Noah Sorrells, an All-Conference team member a season ago, is one of many upperclassmen that Knights Head Coach Andy Fox is set to depend on entering the 2025 season. Here, Sorrells throws a pitch during a game last season against Milligan at Clark Field in Laurinburg.
File Photo
LAURINBURG —The St. Andrews Knights baseball team is coming off of a 27-21 (13-15 record against AAC teams) season in 2024 that saw them make it to the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) tournament before losing in the first round to Bluefield. It was the team’s first winning season since 2022.
Entering the 2025 season, the expectations for St. Andrews remain the same as they have for the previous eight years under Head Coach Andy Fox: make the conference tournament and give yourself a chance. Fox is aware of the upperclassmen leadership he has on his team and is ready to rely on them in order to achieve their goals for the 2025 season.
“We are going into the 2025 season with a veteran club,” Fox said. “Our goal remains the same, make the tournament, anything can happen when you get to the tournament.”
The Knights can be seen as a “veteran club” to Fox in part because of the continuity he has in the form of 15 seniors helping lead the way. That said, like any college sports team, there is always some change as the team brought in eight freshmen (17 with redshirts included) to help ease the loss of his prior graduating class, which had several important contributors, most notably Jude Drzemiecki, who had a batting average of .399 last year with nine homers and 49 RBIs in 46 games.
“Losing Jude Drzemiecki to graduation is a big loss, he was our best hitter, but I really like our freshmen class and our group of transfers this year,” Fox said. “I would say that this is one of the most talented freshmen classes that we have had in a while but at the end of the day we have a veteran club that has several seniors. The freshmen will have to work to get playing time.”
The strengths of Fox’s club to him are pitching and defense. That group is led by Noah Sorrells, who was named to the All-Conference team a season ago with a 2.73 ERA and 49 strikeouts over 14 appearances (8-4 win-loss record) and 82.1 innings of work along with Josh Hill, who had an ERA of 3.81 with 36 strikeouts over 54.1 innings of work in 13 appearances (5-4 win-loss record). Other core members of the pitching staff include Ryan Cleary, Tyler Barfield and Bryton Williams.
“Pitching and defense will be our backbone, we have several guys on the mound that have been around the block in this league and know what to expect,” Fox said. “We have some guys on our staff that are poised for a big year, that I think have finally turned the corner.”
From a hitting perspective, that group is led by shortstop Cesar Morillo, someone Fox believes should have been on the All-Conference team a season ago. Morillo posted an impressive .350 batting average with three homers and 31 RBIs over 48 games in 2024. Garrett Wolff, Caden Santucci, Adrian Ojea, Bryson Bebber, and Garrett Hamby are among the other names Fox mentioned as ones he sees big things for on the offensive side of the ball this season.
“We will play fast and scrappy, we have a lot of team speed,” Fox said. “Our goal is not to strike out and to put as many balls in play as possible. Our depth has made for great competition all fall.”
St. Andrews was picked to finish in ninth place of the AAC coaches’ preseason poll that was announced back in November. Finishing in that spot would achieve Fox’s goal of qualifying for the conference tournament, which is set to be held over a five-day period from Tuesday, April 29 through Saturday, May 3 at Hunter Wright Stadium in Kingsport, Tennessee with the top 10 teams from the regular season standings participating.
Fox is excited about the potential his 2025 group has. He sees a lot of good in both the people he has around him and their abilities as baseball players, which he believes makes the game more enjoyable to play and to coach.
“We’ll play hard, play the game the right way, and see what the scoreboard says at the end of the day, I am excited about this group,” Fox said. “I think we have a chance to be pretty good. They also enjoy being around one another and we enjoy being around them, which makes the game so much more fun when you have a group that is coachable and fun to be around.”
St. Andrews is set to open their 2025 season on Friday afternoon at home against Montreat. First pitch from Clark Field is scheduled for 2 p.m. They will wrap up a three-game series with Montreat on Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader (start times are currently set for noon and 2 p.m.).