Bishops prepare for pivotal baseball series that could decide region

The Bishop England High School baseball team is engaged in a waiting game as the Bishops seek their first region title since 2019.

 

The Bishops pounded West Potomac High School from Alexandria, Virginia, 11-1, in a Hanahan Invitational Tournament game on April 16 for their eighth victory in 10 games.

 

The Bishops aren’t scheduled to play again until Monday, April 28, when they face Bluffton High School for three games in five days, a stretch that should decide the Region 6-AAAA champion.

 

The Bishops are currently 13-7, including 9-3 in the league, which is good for first place. Bluffton is 12-8, including 7-3 in the league. Each team plays 15 league games. Bluffton is scheduled to play Beaufort High School two more times in region games this week after beating them Monday, April 21. 

 

“Unfortunately, we had a scheduling mix-up and were unable to find a game for (this) week,” said Bishop England coach Mike Darnell, whose team is on spring break. “We are going to have intrasquad scrimmages (this) week and make sure our guys are staying active with seeing live pitching and facing live hitters during the time off from games.”

 

The Bishops will play Bluffton twice at Father Kelly Field in the final series of the season. The Bishops are 7-1 at home.

 

The Bishops’ success can be traced to timely hitting – and pitching. And a big dose of Jackson Winer.

 

The Bishops are hitting .313 as a team, while the hurlers have been impressive with a 3.37 ERA. Then there’s Winer, who is having a season to remember.

 

Winer leads the Bishops in every offensive category and was the Palmetto State leader in home runs (6), on-base percentage (.776), and slugging percentage (1.314). while his .629 batting average is third best in the state.

 

“As a hitter, it’s been incredible,” Darnell said of Winer. “I can’t remember power numbers like he has since they changed the bats well over 10 years ago. He had a productive outing on the mound during the HIT and that is very encouraging. We need him to be at his best in order to have a deep run in May.”

 

Winer did not pitch last year after undergoing Tommy John surgery. The 6-4, 225-pound left-hander gives the Bishops another arm for the playoffs and is one of three impressive starters.

 

Finn Corley leads the BE hurlers with a 5-1 record and a 2.42 ERA, while Will Rissmiller is 4-1 with a 2.93 ERA while hitting .333. “Our three starters have been very good this year, and our bullpen guys have been able to have productive appearances, which is obviously important,” Darnell said. “Will Rissmiller has had the best season of his career, and all of the other pitchers feed off of his Monday starts. We have five or six guys who will have the confidence to come out of the bullpen and finish out games.”

 

Wyatt Lynn might qualify as the Bishops’ most improved player. He had two hits in 13 at-bats in his first two seasons in the program. He is batting .409 with 18 hits and 19 RBIs.

 

“Anything that happens to him is a result of how he goes about his life,” Darnell said. “He comes with the same attitude every single day, and it is nice to see a young man like Wyatt have a successful senior year. We have moved him back and forth from third base to first base, and he just shows up and plays baseball.”