Welcome back to another installment of the college baseball roundup, presented by our good friends over at Five Star Hiring, a staffing agency meant to help college athletes with the transition into life after school.
Having reached the start of April, we are at the point now where everyone has gotten into their conference games, which are really the most important in the college baseball world in terms of importance compared to non-conference games.
To get us rolling, we have a pair of Chichester alums who have been swinging hot bats.
Josh Hankins, Gonzaga (Chichester)
First up on the list we have Josh Hankins, a senior who is probably the furthest away from home out of any Delco college player playing for Gonzaga in the state of Washington.
It was a bit of a slow start for Hankins, who was hitting just .181 just ten days ago on March 21st, but since then he has games of…
- 3 hits
- 1 hit
- 4 hits
- 2 hits
- 3 hits
- 1 hit
He has raised that average all the way up to .278 since then, a remarkable turnaround. That four hit game came against Washington State and he homered the following game against Pacific.
This is Hankins’ fourth year of college baseball after spending 2022 and 2023 at Coppin State as well as 2024 at Gonzaga so I believe this is his last year of playing collegiately, but with all of the eligibility rules and waivers that we are seeing these days all stemming from COVID, who really knows at this point.
Troy Neff, King’s College (Chichester)
One guy that we know for a fact will still have eligibility after this year is Troy Neff, who is just a freshman at King’s College this year.
Neff has been a regular starter all season long for King’s but he has recently heated up at the plate. That includes a FIVE hit day against Arcadia last week.
Neff is hitting a very nice .294 on the season, and even more impressive, he has drawn a whopping 16 walks in 20 games played.
Jayce Tharnish, St. Bonnie’s (Conestoga)
While Hankins and Neff made their first appearance of the season, Jayce Tharnish has been a frequent flyer all year long.
After going 11/20 in his first series of the year, Tharnish has been remarkably consistent all year long. His average has never dipped below .347, and it is currently sitting at .398 after a 9/15 week this past week.
Tharnish, who had dealt with the injury bug during his first two years at St. Bonnie’s has stayed healthy and really put it all together in this year. He attended a draft showcase back in January, and certainly has the potential to be selected this year with the speed that he has and the bat to now match that.
He has 19 stolen bases already this season with a career high 4 HR’s
Kevin Reavey, Army (The Haverford School)
Kevin Reavey was a First Team All-Delco selection for us as a pitcher for The Haverford School last season, and he’s already getting Division I innings as a freshman for Army.
Primarily operating out of the bullpen, Reavey had the best outing of his young career so far when he went 2.2 innings allowing no runs with a hit and three strikeouts.
The Havertown native has not allowed more than two runs in an appearance this season and is getting valuable innings for what would hopefully be a transition back to a starter eventually.
Reavey has 21 K’s compared to just 7 BB’s and looks to stay busy in the Army bullpen.
Rocco Calise, Eckerd (Bonner)
Next up we have a stretch of two Bonner alums, both of which recorded their first college win this past week.
Rocco Calise has had some really good outings this year including one run over six innings against Shippensburg, but his last start against Palm Beach Atlantic was the best of the best so far.
Calise went 6.1 innings allowing no earned runs, three hits and struck out three. He threw 103 pitches to earn his first collegiate win and it was well deserved.
Calise sits with a 4.50 ERA so far this season, and it’s hard to complain about that as a freshman. You take any innings you can get. He has already thrown 10+ more innings than he did at Bonner last season and it’s cool to see him take advantage of the opportunity.
Nick Fratangeli, Rosemont (Bonner)
As mentioned above, Nick Fratangeli is the second of these Bonner alums to get their first college win this past week.
Coming out of the bullpen for Rosemont, Fratangeli tossed 2.2 scoreless innings and recorded the win against PSU Brandywine for win number one. Fratangeli was stuck behind a ton of really talented pitchers for Bonner last season similar to Calise, so it’s cool to see him take advantage of these opportunities to try and earn more innings.
Fratangeli has appeared three times in the last eight days, hopefully a sign that he will continue to be used.
Will Kelley, Immaculata (Episcopal)
For those of you who know Will, I know what you’re thinking.
How is this guy still in college?
It’s been a long and pretty wild road for Kelly, who began his career playing football at Ursinus, picked baseball back up, and is now at Immaculata as a grad student.
As someone who played his last college game at the age of 23 I can’t really blame him, but hey, age doesn’t matter once you hit the field.
Kelly had a little Delco on Delco crime with a four hit game against Neumann last week and is hitting .375 on the season. That’s second on the team to another Delco guy in Steve Theisen (Garnet Valley) hitting .392.
Immaculata has won three straight conference championships in the Atlantic East and Kelley will look to help that stretch to four in a few weeks.
Darren Hagan, Keystone (Garnet Valley)
Although if you are looking for someone who is a good bet to win a conference championship, Darren Hagan is your guy.
Considering that Keystone has won 19 straight (seriously) conference championships, it would be hard pressed to think otherwise.
It appears that Hagan had been dealing with some kind of injury as he had not played in a game up until this week. A D3 preseason All-American, Hagan picked up right where he left off with a 6/15 week including a double and a homer.
Hopefully fully healthy, Hagan will look to try and get championship #20 in a row for Keystone and make a run at a National Championship.