Sterling’s Quick Rebuild Keeps Silver Knights In Division Baseball Title Hunt

by Marc Narducci | May 6, 2026

Sterling’s baseball team had a dream season a year ago, going 19-7 and winning its first Colonial Conference title since 2012, going 8-0 in capturing the Patriot Division.

The prospect of repeating, however, didn’t look great.

That’s because the Silver Knights graduated 13 seniors from that title team.

For any school that would be a big hit, but especially for a Group 2 sized program, that was a tremendous loss.

Yet here we are in the first week of May and Sterling began the week sitting on top in first place in a tight Patriot Division race.

At the beginning of this week, Sterling was 8-7 overall and 4-1 in the division, with Haddon Township and Gateway both 3-2.

Sterling moved into sole possession of first place with last week’s 4-1 win over Haddon Township. That avenged the Silver Knights’ earlier game with the Hawks when Haddon Township beat Sterling, 7-5 on April 9.

So, while this race is far from over, Sterling has done an excellent job of regrouping after losing all of those seniors. Currently there are 23 players in the program and that includes the JV squad.

“The kids work hard and they are dedicated to this,” Sterling head coach Tadd Kozeniewski said.

The recent win over Haddon Township was led by senior righthander Nate Schwarz, who threw a four-hit complete game, striking out five and walking none.

One of the big reasons Sterling has remained a major contender is due to the mound excellence of Schwarz. Last season he caught and played shortstop and wasn’t needed as much due to a deep pitching staff. He only pitched 11.2 innings, although he had an impressive 2.40 ERA.

This season he entered the week 3-0 with a 2.10 ERA. In 30 innings he has walked just seven and struck out 35. Schwarz knew he would be needed more on the mound and prepared for it in the offseason.

“I pitched a lot in the summer and pitched a lot when I was younger, so it’s nothing new,” Schwarz said. “It has been a good transition, getting more innings.”

And he is getting the innings against the top teams. An impressive earlier showing came in a 6-2 win over fellow contender Gateway, when Schwarz earned the victory, allowing two earned runs in six innings, while striking out 11 and walking one.

He approached the big win over Haddon Township as it was a postseason assignment. Knowing the Hawks had beaten Sterling the first time, added some urgency to the start.

“I knew I had to pitch well,” he said. “I knew I had good fielding behind me, so my main goal was just fill up the strike zone and let the fielders behind me make the plays, which they did.”

Another senior, Gavin McCormick, has stepped up as well on the mound. He began the week 3-0 with a 2.59 ERA. The offensive leader has been senior center fielder Luke Lomax, who began the week hitting .359 with three home runs and 18 RBIs.

Sophomore catcher Tyler Lucier has a team-high .396 batting average, while junior second baseman Pat McVeigh was hitting .359 to begin the week.

While the division is far from settled, Sterling is once again in contention and after losing so many key seniors, that is one of the more impressive developments of the South Jersey baseball season.

No. 1 Sterling pitcher Nate Schwarz / Marc Narducci

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Author: Marc Narducci

Sterling’s Quick Rebuild Keeps Silver Knights In Division Baseball Title Hunt

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