The Highlander baseball team is off to its best start since the 2021-22 school year. Both the 2021-22 and 2024-25 teams started off with an 8-6 record. The 2021-22 had star pitcher Christian Aiello, who now plays for Rider University, who earned Four-Time First-Team All-Conference, and Two-Time First-Team All-County awards. Unfortunately, even with Aiello, the 2021-22 team still lost eight of their last nine games. The current Highlanders have avoided stumbling where the 2021-22 team fell, as they now have a record of 11-7.
Senior catcher Christian Martinez has been one of the team’s best bats. He’s hitting .419, with fifteen RBIs, five walks, and two stolen bases. Junior Chase Tyburczy has been another one of the team’s best bats. He is crushing the ball, hitting .403 with an unbelievable .806 slugging percentage, four home runs, twenty-one RBIs, nine walks, nine stolen bases, and the team’s only triple of the year.
On the other side, Tyburczy has been a lights out pitcher as well. He’s pitched a team high in both innings and strikeouts, with 33 innings thrown, and striking out 47 batters. He also has a 2.97 ERA. Another junior pitcher, Cole Czerepak, has been the team’s best pitcher and has closed the game out multiple times. He comes in third on the team for innings pitched, with 27 innings, third in strikeouts with 26, and second in ERA with a 2.85 earned run average.
The team is in first place in the Big North Independence Division. Passaic Valley was in first for most the year, until the Highlanders beat them by scores of 5-3 and 6-2. Today, May 12th at 4:15pm, the team will head down to Wayne Hills to take on the Patriots in the Quarterfinal Round of the Passaic County Tournament.