SENIOR WEEKS: Great Valley will miss Angelov’s lively arm upon return in 2021

Last season was an anomaly for the Great Valley baseball team.

Head coach Matt Schultz and the Patriots are used to winning seasons and district playoff appearances. But in 2019, Great Valley won just six games, and was lacking punch in its offense and consistency on the mound.

The 2020 season was supposed to be one of redemption for the Patriots. But thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, Great Valley — and every other team — must wait for 2021 to get back on the field.

The only pitcher Schultz won’t be able to count on in 2021 was going to be staff ace in 2020: senior Chris Angelov.

Angelov showed a lot of promise in his junior year and he was counting on a good start in 2020.

“I mean, it was very hard and frustrating waiting for the season to begin,” Angleov said. “I was still hoping we could get some kind of a season in even if we had to start the middle of May. But it is over now. We really felt we could have a winning season and make the district playoffs. We had a lot of young guys who were really excited to be getting a chance to play varsity baseball. It was going to be fun seeing all those young guys compete.

“And, I felt our pitching was going to be good,” Angelov said. “And I think we would have had some better offense than last year. That hurt us last year but we started working out early last year and we felt real good about our chances this season. I have been staying in shape and throwing with my neighbors to keep my arm in shape. I just really hoped we could get some kind of a season because this was the last time I would be able to play with my friends.”

Schultz also felt good about his only senior pitcher.

“We have a close group of seniors who were excited to be on the field together,” Schultz said. “In that senior group, Chris Angelov is the only pitcher. He came in knowing the role he would play and he had a fresh mindset and was ready and willing to compete every pitch for us. His attitude has been tremendous while his pitch location and command of movement was very solid. Chris was definitely going to put us in a position to win some games this season.”

Next fall Angelov will be attending Carneige Mellon University in Pittsburgh and he plans to major in economics and statistics and is excited about his college choice.

“I really liked the school,” Angelov said. “And it is not that far from home which was important to me, and they have a really good analytics department. I feel that is the place I would be the happiest at.”

The virus especially hit home for Angelov, as the mother of his friend and neighbor Matt Curtis — Julie — is a hospital nurse and on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.