Improved control is key to Irish pitcher’s success

By Rich Fisher

It’s little wonder that Luke Foley walked just three batters through the first 15 innings he pitched for the Notre Dame High baseball team this season. He has been working on his control since before he ever got on a mound.

“Since I was little it was never just throwing back and forth with my dad; it was always throwing to hit spots,” the West Windsor native said. That’s kind of always my focus whenever I’m throwing. It’s about throwing to spots and how to control the ball while you’re out there.”

Foley has gotten better at it each season. As a sophomore he only threw two innings for the Irish varsity but fanned three and did not allow a walk. Last year, with his pitch-tocontact approach, the left-hander fanned 37 and walked 14 in 34 innings, carving out a 2.06 earned run average. This year, he had 12 Ks and did not hit a batter during a 3-0 start that featured a 1.40 ERA.

Luke has become quite adept at the art of pitching, despite not being made a full time hurler until his sophomore year at ND.

“He is a pitcher, not a thrower,” coach Joe Drulis said. “He’s smart. He’s got a 98.6 (grade point ) average, he’s on the National Honor Society. He’s vice president of his class.

“He knows how to set up hitters and our pitching coaches (Rob Reilly, Charlie Battis) do a great job with that and instilling him with confidence and also techniques to make him a better pitcher.”

Foley has gotten good enough that he will pitch for Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa. in the fall. “I really liked the culture of the community they have over there. I’m excited to become part of it.”

It was unsure if Foley’s future was in pitching as he grew up. Playing in the West Windsor Little League, he threw on occasion but mostly played outfield and was considered an offensive player. After COVID wiped out his freshman year at Notre Dame, the Irish were in need of lefthanded pitching and gave Foley a look. He had gotten bigger and stronger and was able to throw a bit harder.

“We liked that his ball had movement as a lefty,” Drulis said. “He could change speeds and he was mentally tough.”

As a sophomore, Foley mostly pitched for the JV but performed well enough to turn the experiment into a full-blown position change.

Not to mention, Foley enjoyed being in the center of the diamond. “I liked pitching. You have control of the game when you’re on the mound..”

Foley credited former JV coach Rich Carabelli, now at Mercer County Community College, for teaching him about having mental fortitude on the mound. That mindset was on full display this past winter in the Mercer County Tournament basketball semifinals at Cure Arena.

In a tie game against favored Ewing, Foley was fouled at the buzzer and had two shots to win it. He put massive pressure on himself by missing the first one, but converted the second for a pulsating Irish victory.

Luke credited his time on the diamond for giving him the “onions,” as broadcaster Bill Raftery would say, to make the free throw.

“It’s all about mental fortitude,” Foley said. “It’s all about dealing with adversity. No moment is too big. That’s my mentality and I can overcome any moment. So it carries over from baseball to basketball.

Despite baseball being in his future, Foley never considered dropping basketball from his high school schedule. He knows his time is limited to have such experiences, and is grabbing all he can.

“You play sports for about a third of your life, so I’m just gonna try to have fun playing as many sports as possible,” Foley said. “I’m really tight with the basketball guys in the locker room. I fell in love with the cul- ture of basketball and I wanted to continue it throughout high school.”

Foley feels being a lefty gives him an advantage since there are so few in high school. Hitters are seeing the ball coming from a different angle; and it also gives him a more effective pick-off move since he’s already facing first base in the stretch.

He does not have the most powerful fastball, topping out in the mid-80s. But his ability to use certain pitches when others aren’t working is crucial. Drulis pointed that out after Foley defeated WW-P High School North—where he would have played had he opted for public school—on Apr. 11.

“Today he didn’t have the curveball command,” the coach said. “He had to mix it up, use the splitter to get him out of a jam. I think it’s a mixture when it comes to his out pitch. When his curveball is on that’s his out pitch but today he had a good splitter to get batters out.”

Along with baseball, Foley is a member of Notre Dame’s Catholic Athletes for Christ chapter and student government.

“We run a lot of events with student government,” he said. “I have fun with that, being able to lead people and just try to manage that and school and baseball.”

In college he will be trying to manage baseball and an academic workload in Applied Analytics. It’s all part of his plan to remain in the world that he loves.

“It’s kind of a combination of stats and economics,” Foley said. “I’m just trying to figure out how to be part of sports without playing. Hopefully I can do some data science between baseball and basketball or any sport. I just want to continue with sports, that’s my goal.”

It’s not hard to figure out why, since sports have been pretty darn good to him up to now.