Hello everyone,
Welcome back for our fourth season covering high school baseball in Delco!
I was out of town on Friday/Saturday for a family event so I was unable to start this newsletter last week, but we are all locked and loaded for the rest of the season.
If you are new here, my name is Brendan Ricciardi, I started this account in the summer of 2022. We started covering high school baseball in 2023 and really now do all levels of baseball that we can in the area.
In years past, we used to try to write a full article for every single game that happened on a given day.
Ambitious? Absolutely.
Sustainable? Maybe not so much.
I am blessed to have a ton of great interns working with me this year, but we are really trying to focus heavily on the social media side of things and the broadcast side of things. I enjoy writing a lot, but it’s just the reality of the situation:
Building a business model solely off asking Delco kids to read probably was never going to work.
We still want to have a place where we can give out more information than would fit on a normal social media post, and have a way to keep all of our audience both informed and entertained.
So instead of spamming everyone with 10+ game recaps, we decided to just condense it and have everything in one convenient location so all you have to do is just scroll down. We will highlight some stats, some big plays, and update you on the team’s records and who they face next.
You can subscribe below for free to stay up to date all year long. Thanks to everyone for following along and here’s to another great year of Delco Baseball!
– DBN President Brendan Ricciardi
Garnet Valley 8, Chichester 2
The top of this Garnet Valley offense has been on fire to start the year, and 2025 First Team All-Delco shortstop Cole Lombardo has a real chance to make a run at the offensive player of the year award.
He homered twice on opening day and followed that up with three more hits including a triple in this one. Cole Hoffacker, who got some experience last year when Chris Schaller and Brady Thompson were both injured, had three hits including a homer as well.
At least last year, Chichester did not have a fence, so he must have just legged that one out. I could never do that.
Brandon Capone, Kyle Klein and Garret Hosterman all had two hits for the Jaguars as well.
Asher Weingarten got the start on the mound for GV and was excellent, allowing just one hit and striking out four over four shutout innings. Connor Criswell also tossed two shutout innings.
Zach Murray paced the Chichester offense as he went 2/4 with a two-run single.
Garnet Valley improves to 2-0 and will travel to Haverford (1-0) in our first Delco Baseball Now Game of The Week Wednesday afternoon at 3:45. It is the Central League opener for all 12 teams. I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve.
That game will air on our YouTube channel with myself and new addition Jonah Casel on the call. Don’t worry, the legend of David Szczepanski will be back as soon as Villanova Basketball is done in March Madness.
Chichester (0-2) will begin conference play on Thursday when they host Chester.
La Salle 4, Episcopal 3
Talk about an absolute GUT PUNCH for Episcopal.
The Churchmen fell behind 2-0 early but kept battling. They got one back on a Spencer Schuh RBI groundout in the fourth before Ronnie Raby gave La Salle a 3-1 lead which held until the top of the seventh.
Episcopal was down to their final three outs but started the inning with Schuh reaching on an error and 2025 First Team All-Delco outfielder Reggie King doubling to left to put the tying run on second base.
Spencer’s brother, Baxter, had a productive first out on a grounder to score his brother and advance King to third. Following a strikeout, Trey Schwaninger delivered in the clutch with an RBI single to score King and tie this game up on their last breath.
Baseball is such a cruel game sometimes, because Episcopal did all of that just to see Alex Peterson, a pinch-hitter, come off the bench and blast a walk-off homer to left field.
Credit to the kid for staying ready and for coach Kyle Werman for pressing the right buttons. I’ve never met Coach Werman but it’s hard not to respect what he has built over there at La Salle. Cooper Weiss threw all seven innings for the Explorers and struck out six while allowing just one earned run.
On the mound for EA, Michael Schaffer got the start and allowed two runs over three innings. Roman Notaro was sharp, allowing just one unearned run in three innings.
As frustrating of a loss as this is for EA, they kept battling against a perennial PCL contender and clearly have a talented squad once again in 2026. Dillon Walls added two hits from the leadoff spot for the Churchmen.
Episcopal (1-1) will be back in action on Thursday when they travel to Penncrest to take on EA alum Austin Morgan’s Lions team.