For Marian head coach, Jeff Nietz, a love of baseball began before he even knew it was a game.

"When I was just a baby, my dad put a catcher's mitt into my crib," says Nietz, who has declared that this is his final year of coaching Colt baseball."When I grew out of the crib, we would play catch and then my dad would tie a rope with a baseball at the end to a basketball rim in our backyard so I could swing away as much as I wanted."After playing in the Little League, Nietz, who is completing his 20th season as head coach at Marian, went on to play baseball at Central Columbia High School and at Bloomsburg State College. His position? He was a catcher, of course."When I played for Coach Donny Engle at Central, I learned that baseball was a game of mental anticipation and cause and effect. I still utilize the things he taught me, like what's the best pitch to hit and run on, what are the pitcher's tendencies when he's behind in the count, and what defensive strategies do we use against certain hitters."Nietz was an assistant coach for 10 years at Marian under Charles "Chink" Connely before he became Connely's successor. Since then, he has adjusted his coaching style to the particular team he has in front of him."You can't pigeonhole your team," explains Nietz. "I have to adopt the style of baseball we play based upon the strengths and weaknesses of the players we have each year."Nietz modestly credited his coaching success to a stream of skilled athletes."I have been blessed with talent at Marian," says Nietz, whose Colt teams have won nine division championships and a District 11 title in 2001. "This year is no exception. We have great senior leadership along with solid underclassmen."Baseball has been so much of life for the Nietz family. Jeff's wife of 26 years, Rita, is his "non-roster assistant coach" who does everything from laundering uniforms to late night counseling her husband about game strategies. Oldest son, Scott, went from Marian to play baseball at Albright. Frank, a senior, who recently committed to play at Lebanon Valley, currently patrols centerfield for the Colts when he's not behind the plate squatting in his father's footsteps. Even daughter, Lauren, a state champion volleyball star for the Fillies, is the team's scorekeeper.Despite his all-consuming dedication to the game, Nietz holds a concern that there can be "too much baseball" for kids today."With traveling and tournament teams and off season instruction, kids can become uncoachable and even burn out," he contends. "Studies also show that playing too much baseball does not allow for other muscles in the body to develop. I believe that kids need to take a break and rest and I also feel that they should play other sports."Although he says he has no favorite teams and no favorite players within his 264 career victories, he mentions former pitcher, Jeff Markowski who chose law school over signing with the Colorado Rockies.Thinking back, Nietz can relive a specific game or even one particular at bat. He recalls a game Marian actually lost to Camp Hill in the 2001 state playoffs."We got beat in extra innings, but the play I love to talk about was a successful pick-off in the eighth inning. With the score tied, they had runners at first and second. We called, 'Wichita' to our defense and our pitcher whirled and appeared to throw to second base. Our shortstop and second baseman appeared to try to stop a bad throw from going into centerfield. But our pitcher never actually threw the ball and we had a simple tag out on the runner who broke for third."Nietz will walk away from the Marian diamond with only one regret. An accident two years ago left Nietz with a physical inability to get on the field with his players and throw and hit the ball or demonstrate by example the actions of the game to his young players who are so eager to learn. In fact, he recently turned down an offer to coach at the college level for this same reason.Nietz believes that baseball, at any level, in its most beautiful scenes, is about warm, sunny days and fathers and sons playing catch.His legacy lies in the past and present lives of those he has coached. He has taught them that baseball is just game and it should be a joy to play it, and that they will grow to be better people for having participated in America's pastime."No matter how the game may have changed, baseball transcends time," he says. "It is still a rite of passage from boyhood. Like the movie made us all believe, it's played on a field of dreams for each kid who picks up a ball, a bat and a glove."Nietz has a vision that someday Marian High School will have a dream field with stadium lighting and the Colts will host league and state playoff games.Coming from a man who has experienced so much success playing and coaching the game he loves, no one should be surprised if Jeff Nietz not only leads the efforts to complete his vision, but that he just might throw out the first ball for the first ever game played on what will someday be Marian's new field of dreams.*******BASEBALLOFFENSIVE ONSLAUGHT - The Marian baseball team is off to a 4-1 start to the season and has scored 11 or more runs in each of their last four games. The Colts only loss this season was against Tri-Valley, where they were outscored 17-16 in 10 innings. In five games, Marian is averaging 12.6 runs per game, 12.0 hits per game, 5.0 stolen bases per game, while sustaining a team batting average of.427. The 63 runs scored so far by the Colts is one less than the combined amount of runs scored by five other TIMES NEWS area baseball teams this season: Palmerton (21), Weatherly (20), Jim Thorpe (15), Northern Lehigh (8) and Panther Valley (0).*******AN EXTRA EFFORT - In a Colonial League contest against Wilson last Thursday, Palmerton scored a run in the top of the 11th inning to defeat the Warriors 4-3. The 11-inning affair was the longest game in the TIMES NEWS area this season. There have been three other games this season by four TIMES NEWS area squads to have gone 10 innings: Marian baseball's 17-16 loss to Tri-Valley, Tamaqua baseball's 5-4 victory over Pine Grove and Northern Lehigh softball's 8-6 triumph over Northwestern.*******STAWICK SMASHES TWO - Marian's Luke Stawick had a game to remember last Thursday against Weatherly. The Marian senior delivered two home runs in a 17-6 five-inning victory over the Wreckers. Stawick started the scoring with a solo home run in the first inning and followed up with a three-run blast in the fifth inning. Stawick finished the day with three hits and six RBI, and is the is the only player in the TIMES NEWS area to have two home runs in the same game this season.*******CLOSE ENCOUNTERS - There has been no shortage of drama in Tamaqua baseball games this season, as five of the Blue Raiders seven games so far this season have been decided by one run. After defeating Lehighton 1-0 back on March 27 on a Brett Kosciolek walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, Tamaqua's last four games have all been one-run decisions. The Blue Raiders defeated Pine Grove (5-4 in 10 innings) and Jim Thorpe (4-3) and suffered losses to Wilson-West Lawn (5-4) and Pottsville (5-4).*******BADDICK RECOGNIZED - Marian senior Peter Baddick was recently recognized as an honorable mention selection to the Perfect Game (www.perfectgame.org) Pre-Season All-American High School Baseball Team for the Atlantic Region (consisting of players from Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Maryland, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia). Baddick is one of four players from District 11 to be selected to this year's team, joining Minersville's Aaron Fritz (Honorable Mention), Parkland's Zachary Merkle (Honorable Mention) and East Stroudsburg South's Ryan Nazario (Honorable Mention). The last TIMES NEWS area player to be recognized as a Perfect Game Pre-Season All American was former Lehighton standout Jacen Nalesnik (Lehigh University), who was an Honorable Mention selection last season. Baddick, a Coastal Carolina recruit, is batting .571 on the season with six runs, eight hits (two doubles, one triple and two home runs) and 16 RBI.*******HOME RUN LEADERBOARD - There have been 10 home runs hit so far this season by TIMES NEWS area players, with seven of those coming from Marian (4) and Tamaqua (3). Marian's Peter Baddick and Luke Stawick, and Tamaqua's Brett Kosciolek have two home runs apiece in the first month of the season.SOFTBALLHOME RUN DERBY - Last Thursday's Mountain Valley Conference game between Lehighton and Pleasant Valley was a glorified home run derby. The two schools combined for five home runs in the Bears' 14-4 victory. For Pleasant Valley, Kelsey Miczak and Madison Shaneberger launched three-run homers, while Jordan Meckes added a solo shot. For Lehighton, Amanda Loudon had a three-run blast, while Jocelyn Hunsicker tacked on a solo home run.*******IN THE 'K' ZONE - In Monday's 7-1 victory over Wilson, Northern Lehigh pitcher Amber Thomas yielded just one hit while striking out 14 Warriors. With the win, Thomas picked up her fifth victory of the season, while the 14 strikeouts is a season-best among TIMES NEWS area pitchers.*******ANOTHER WALK-OFF WIN - For the third time this season, Tamaqua recorded a one-run walk-off victory. After scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat Lehighton, and one run in the bottom of the eighth inning to defeat Hamburg, Tamaqua rallied from a 3-1 deficit against Pine Grove last Wednesday by scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, en route to a 4-3 victory. Taylor Fritz's two-run double to deep center field scored the game-winning runs for the Lady Raiders.*******PITCHER PERFECT - Most high school pitchers would be lucky to throw one perfect game in their entire high school career. This past week, Marian pitcher Bethany Schaud threw two perfect games in a span of 24 hours. Schaud's first perfect game came last Thursday in a 12-0 victory over Weatherly that lasted five innings. She followed that up with her second perfect game on Friday with a 15-0 victory over Shenandoah Valley in three innings. Schaud has had an amazing start to the season. Prior to Monday's 9-1 loss (Marian's first of the season) to defending Class A State Champion Williams Valley, Schaud has thrown 35 innings with seven victories. In those first seven games, the Marian junior has 48 strikeouts, zero walks and has allowed just 13 hits.*******A NUMBERS GAME - Pleasant Valley has played six games so far this season, and the first five were all decided by the 10-run rule in five innings (four wins, one loss). The Lady Bears got close to making it 6-for-6, but finally played their first seven-inning game of the season this past Monday with a 9-0 victory over Pocono Mountain East.*******HOME RUN LEADERBOARD - There have been 24 home runs hit by TIMES NEWS area players so far this season and Palmerton's Janel Tracy leads the pack with three home runs on the season. Tracy hit home runs against Lehighton, Notre Dame of Green Pond and Southern Lehigh. Four other local players have two home runs apiece Marian's Abby Stankiewitch, Pleasant Valley's Jordan Meckes, and Northern Lehigh's Amber Thomas and Taylor Herman.TENNISCHAMPIONS CROWNED - In Thursday's final Mountain Valley Conference tennis tournament, Pleasant Valley finished as runner-up to champion Stroudsburg; however, the Bears crowned three individual champions on the day. Pleasant Valley's Jon White (No. 1 singles) and Jon Walmach (No. 2 singles) both swept through their respective draws to take home MVC Titles. The Bears No. 3 doubles tandem of Eric Galante and Kevin Bantel were also crowed champions. The Pleasant Valley tennis team is off to an 11-1 start to the season. White is 11-0 on the year and Walmach is 11-1.TRACK AND FIELDBOMBERS FLYING HIGH - A week after claiming the boys team championship at the Whitehall Zephyr Relays, the Palmerton boys track team captured the team championship at Jim Thorpe's Six Annual Olympian Invitational on Friday evening. Palmerton edged host Jim Thorpe by a score of 105-99 to take home the title.*******RECORD SETTER - At Saturday's Sixth Annual Olympian Invitational, Lehighton senior Gwen Remaley set a new Jim Thorpe stadium record in the shot put with a heave of 39-0 1/2.*******DOMINATING THE FIELD - Last week, Northwestern's Trista Cunningham joined Panther Valley's Richard Nase in becoming just the second TIMES NEWS area athlete to capture four individual wins in a track meet this season. Cunningham's domination came in a Colonial League tri-meet with Palisades and Notre Dame of Green Pond on Thursday afternoon. Cunningham won the shot put (34-0), discus (110-11), long jump (15-0 1/2) and triple jump (32-1 1/2).