JOHNSTOWN — Nate Spohn has been the Berkley Hills Renegades’ clutch pitcher all season, but especially so during the past few weeks.

The left-hander’s experience in the NAIA World Series this spring only added to his big-game credentials.

Renegades manager Larry McCabe will once again put the ball in Spohn’s hand for the official opener of the 68th AAABA Tournament on Monday night at Point Stadium.

“Nate Spohn has been the most effective pitcher we’ve had all year. He’s only had one loss all year,” said McCabe, whose team won the local AAABA League regular-season and playoff titles. “He’s been a mainstay. He won the game against Delweld to win the regular-season championship. He won Game 1 of the championship series.

“He’s a bulldog type of pitcher. He’s a mentally tough kid. He throws a variety of pitches. He throws a fastball that runs a lot. He throws a good slider and breaking ball. He throws a change-up. He’s very effective and he walks very few people. He holds runners on well.”

Spohn won five regular-season games and was money in the playoffs with a key win over Martella’s Pharmacy in Game 1 of the title series. Spohn pitched all 10 innings of that contest and struck out 13 in a 5-4 victory.

“It’s very exciting and something to look forward to for sure,” said Spohn, who was a pick-up player for Martella’s in last year’s tournament. “Every kid dreams of playing in front of 9,000 people. But it is really just another game and it shouldn’t matter how many people are there. You still have to go out and throw strikes and give your team a chance to win.

“Whenever you get on the mound it’s just you and the glove. That’s all it’s ever been and all it ever will be.”

Spohn was 8-1 on a Point Park team that went 2-2 and finished fifth nationally at the NAIA Series. He said that experience at Lewis & Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho, will benefit him on Monday.

“We had to qualify. We played in North Carolina and Indiana,” Spohn said.

“Once we won at Indiana, we went to Idaho. It was a great experience. I still have three more chances in college and we’re definitely going back there.”

Martella’s will represent Johnstown in the tournament as the league’s playoff runner-up. Manager Chris Pfeil said he will start either Pete Vuckovich Award winner Derek Younker or Mike Mulvey.

“Both of those guys just shove strikes for us,” said Pfeil, whose team will make its fourth straight tournament appearance, this time playing the day games at the Point. “They make you earn everything you get. When you’re around the strike zone as much as those guys are, they have the ability to get the ball past people and get guys out. They’ve kept us in every game. They give us a great one-two punch.”

Younker went 6-0 during the regular season and had a 1.08 ERA with 46 strikeouts and only four walks.

He won one playoff game and got a no-decision in the 10-inning playoff game against Berkley Hills.

Mulvey was 3-2 with one save, a 3.02 ERA, 37 strikeouts and only five walks during the regular season.

He was the winner in Martella’s lone victory against the Renegades in the championship series.

Younker, a right-hander who pitches at Pitt-Johnstown, was on Altoona’s Red Bull team that advanced to the 2011 AAABA Tournament though a work commitment prevented him from pitching.

He turned a tough situation into a positive after Red Bull released him prior to this season.

“There was a rule issue and a mix up. They released me and I came over here, which has been a blessing in disguise,” Younker said. “It’s been a great fit. (Red Bull) thought that you could only have four players from the same college on the team. Since I was just a pitcher and not an everyday guy they released me. Digger (Pfeil) sells  us our uniforms for UPJ. He was there one day and I asked him if he needed somebody. That put it into motion and it came together.”

Pfeil delivered uniforms and added a player that day at UPJ.

“Fortunately for us I was up at the campus on work-related issues,” Pfeil said.

“He had been released. Coach (Todd) Williams mentioned it to me. (Martella’s second baseman) Matt McMillen was playing up there and he took me over to him. Two minutes into the conversation he said he’d love to come to Johnstown. We got him signed. It was a blessing for us. He went out and threw great for us all season long.”