At most Brother Rice sporting events, aside from baseball games that he’s playing in, Joshua Torres can be found on the sideline with his camera.
Torres, a photographer and writer for the school newspaper, also does freelance photography outside of Brother Rice. In that role, he’s found plenty of inspiration to take into baseball season.
“You saw the basketball team, they were tremendous,” Torres said of the Class 3A runners-up. “It’s awesome being around teams like that. That just made me say, ‘We’re going to do the same thing with our team. We’re going to go all the way to the state championship game just like them.’
“When you have so much talent around you, it’s definitely motivating.”
Torres, a senior catcher, is becoming a larger part of a Crusaders baseball team putting together a special season of their own.
He had an RBI single Saturday as host Brother Rice extended its winning streak to 26 games with a 5-4 Catholic League Blue victory over Providence in Chicago.
Kentucky recruit Nolan Ramoley added an RBI double and a sacrifice fly for the Crusaders (27-1, 10-0). Anthony Cartolano went 2-for-3 with two runs, while Arizona commit Gavin Triezenberg finished 2-for-3 with a triple and a run and Gavin Stanislawski contributed an RBI single.
Illinois State recruit Jackson Natanek chipped in with an RBI double and recorded the final two outs for the save. Braydon McKendrick improved to 8-0, striking out six while allowing just two hits and no earned runs over 6 1/3 innings.
“This was a big one so I really just wanted to go out there and make another statement,” McKendrick said. “We’re rolling.”
Cincinnati recruit Enzo Infelise tallied a two-run single for Providence (17-11, 5-5). Eddie Olszta, Dominik Alberico and Michael Noonan each had a double and a run.
Down 5-1 entering the seventh inning, the Celtics scored three times and had the tying run at second but Natanek got a strikeout to end the game.
Torres, meanwhile, delivered an RBI single in the second to give Brother Rice a 3-0 lead. He later put down a successful sacrifice bunt and also played a strong game defensively behind the plate.
Torres has shared catching duties with Treylan Webster. While Webster got the bulk of the playing time early in the season, Torres is earning more opportunities of late.
“It feels awesome,” Torres said. “Trey’s doing his thing and I’m just here to do my part. In the preseason, coach (Sean) McBride told me Trey was going to be the main guy but they’d still use me and I said that I accept that offer.
“I’ll do whatever I can. I’ll do my part. You just control what you can control.”
Torres is hitting .421 with seven RBIs in just 19 at-bats.
“Josh is a steady presence for us,” McBride said. “He does a really good job blocking and receiving and he’s always swung the bat really well. He’s versatile. You don’t think catchers are guys that can sacrifice bunt, but he did it for us (Saturday).”
Torres has served as somewhat of a personal catcher for McKendrick as well. He’s typically behind the plate for the junior left-hander’s starts, and the two have a good rapport.
“He caught me a lot last year, too, and we’ve played for the same travel team, so we have that chemistry,” McKendrick said. “We’re really close. He’s great back there. He helps me get some extra strikes called. He’s amazing.”
As for his recent success swinging the bat, Torres chalks it up to confidence.
“Last year, I think the reason why I was down so much is I was always saying ‘I suck’ to myself,” Torres said. “That self-belief is huge. I just started calming down this year.”
