Baseball is the classic father and son bonding experience.

The same can be said for grandfathers and grandsons. For Bob Fatzinger and his grandson Evan, baseball has helped to bond them is a special way.

Bob Fatzinger has been around baseball for a long time and served as the coach of the Northwestern Lehigh team for a season when Duran Porrino left for a season after his wife gave birth to twins.

Evan Fatzinger was very young then, but not too young to start learning from his grandfather. Now, the elder Fatzinger is an assistant coach with the Tigers and the younger Fatzinger is a rising sophomore on the team. The experience has allowed the pair to bond even further.

“That man has been coaching me my entire life,” said Evan Fatzinger after the district championship game. “He’s the reason why I’m playing baseball, if I’m being honest. It makes it even more special for us to both have a medal for this season.”

Playing catcher is almost a family birthright. Both coach Fatzinger and his brother Horatio were catchers. Horatio Fatzinger played two seasons of minor league ball in the Cincinnati Reds organization.

Evan Fatzinger has taken over the reins of the Tigers team, and he did it in an impressive way. Not only did Fatzinger make the team as a freshman, but he was named the starting catcher, which allowed coach Brian Polaha to move Cannon Fitch, who caught for the team in 2025, back to playing shortstop and center field, with an occasional appearance on the mound.

“Fatzinger made a good impression on us,” said Polaha. “He was so good behind the plate that it allowed us to move Cannon around and take advantage of his athleticism. He was just a natural back there and he has continued to be better every time out.”

Evan Fatzinger came up with a big play when he picked a runner off third base in the district semifinals against North Schuylkill. The play wound up saving a run and helping Cole Dynda work out of an early jam in the game.

“He was kind of a natural at catching,” said Bob Fatzinger. “When he was this big (holding his hand waist high) and we would go out to the mound, he would hold his glove over his mouth so nobody could read his lips.”

Bob Fatzinger watched early on this season as his grandson struggled to hit varsity pitching and started the year in a slump. It was his positivity that helped pull Evan out of the slump and kept him looking for that elusive first varsity hit.

“He’s always been positive and he pointed out a lot of things that I was doing right,” said Evan. “I was just missing pitches, but he never lost faith that I would come around and start to hit.”

“I wasn’t worried about him,” said coach Fatzinger, “because he isn’t afraid to work. So I knew he would start getting some hits. Plus, it never affected him behind the plate and that was good because a team can’t have a catcher struggling defensively and he never let it affect him.”

Northwestern exited in the first round of states after capturing their second straight district championship this season. The gold medal from this year’s run is great, but both of the Fatzingers are hoping for medals that have just a little more shine on them and are for a state championship.

“We lose some good players,” said Evan Fatzinger. “But we still have a lot of talent here, so I think we can keep winning. Once you get into states, you never know. It would be great to have both of us experience that.”