In the past 40 seasons, only 11 WPIAL baseball players have reached 40 or more RBIs in the regular season. It took Elizabeth Forward’s JB Crovak only seven games to get halfway to 40.
Crovak, a junior outfielder-pitcher, drove in an eye-opening 20 runs in the first seven games. A teenager who is an avid hunter and fisherman, Crovak is angling to be one of the breakout players in the WPIAL this season.
“It’s pretty impressive, that’s for sure,” said Elizabeth Forward coach Frank Champ, who is in his 20th season. “I’ll be honest. I’ve had players over the years who were very good, but I’m not sure they were at this blistering pace of RBIs like he’s had to start a season.”
Joseph Bryer Crovak batted .500 (14 of 28) in the first seven games, and half of his hits went for extra bases. He had five doubles, one triple and one home run.
By the way, the most RBIs in a WPIAL regular season in the past 40 years is 48 by California’s Aaron Previsky in 2015. If Crovak would get to exactly 40, that would tie him for the seventh most since 1985.
“He’s been a starter since his freshman year, and last year, he quietly hit .400,” Champ said. “He has great hands and hits to all fields. That’s what makes him difficult to defend. He has great bat control, too. He’s had a fantastic year so far.”
Crovak is 5-foot-11, 175 pounds, and Champ believes he could possibly be a Division I college prospect. Crovak also is one of Elizabeth Forward’s top pitchers. He helped the Warriors to a 6-1 start.
Fourteen years ago, Elizabeth Forward won a WPIAL title with Champ at the helm.
“It’s definitely one of the better teams I’ve had in a while. There’s a lot of senior leadership, and they play with confidence,” Champ said. “The next couple weeks will tell a lot. We have Belle Vernon Monday and Tuesday, and West Mifflin is right there, too. But I enjoy this group a lot. It’s just a great group to be around. They spend a lot of time together outside of baseball.”
Meet the Metz
Mason Metz is a strong lad. At 6-foot-1, 215 pounds, Metz showed his strength as a defensive end-linebacker in football to make All-State. Now he’s showing strength and power in baseball.
Avonworth has played 10 games this season, and Metz has hit five home runs and has a slugging percentage of 1.391. Although Metz was a standout in football for a team won the WPIAL Class 3A football title and made it to the state championship, Metz has signed with Seton Hill (Division II) to play baseball. He is batting .478 (11 of 23) this season, and get this: Nine of his hits have gone for extra bases. Besides the five home runs, he has two doubles and two triples.
“I think last year, Mason put a lot of pressure on himself because he was being recruited heavily by Seton Hill and some Division I schools,” Avonworth coach Jeff Bywalski said. “That played on him. What you’re seeing this year is the real Mason Metz. He hit over .400 as a sophomore.
“Last year, he was wanting to do a little too much, and I think that affected him in the regular season. Once he got himself together in the postseason last year, he was one of the main reasons we won the WPIAL and made a run to the state championship. That’s just carried over into this year, and he’s finally playing relaxed baseball.”
Avonworth is 9-1 and the Post-Gazette No. 1-ranked team in WPIAL Class 3A.
“Honestly, I think this team might be better than last year’s team,” Bywalski said.
Belle Vernon’s two aces
Belle Vernon has a zero on the right-hand side of its record so far, and the Leopards’ top two pitchers have ERAs with all zeroes.
Seniors Parker Lind and Lucas Judy both have ERAs of 0.00 for Belle Vernon (8-0). Lind is 3-0 and has allowed only three unearned runs. He has struck out 42 in 21 innings and allowed only seven hits. Judy is 3-0 and has allowed only two unearned runs in 20 innings. He has struck out 27 and allowed only 12 hits.
Smashing debut
The Winchester Thurston Bears came out of hibernation and joined the WPIAL for baseball this season. The team hasn’t exactly played a schedule filled with juggernauts, but that shouldn’t take away from what Winchester Thurston is doing in its first season. The Bears are 7-1 and lead the entire WPIAL in runs scored at 14.2 per game.
The top defensive team is Riverside, which allows only 1.5 runs per game.
Where are they now?
Former North Allegheny star Cole Young has gotten off to a slow start to this season, but he’s now only one step away from the major leagues.
Young, a shortstop who was a first-round draft pick of the Seattle Mariners in 2022, is playing for the Mariners’ Triple-A team in Tacoma, Wash. In 11 games so far, Young is batting .171 (7 for 41) with one double and one triple. Two weeks ago, Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com tabbed Young as one of five players in Triple-A who has the potential to be called up during the season and win rookie of the year.
First Published: April 10, 2025, 4:36 p.m.
