After Tuesday’s 15-0 verdict over Renaissance Academy, the Faith Christian baseball team stood at 9-3, ranked second in District One Class A and winner of its last six games.
The Lions have averaged 13.6 runs in their wins. “I might lean towards the lineup production being there 1 through 9 consistently, but there are a few guys who are having a really solid year,” observed first-year coach John Bellis.
Kendri Beltre, a junior from the Dominican Republic, is batting .621 and averaging over an RBI per game. Classmate Grayson Weikel is batting .486 with seven extra-base hits. Senior Lincoln Hower, a Lebanon Valley commit, sets the table with a .500 on base percentage and eight steals.
Lion arms have also tossed five shutouts. Sophomore Reid Miller is the staff ace while seniors Brody Harp and Joe O’Rourke give Bellis solid outings. “All three have produced consistent starts every time they have been out,” Bellis said. “They have been phenomenal. And quite honestly, utilizing two freshman I have – Brandon Labs and Noah Wilson – have been a pleasant surprise when I put them on the mound. Noah closed out the MaST game.”
Faith has played in a lot of lopsided games this spring – most of them going their way ... but not all. The Lions intentionally scrimmaged 6A clubs in the preseason and played up in schedule. “One of my goals coming in was to get some non-conference games with programs that I knew were more talented and more structured than us,” Bellis explained. “So in tight games, we could put ourselves in positions to allow for the fundamentals of the game and to understand that the more talented team does not always win.”
The Lions closing out a tight 4-3 conference game April 27 against MaST Charter, the top team in 3A and previously unbeaten, was important in several ways. It showed they could win close games – Faith won its other one-run game, a 7-6 duel with Jenkintown on April 18 – and also showed how fundamentally sound baseball yields “W”s.
“We made enough mistakes to lose against MaST but did enough fundamental things to come out on the other side,” Bellis said. He cited Faith’s first run where the quick Hower, a lefty, led off the game with a drag bunt single and advanced to second on another bunt. Hower scored.
“That one run in the first inning was a huge difference and a fundamental part of the win,” Bellis pointed out. “Weikel hitting a two-run double later in the game was great. But if you do the fundamentals that you can actually control more than hitting a double, that is going to be the difference in games like that. Playing sound defense and small ball offensively are the two things that will make us fall on the right side of the game.”
It would be hard to find a more qualified person to lead the overall program than Bellis. He is in Arcadia’s Hall of Fame and graduated as their all-time hits leader. After spending 15 years working at All-Star Baseball Academy, Bellis answered the call to ministry and now serves Calvary Chapel Quakertown as an assistant pastor.
“The No. 1 reason I took the job was the opportunity to disciple young men,” Bellis shared.
Faith needs no reminders of how tough it is to make states. After going a combined 22-3 in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, both campaigns ended in one-run losses in the district final where just one team advances to PIAAs. Dock Mennonite is a formidable barrier to state play. But win or lose the Lions, who next play Friday against Executive Education Academy, will have the proper perspective.
“Having our conduct be worthy of the Gospel, making sure we are doing all things to glorify Him and the reason we want to play hard is to honor Him with our conduct and the talent he gave us. Those are absolutely the biggest disciplines that the assistant coaches and I,” Bellis concluded, “are trying to enforce as much as we can.”
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