Main Line baseball squads looking strong this spring

Several Main Line high school baseball squads have gotten off to strong starts this spring, particularly Malvern Prep (14-0 as of Monday April 8). The Friars feature an experienced batting attack, but during the pre-season head coach Freddy Hilliard had noted that Malvern returned just one pitcher who threw more than 25 innings last season. On Monday, Hilliard said, “Our pitching so far this season has been good. Sophomore Fran Oschell has stepped up big time and junior Tristan Corcoran is filling the big shoes of his brother well. Junior transfer Ryan Muntz (Shane’s brother) has given us more depth in the rotation and been a great addition. And although we lack experience, we like the depth of arms we can run out of our pen day in and day out. It also helps that our offense is really clicking and producing.”
Here’s an early-season look at the Main Line high school baseball squads:

Archbishop Carroll
Head coach: Joe Liciardello.
Last year’s record: 21-6 overall, 10-2 Catholic League.
Key returnees: senior second baseman Sean Lawley, senior center fielder/pitcher Tyler Kehoe, senior pitcher Alex Cornell, junior shortstop Max Hitman, junior left fielder Pat Marley.
Outlook: As of April 8, the Patriots were off to a 6-2 start. In the pre-season, Liciardello said, “I think we have opportunity to do something great this season, I am extremely confident in our returners from last year’s great season, who have done a great job leading our young guys thus far.”

Barrack Hebrew
Head coach: Justin Cooper, sixth year.
Last year’s record: 8-8 overall, 4-2 Tri-County League, 2-4 Penn Jersey League.
Key returnees: sophomore third baseman/pitcher Ben Beal, sophomore catcher Ilan Gordon, senior second baseman Jon Cohen, freshman pitcher/shortstop Aaron Heller.
Others to watch: sophomore outfielder Micah Israel, freshman outfielder/pitcher Danny Cohen.
Outlook: “We are very young this year, and are looking to improve each game,” said Cooper. “If we can make routine plays and throw strikes, we can hopefully put together a solid season.”

Conestoga
Head coach: Matt Diamond, third year.
Last year’s record: 14-9 overall, 10-6 Central League.
Key returnees: senior pitcher/third baseman Cam Marcus, senior first baseman Christian Moesler, senior outfielder Will Mauro, senior pitcher/infielder Aiden Lexow, senior pitcher Brooks Rush, senior infielder Eric Anderson.
Others to watch: junior outfielder Blaise Rantanen, junior outfielder Josh Merrill.
Outlook: The Pioneers are looking to build off of last season’s District 1 6A Final Four run. “Our seniors last season paved a clear path to show our returning players the hard work that goes into making a playoff run,” said Diamond. “That focus has carried over into our off season workouts and it has been great to see. The keys to our success will be out pitchers’ ability to throw strikes and the fielders play sound defense.”

Episcopal Academy
Head coach: Thomas Grandieri, first year.
Last year’s record: 15-12 overall, 5-5 Inter-Ac.
Key returnees: senior shortstop/pitcher Jack O’Reilly, senior pitcher/first baseman Cole Dumont, junior catcher Brian Virbitsky, junior outfielder Will Kelley, senior infielder/pitcher Mitch Pagano.
Others to watch: freshman infielder/pitcher Daniel Kane, freshman outfielder/pitcher Jake Jaszcz, sophomore utility player Xander Lostis, junior outfielder/first baseman Tommy Dennis.
Outlook: Grandieri said, “Our team is coming off a great 2018 season and looking to continue the momentum rolling into the 2019 campaign. We are fortunate to have two front line starters in Jack O’Reilly and Cole Dumont paired with some up-and-coming arms out of the bullpen. The lineup has depth in spots 1-9 and bench guys jockeying for position both offensively and defensively. Our biggest key to success is owning our role. Whatever role that may be in that game, that week, that inning – we just need to continuously own it and adapt if it changes.”

Friends’ Central
Head coach: Jon Rubin, sixth year.
Last year’s record: 11-11 overall; 7-5 Friends’ Schools League, lost in FSL championship final
Key returnees: senior catcher Ben Kollender (first team All Main Line), senior second baseman Mark Masi, senior left fielder Sam Pendrak, junior right fielder Leo Burman, sophomore shortstop Justin Rubin (first team All Main Line), sophomore third baseman Eric Lillard (second team All Main Line).
Others to watch: sophomore first baseman Jack Donahoe, freshman infielder Sam Burman, sophomore center fielder Isaiah Waddington, freshman pitcher John Fitzpatrick.
Outlook: Rubin said, “We have strong senior leadership with Ben, Mark and Sam, but after that we are very young as we only have four upperclassmen in our program. We have a talented group of sophomores and freshmen. Their growth and development during the season will be critical to our success. We didn’t return any starting pitching, so once again, the ability of our younger players to deliver quality innings on the mound will be critical to our success.” As of April 8, the Phoenix sported a 7-2 record (2-0 Friends’ Schools League).

Harriton
Head coach: Scott Kurzinsky, 12th year.
Last year’s record: 10-9 overall, 9-7 Central League.
Key returnees: senior pitcher Jack Kochanowicz, senior outfielder Adam Fine, senior second baseman Ethan Boni, senior shortstop Eddie May, senior utility player Duncan Attig, senior outfielder Nash Solon, junior catcher Rowan Terran, junior pitcher Christian Quinn.
Others to watch: senior utility player Mike Becker, senior utility player Pierce Hagg, junior outfielder Garett Friend.
Outlook: The Rams are off to a good start this spring, posting a 5-1 record in Central League play and averaging 12 runs per game. Kurzinsky said, “We should continue to be very good offensively, and we have a deep bench.”

Haverford High
Head coach: Paul Bogosian, 33rd year.
Last year’s record: 6-14 overall, 4-12 Central League.
Key returnees: senior first baseman and co-captain Pat Lindner, senior catcher and co-captain Paul Denman, senior pitcher Danny Kelleher, junior pitcher/outfielder Adam Stuck.
Others to watch: junior second baseman Matteo Gonzalez, sophomore third baseman Will Higson, senior outfielder Simon Curry. junior outfielder Daymond Purdy.
Outlook: Bogosian said, “We look to have enough pitching and offense. The defense needs to improve over last year. It should be an exciting year for us.”

Haverford School

Head coach: Bob Castell, 27th year.

Last year’s record: 15-12 overall, 5-5 Inter-Ac.

Key returnees: senior infielder Joe Bonini, senior pitcher Zak Summy, senior first baseman Sean Clark, senior outfielder/pitcher Calvin Costner, senior outfielder Logan Keller, senior outfielder Luke Kania, senior infielder/DH Jesse Goldman, senior pitcher Sam Chase, senior pitcher Eric Hoyt, senior outfielder Christian Sarian, junior infielder/pitcher Pat Toal, junior catcher Connor Brala.

Others to watch: infielder Jacob Stacey, catcher Eric Genther, pitchers Chris Clark and Ryan Reed.

Outlook: The Fords will count on the strength of their experienced pitching staff, solid team defense, to go along with a strong offensive approach at the plate, to wins games this season. The Fords will miss recent graduates, Justin Meyer (team MVP at Richmond) and Isaiah Winikur (Towson), who were both four-year starters for the program. With a veteran team comprised primarily of juniors and seniors, the team will count on the maturity and confidence of the players who gained experience during the 2018 season.

Lower Merion
Head coach: Tim Gunn, second year.
Last year’s record: 9-11 overall, 8-8 Central League.
Key returnees: senior pitcher Casey Murphy, senior catcher/pitcher Alec Deegan, senior second baseman Dylan Hurok, junior pitcher Kyle Patlove.
Others to watch: senior center fielder Theiren Moore.
Outlook: Gunn said, “We’re very experienced on the mound and have depth there. We are solid defensively and rely on base running and putting pressure on opponents to win.”

Malvern Prep
Head coach: Freddy Hilliard, 10th year.
Last year’s record: 30-7 overall, 8-2 Inter-Ac.
Key returnees: senior outfielder Chris Newell, senior pitcher Liam Dabagian, junior catcher Jordan Dissin, junior third baseman Connor Offshack, junior pitcher Tristan Corcoran, sophomore outfielder Lonnie White Jr., senior first baseman Chuck Andress, senior shortstop Grant Burgess.
Others to watch: senior infielder Colin Wolfe, junior outfielder Drew Butera, junior infielder Jarod Wade, junior infielder Cam Conley, sophomore pitcher/first baseman Fran Oschell.
Outlook: The Friars (as of April 8) have yet to be defeated, posting an excellent 14-0 record. In the pre-season, Hilliard said, “Our biggest strength should be the amount of experience we return and possessing a lot of depth offensively. We should be able to hit, hit for power, and have speed on the bases, so we’re excited about the potential of our offense. Our biggest challenge will be replacing the power arms we graduated (Billy Corcoran and Brady Devereux; 100 innings combined) along with our leadoff hitter, Connor Dillon. We return just one pitcher who threw more than 25 innings last season (Dabagian) so one key to our success will be whether our inexperienced arms can handle the bulk of this year’s innings.”

Radnor
Head coach: Mark Jordan
Last year’s record: 6-13.
Key returnees: senior catcher George Hoysgaard (three year starter), senior infielder Sean Mullarkey (for year starter), senior outfielder Ben Karnavas, senior infielder Jack Lee, senior outfielder Seamus Mullarkey, senior outfielder Doug Campbell, senior pitcher/outfielder Matt Cohen, senior infielder Nick Scheri, junior pitcher Sam Dilella.
Others to watch: sophomore pitcher Jimmy Sweet, sophomore pitcher Owen Lewandowski.
Outlook: Radnor looks to bounce back and reach the district playoffs for first time since 2016, when they were District 1 champs. Jordan, in his first year back at Radnor after going 43-10 in the past two years at Marple, including a league and state title, said,”Sam Dilella, Owen Lewandowski, Matt Cohen and Jimmy Sweet will anchor the staff. Sean Mullarkey and George Hoysgaard will lead the defense. Jack Lee, Ben Karnavas and Nick Scheri will lead the offense. The young staff will need to improve to help earn us a playoff spot. We have a nice mix of seniors and sophs – especially pitching.”

Shipley
Head coach: Bryan Bendowski, 16th year.
Last year’s record: 23-4 overall, 12-0 Friends’ Schjools League, fourth consecutive FSL championhip.
Key returnees: senior outfielder Evan Johnson, senior catcher Reed Sullivan, senior infielder/pitcher Ethan Kline, senior outfielder/pitcher Liam Riley, junior pitcher/outfielder Dillon Bevan, junior first baseman/pitcher Marco Grimmig, junior pitcher/outfielder Jeff Extor.
Others to watch: freshman shortstop/pitcher Tommy Ball, freshman pitcher/outfielder Ivan Bienkowski, freshman catcher/first baseman Sam Chairman, freshman infielder Jake Vickers, junior outfielder Jack Robinson.
Outlook: As of April 8, the Gators were off to a 6-3 start. In pre-season, Bendowski said, “Our strength is our pitching depth; we have 8-9 quality strike throwers with a quality defense behind us. The challenge will be replacing 1,3,4,5 in our lineup from last year, which includes three infielders. The biggest key to our success will be a step forward offensively from our junior class and the overall development of our underclassmen.”