How former St. Louis Cardinal Jason Motte helped Christian Brothers pitchers dominate this TSSAA baseball season

Anthony Scarpino had just pitched four shutout innings Monday night in Christian Brothers’ 4-3 win over Briarcrest in the Division II-AA West Region title game.

Once Briarcrest started to cut a 4-0 lead to one run, Christian Brothers coach Jason Motte brought in a reliever for Scarpino. Scarpino ended up getting the win, his sixth this season, to remain undefeated on the mound.

Scarpino and junior pitcher Riley Goodman have dominated on the mound this season for the Purple Wave (25-7-1), who have a first-round bye in Division II-AA. As talented as Goodman and Scarpino have been on the mound this season, a lot of their success has come from learning from Motte.

"Having Jason Motte as your head coach is pretty cool,” Goodman said. “I knew his background in baseball, his high baseball IQ, he could teach us a lot.”

Mainly helping the team as a whole with their confidence and mental approach each game.

"He's helped us all have our confidence and help us relate to what he was back in the major leagues," Scarpino said. "It's awesome to have him as a head coach and awesome to be able to build through what he's teaching us."

Motte took over the Christian Brothers baseball program last season, replacing legendary coach Buster Kelso. Motte served as an assistant on the coaching staff the year before he was named the head coach. When he took over, he brought his knowledge from being a reliever in the MLB with the Cardinals and winning a World Series.

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Learning from a World champion has been invaluable for both Scarpino and Goodman.

"The coach he is today, you can tell he hasn’t really changed much from the player he was,” Scarpino said.

What’s helped Scarpino have even more success this season is having better control with his pitches, something Motte has helped significantly with.

"Before I met him, I was a wild pitcher,” Scarpino said. “I always threw pretty hard, but I really wasn’t where I am today, accuracy wise. … That’s definitely the biggest thing he did for me.”

Scarpino, a West Florida baseball commit, said this season he’s had a lot more control on the mound. Entering Monday’s region title game, he had 48 strikeouts with a 1.98 ERA in 35 1/3 innings pitched.

"I would not be where I am today without him,” Scarpino said.

He’s the perfect complement to Goodman. Goodman is 7-1 this season with 76 strikeouts and a 0.31 ERA for the Purple Wave. Together, the two feed off of each other and have helped the Purple Wave win a region title.

“Between me and Andy Cook, you got two guys that pitched and done some stuff, but we’re making anymore pitches,” Motte said. “It’s these boys going out there, doing it and trusting their stuff.”

Though neither are Cardinals fans, both Scarpino and Goodman go back and watch Motte’s highlights from when he was in the MLB. They analyze his game, pay attention to his approach on the mound and pick up on things they can use themselves each time they start.

"I’m looking for how he’s attacking hitters,” Scarpino said. “Obviously he’s playing the best of the best. You can relate to that when we play good teams. See how to attack guys, see what he did and how he approached the game mentally.”

And that’s why it’s been a benefit to having a former MLB reliever in the dugout.

“The confidence and the mental side of the game is definitely what I’m picking up,” Goodman said.

Reach Wynston Wilcox at wwilcox@gannett.com and on Twitter @wynstonw__.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Why Christian Brothers pitching staff is leaning on former Cardinals reliever Jason Motte