Brother Martin opened district play with a win over Jesuit, but it wasn’t necessarily that the Crusaders picked up the win that sets it apart from any other game.

By Bradley Handwerger / WWL-TV.com

Brother Martin senior third baseman Kevin Berry is playing an integral part in Brother Martin's fast start. He's batting nearly .500 this season and is 3-1 on the mound.

It was how the Crusaders won – by beating Blue Jays’ pitcher Jordan Rittiner, who went 12-0 a year ago.

And they won by coming through in a close game, taking it 3-1.

“Knowing how good the other teams are and how well we played the other day, it can push us through the district schedule,” head coach Mark Wisniewksi said.

A year ago, that close of a game wouldn’t necessarily have gone the way of the Crusaders.

In fact, Brother Martin dropped 12 one-run games in 2007.

“We’d be winning the last inning and we didn’t know how to close it out,” senior third baseman/pitcher Kevin Berry said.

And now?

“This year, we’ve been there,” Berry said. “We know how to put teams away now.”

Do they ever.

Of their 21 games, only five have been decided by two or fewer runs. And in those games, the Crusaders are 2-3. The rest of their schedule is littered with an 11-3 win, a 9-0 win, a 10-2 win, a 14-5 win and a 17-5 win.

That’s just a few of the games. Tallying up the scores on the school’s Web site, Brother Martin has outscored its opponents 166-90 this season.

Now Brother Martin is 14-7 and 2-0 in District 10-5A. A year ago, it finished 12-18 and 5-7.

“They know they have to play the full seven innings,” Wisniewski said. “Every time we go on the field, they play hard. They give it everything they have. Once they do that, and once they see the results of getting the W’s, it means that much more.”

By Bradley Handwerger / WWL-TV.com

Mark Wisniewski watches as his team warms up before practice. The Crusaders are off to a 14-7 start this season, and they're 2-0 in district play.

The season is far from over. Brother Martin still must play Rummel three times, Jesuit two more times and the rest of the district several more times.

But the Crusaders are tied with Rummel for lead in the district early in the schedule. Brother Martin will play Chalmette Tuesday in district, then take on Rummel Friday.

For now, Brother Martin can relish in the turn around from a year ago.

No one player has been a key part of the turn around, Wisniewski said. Rather, as cliché as it sounds, it’s a team thing, he said.

“One of the things we say is one way or another, everybody has to contribute,” Wisniewski said.

So far, that’s happening. Four different pitchers have at least three wins. Two players who have played at least half of the team’s games are batting above .450. Seven players have at least 12 RBIs on the year.

Leading that group is Berry, who will play at UNO next year. He’s batting .493 with 25 RBIs and a team-high 12 doubles and 28 runs scored.

“We’re a lot more older, a lot more experienced,” Berry said. “Last year, we were young, made a lot of mental mistakes.”

It all goes back to last season, losing so many games by such a small margin.

“They know what it feels like to lose by one run that many times,” Wisniewski said. “They continue to push hard. They’re a little bit more mature, a little bit stronger. That has been big for us for what we’ve accomplished to this point.”

Nevertheless, Wisniewski said his team hasn’t hit its apex just yet. There are things it needs to get better at.

“One of the things I would like to see us do a better job of is men in scoring position and getting the big hit there or getting a two-out hit,” he said.

The way this team has progressed in a year, though, there’s little doubt that those trouble spots have a chance of getting corrected sooner rather than later.