After two years as an assistant in the St. Joseph varsity baseball program, Erik Morrison took over as the head coach.

In Morrison’s first season at the helm, the Knights went 24-8, including 13-2 in the Mountain League, and won the 2025 league championship by four games. St. Joseph advanced to the CIF Central Section Division 1 title game and qualified for the Southern Cal Division 2 Regional.

Morrison is the 2025 Times All-Area Baseball Team Coach of the Year.

“We had some tough spots the first couple of weeks, but we had a good idea about a month into the season, I think, that we had something special,” said Morrison.

“After six or seven games, we found a combination that clicked.”

After a 2-2 start, St. Joseph won seven straight. Though the Knights lost 9-8 to repeat champ Bakersfield Centennial in nine innings and 6-3 to San Dimas in the first round of the Division 2 Southern Cal regional, the 2025 squad went farther than any St. Joseph baseball team had in decades.

En route to the Central Section Division 1 title game, St. Joseph upset top seed Clovis Buchanan 6-3 at Buchanan in the semifinals.

St. Joseph won a CIF Southern Section divisional championship in 2001. The 2018-19 school year was St. Joseph’s first as a member of the CIF Central Section.

Morrison said a big part of the team’s success this year was the players buying what the coaches were selling.

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“We were able to make big changes from the past couple of years and change the culture,” said Morrison. “From fall ball on, the players brought in.

“The kids brought into the passion of the grind. We knew we had some good hitters coming back, and we knew we had a couple more hitters coming in who could have an impact.”

St. Joseph rode the strength of its top two pitchers, senior Niko Peinado and sophomore Mason Majewski, to a lot of its success. The right-handed Peinado was 8-2 with a 1.81 ERA. The left-handed Majewski was 8-1 with an ERA of 2.71.

The Knights hit .288 as a team. The lineup had some pop. Mountain League and Times All-Area MVP Erik Furness hit .323 with 10 home runs and 30 RBIs. Furness was the team leader in both categories. 

The 10 home runs put Furness at No. 9 in California in that category. 

St. Joseph shortstop Connor Chanley hit .322 in 2024. He delivered again in 2025, batting .337. In his first year as a regular, sophomore first baseman Ashton Bluem hit .333. Chanley and Bluem hit three home runs apiece. The Knights homered 21 times as a team.

Chanley had 20 RBIs, and Bluem had 17. Thomas Jay Dugger led the Knights in batting average at .364 in his 18 games played.

The Knights will lose some key seniors from the 2025 squad, including Furness, Peinado, shortstop Jayson Rodriguez and second baseman Dom Hernandez.

However, most of the core of the 2025 team figures to return. Majewski, Chanley, Bluem, Dugger, right fielder Robbie Roemling (.295, 10 RBIs in 2025), left fielder Santana Covarrubias (.284, nine RBIs) and catcher Mason Kon, who was reliable behind the plate, were all underclassmen this past season.    Â