Butler's Stutz joining La Roche
BUTLER TWP — Butler baseball coach Cody Herald and catcher Nathan Stutz were offering.
La Roche baseball coach Chase Rowe gladly accepted.
As a result, Stutz — a senior and first-year varsity starter for the Golden Tornado this spring — will continue his academic and baseball career at La Roche College next year.
“I know Chase really well. He and I are good friends,” Herald said. “He's going to be looking for a catcher and I told him about Nathan.
“He told me he'd take him. This is a great opportunity. He (Stutz) has a chance to slide in there and play right away.”
La Roche was 35-10 last season, winning its fifth consecutive Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference championship. The Redhawks are 340-188 — a .644 winning percentage — in Rowe's 12 years at the helm.
Rowe is a 2001 Knoch graduate.
La Roche has two senior catchers on this spring's roster, along with a freshman “who I believe is transferring after this school year,” Herald said.
“One-hundred percent, Nathan can step in and play at that level.”
Stutz also considered Thiel and Allegheny before choosing La Roche. He carries a 3.4 grade point at Butler and plans to major in physical therapy.
“It's a winning program with a great coach,” Stutz said. “There's a lot of tradition there and that's the type of program I want to play for.”
Stutz started three varsity games last season, but has primarily been on the junior varsity roster. He will be a first-year varsity starter as a senior this season.
He has been a catcher since age 9.
“You're involved on every pitch and it's a challenging position,” Stutz said. “I love it. I feel like defense is my strongest suit as a catcher, but my goal is to have a .300 batting average this year.”
Butler had 15 seniors come out for baseball last year and nine of them wound up moving on to college baseball.
“It was a high-quality veteran group and there just wasn't any room for the underclassmen to play varsity innings,” Herald said. “They preferred playing JV ball and get their innings in that way.
“It would have been easy, given our situation, for guys like Nathan to just stop coming. But he stayed with the program and that shows his passion for the game.
“Catching is a craft and he's really honed his skills behind the plate through the years. He's an East Butler (baseball) kid, which means he's hard-nosed and has worked hard at the game,” Herald added.
Stutz said he's not surprised to get a college baseball opportunity despite not starting at the varsity level until now.
“I'm confident in my abilities and my goal is to start there as a freshman,” he said. “I plan to play on a winning team (at Butler) this year and down there next year.
“I want to make All-WPIAL, really have a big season. I've been working hard toward this year.”
