Christian Loescher got a weight off his shoulders this week, as the Bishop Fenwick senior pitcher made known his commitment to play baseball at Division II Stonehill College following graduation.
“I’m really excited to continue playing baseball at Stonehill and I feel like it’s a great fit for me,” said Loescher, a 6-foot-6 righthander. “I just want to thank all of my coaches, teammates and (Recruiting Edge Baseball’s) Ryan Leahy for helping me with my recruiting process.”
Loescher said that Stonehill was an easy decision for him once he met the coaching staff, who he got along with right away.
“I met with coach (Patrick) Boen and we got along right away,” said Loescher. “I just really clicked with those guys and I felt that Stonehill was the right place for me.”
Coming into the 2020 season this past spring, Loescher was looking forward to a big season after he helped lead the Crusaders to a run to the Division 3 North sectional title as a sophomore in 2019. But after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down his junior baseball season, Loescher was stuck wondering what to do next.
“It was tough, to be honest,” said Loescher, who also plays basketball for Fenwick. “Obviously your junior season is a big one in terms of recruitment and things like that, but really it was just an adjustment because all of a sudden I had all this free time. That was tough to get used to.”
Luckily, he still had some baseball to fall back on. Loescher played summer ball for the North Shore Freedom, a travel baseball team based in Salem, and also competed at the annual Lynn Invitational at Fraser Field.
“I was definitely lucky that I had places to play this summer, and I tried to get out on the field any chance I could get,” said Loescher. “Even if it was just getting to the park to throw the ball around and play catch, that’s what I wanted to do.”
Now, as Fenwick is back in school and sports are being played again, Loescher is busy preparing for his upcoming seasons. As of now the basketball season is set to begin at the end of November, and the baseball season will start in late April.
“I can’t wait to get back out on the field with the guys,” said Loescher. “We haven’t gone up against a league opponent in a long time, so it will be nice to do that again. For now, the plan is to get as much time on the court and on the mound as I can so I can keep preparing to be the best I can be out there.”
