St. Francis baseball already enjoying success in Mission League with new coach Shaun Kort
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GLENDALE — When Shaun Kort was named the new baseball coach at St. Francis in July, he said he was “honored to take on the challenge of building a championship program that competes in the best league in Southern California.”
Kort took over a program that hadn’t earned a winning Mission League record since 2006 when St. Francis went 9-3. Since then, the most league wins the program recorded in a season were six, three times (2009, 2011, 2017). The program notched just four league wins in each of the last two seasons and hasn’t been to the postseason since 2011.
Calling it a “challenge” is putting it nicely. Turning things around was going to require patience.
Maybe not.
St. Francis lost a Mission League league game to Chaminade 1-0 at the Glendale Sports Complex Friday afternoon, but it has already won seven league games this season and sits at 10-10 overall.
The progress isn’t far off, it’s here.
“From my experience as a coach, when the team chemistry is good, everyone is on the same page and the work ethic is there,” Kort said, “some magical things can happen. I think that’s where some of these wins came from.”
“It’s been fun changing the culture of a program,” he added. “These guys expect to win, they’re not expecting to lose, and that’s a mindset I’m trying to change around here.”
The players were injected with belief when St. Francis defeated Harvard-Westlake 5-4 on March 1. Despite losing two out of three in that series, sophomore Jordan Lewallen felt like the scores proved the Golden Knights can compete with the league’s top teams.
“Last year’s scores were 13-0, 8-1 and 19-0,” Lewallen said. “This year’s scores, even the games we lost – 6-1 and 5-2 – made us feel like we can play with anyone.”
St. Francis went on to beat Alemany in two out of three games the next week before beating Sierra Canyon twice the following week. The Trailblazers were unbeaten at the time.
“We didn’t play scared,” St. Francis sophomore Caleb Thatcher said.
The Golden Knights started their Mission League campaign 5-4 and were sitting in the top half of the standings in the ultra-competitive, eight-team league. St. Francis was making noise from a corner of the league that’s been silent for a long time.
“The win over Harvard-Westlake showed the guys that what we’re doing here is working, but the series win over Sierra Canyon was a big moment for us,” Kort said.
It’s not the first time Kort has turned a program around. He took over a Calabasas program in 2020 that was coming off an eight-win season. In Kort’s first year, Calabasas went 15-14 with a playoff win and then 19-10 in 2022.
“Team building,” Kort said. “The team needs to be close. We’ve done a Wiffle Ball tournament, team dinners, things like that. My Calabasas teams were tight and I feel like this team is really tight.”
Senior Lucas Dixon and junior Holden Deitch lead the team in hits with 16 and 14, respectively. Junior Kalani Quiroz and Lewallen each have 10 hits.
Dixon has also been good from the mound, leading the team with 27 strikeouts in 23 innings pitched. Thatcher is 4-1 from the bump this year.
“Accountability is very prominent in the program right now,” Deitch said. “We also look out for each other and pick each other up when a teammate isn’t doing well.”
St. Francis is now 7-8 in the Mission League, good enough for third place, and has two three-game series left in their league schedule. They will face second-place Crespi on April 18, 19 (away) and 21. They finish league play against Notre Dame with games scheduled for April 24, 26 (away) and 27.