full of second-generation Rockets, many of whose fathers once played with head coach John Christmann.

Christmann - a 1985 McNick grad - is a second generation Rocket himself; his mom is long-time school nurse Mary Anne Christmann, class of 1956. He enjoys the family atmosphere on his team.

“It means a lot to me as a coach,” he said. “It’s easier to talk to the parents when they already know me, when they know what I’m about. It’s always good to have that kind of support from your baseball families.”

Among the players, sophomore Ryan Byrne’s dad Bobby Byrne was Christmann’s classmate and teammate in baseball and football. Likewise sophomore pitcher Sam Browning’s dad is Mike Browning (’86). Sophomore pitcher Chris Clark is the son of 1984 grads Mike Clark and the former Linda Dulle.

Senior Will Mehring, junior Logan Jacobs and sophomore Will Vogelgesang also have McNick grads for parents. (Full disclosure: Jacobs’ father Mike (McNick ‘87) was a teammate of your humble scribe on some of the worst District 5 Knothole teams ever assembled in the 1970s. “He doesn’t get (his talent) from his old man,” the elder Jacobs said of his son earlier in the spring.)

All have played key roles for the 2014 McNick team.

Byrne is the everyday catcher. Browning leads the squad and is second in the Greater Catholic League Coed with an 0.86 earned-run average. Clark has 11 strikeouts in eight innings of relief work while picking up a pair of saves. Mehring hits .375 and is tied for the team lead with 16 runs batted in. Vogelgesang hits .344 and owns a team-best 12 stolen bases.

Jacobs has become a reliable clutch hitter and aggressive base runner. He drove in the tying run when the Rockets trailed Hughes 1-0 in the fourth inning during the opening round of the Division II sectional tournament May 13. He doubled in the go-ahead run his next time up in the sixth. He came home with an insurance run on Mehring’s hit in a 3-1 Rockets victory.

“Your main thought is to sit back on the ball and hit line drives,” Jacobs said. “Only good things can happen when you hit line drives.”

Jacobs started playing ball at age 6 and hit his first legitimate over-the-fence home run as a sixth grader at Tealtown Park. The Union Township resident said he’s always loved the game.

“I can’t even describe it,” he said. “It’s just fun. It’s a good place to escape. You don’t have to worry about any drama, just go out and play and have fun. I like to take opportunities (on the bases) when they’re there. I like to make those extra plays to get my teammates fired up.”