I just want to say first and foremost that I am very thankful for all of the great interns that we have always.

BUT, I am especially thankful on crazy days like today where we have THIRTEEN games on the schedule.

Without them, I would look like the Popeyes lady after their chicken sandwich went viral and they got crazy swamped:

Anyway, with thirteen games to get through, we might as well get right into the action:

Springfield 11, Strath Haven 7

By: Nick Mazzarella:

Springfield outfielder Nick Corse had one of the best hitting performances we’ll see all season, as he went 4/4 with five RBI’s in this slugfest.

Corse drove in his first run of the game with two outs in the first on a single, then came around to score on a wild pitch making it a 2-0 game basically all on his own.

The Panthers got one back though, as Atticus Bean, who also had a four hit performance of his own, doubled in a run to make it a 2-1 game after one.

But, the Cougars broke this one wide open in the second, as they scored five in the inning, and Corse drove in his second and third runs in only two innings. TJ Valletti, Sean O’Reilly, and Danny Meakim also had RBIs this inning.

Strath Haven got only one back the next inning, as Eli Price drove in a run on a ground out.

In the fourth, the Panthers made it a competitive game again. Back to back RBI singles from Quinn Kell (who also had four hits) and Bean made it a three run game.

Corse came home to score again on a wild pitch in the fifth, which was followed by an RBI double from Valletti to make it 9-4.

In the sixth, Corse drove in his fourth and fifth runs of the day, putting the Cougars on top 11-4.

In the last two innings, Strath Haven fought all they could, but only mustered out three more runs, making it an 11-7 final.

Strath Haven falls to 0-2, and 0-1 in the Central. They will play away at Harriton (2-1, 1-1 CL) tomorrow at 3:45 for a game that was supposed to be played on Monday.

The Cougars pick up their first win of the season, moving to 1-3, and 1-2 in the CL. They will play against a very tough Radnor team (2-0, 2-0 CL) Thursday at home at 3:45.

Garnet Valley 7, Conestoga 3

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

Harrison Maull with perhaps the most clutch swing of the early season for the Jags!

With a ballgame that was tied 3-3 in the top of the seventh, Maull launched a two-run blast to left field to put Garnet Valley in front 5-3 in an eventual 7-3 win. Garnet scored in each of the first three innings, including an RBI double from Ryan McGhee to take a 3-0 lead.

A fiesty Conestoga team battled back, scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth off of McGhee to tie the game, with an RBI double from Landon Jones and a two-run single from Josh Lee.

The game remained locked at 3-3 until that swing from Maull, which was one of the 12 hits on the day. Every single Garnet Valley player that got an at bat today got a hit except for Cole Lombardo, and I only say that because it’s kind of funny considering he was like 11/15 on the season coming into this game.

Baseball!

Brandon Capone, Ryan McGhee and Harrison Maull all had multiple hits. Dylan Orr gets the win with two shutout innings allowing just two hits and striking out three.

Landon Jones had two hits and an RBI in the loss for Conestoga.

Garnet Valley improves to 2-1 in the Central League and will be off for a while until they play Lower Merion on the road on April 7th. Unless they go down south somewhere and just don’t have it listed.

Conestoga (2-1 in CL) will head to Haverford (3-0) for a very tough road game on Monday.

Penncrest 2, Marple Newtown 0

By: Shelby Kauffman:

“Every piece we need to succeed this year is here” said Liam Wray in our preseason interview podcast.

Runs were hard to come by, but Penncrest did just enough to earn a 2–0 win over Marple Newtown in an early-season Central League matchup.

It took a minute, but the Lions broke through in the bottom of the third inning. Sergio Hernandez lined a single to left to get things started, and later in the inning, Braden Davis reached on an error that allowed both Hernandez and Christian Nunez to score the game’s only runs.

Up 2-0, Penncrest was sitting comfortably,  that is, until the Tigers loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth. With just one out, Hernandez completed a diving catch to end the threat, leaving the score intact.

Despite the lack of offense, Marple Newtown got a strong outing from Kevin Wigo, who went all six innings with seven strikeouts while giving up just two hits. Penncrest matched that effort on the mound, with Colton Busch going 4.2 innings before Henry Murphy and Conor Finan combined to finish the shutout.

Penncrest will improve to (2-1)*  and will face Devon Prep (0-1)* in a non-conference game on Saturday.

Marple on the other hand, will drop to (1-2) on the season dropping 2 of their last 3 games, but look to get back to .500 next Wednesday in a non-league matchup vs Germantown Academy.

*Conference Play

Lower Merion 10, Ridley 3

By: Nick Mazzarella:

Charlie Parsons contributed greatly to a much needed get right game after the Aces dropped back-to-back games.

Ridley struck first in the third inning, as Luke Ladislaw doubled in Aiden Wong to drive in the first run, then a few batters later, John Teehan drove in Ladislaw to make it a 2-0 game.

Lower Merion answered back in the fourth, as a flurry of hits gave the Aces a 3-2 lead, highlighted by Parson’s RBI triple. 

Aiden O’Quinn and Leo Ufberg both drove in runs in the fifth to extend it to a 6-2 lead, with O’Quinn’s base hit driving in two. 

Ridley got one back in the sixth on an error to make it a three-run ballgame.

But, the Aces weren’t going to let them back in it, as they scored another four the following inning, capitalized by Parsons second and third RBI’s, and his third hit on the day. Ufberg also drove in his second run of the day. It was 10-3 after six.

Will Cohen, who came into the game in the sixth, set the Raiders down in order in the top of the seventh to secure a much needed win for Lower Merion.

Justin Heck went 5.2 innings, allowed two earned runs, struck out seven, and was credited with the win.

Ridley falls to 1-3, and 1-2 in the Central League. They will play Oakton, a Virginia school, on Sunday. Their next Central League matchup is April 7th against Haverford.

Lower Merion evens up at 2-2, and 1-2 in the Central League. Their next Central League matchup is against Garnet Valley on April 7th.

Haverford 10, Upper Darby 0

By: Shelby Kauffman:

A few days after getting blown out in a non-conference game, Haverford returned the favor, rolling to a 10–0 mercy-rule win over Upper Darby. 

Unfortunately, like many of the games that go down at Upper Darby, the Fords got on the board right away in the top of the first and really never slowed down.

Jimmy Boyle tripled to start the inning, and a passed ball helped bring him home for an early 2–0 lead. 

From there, the offense never slowed. 

By the fifth inning, the score was 5-0 and just when you thought this game was settling down, Shane Durkan crushed a home run to give Haverford some breathing room, while Sam Sturman and Gavin Andrewson kept the hits coming.

 Klick and Boyle each added runs of their own, and the Royals just couldn’t catch a break. 

After a 5-run top of the fifth, all that was left was a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth and for today, that’s all that they wrote.

Rocco Kelleher officially records a no-hitter, while striking out eight in the process in the win.

Haverford will improve to 3-0 on the season in the Central League and will return home to play Conestoga (2-1) next Monday, in a matchup of two of the better teams to come out of the gate so far this season.

Upper Darby will fall to (0-3) on the season, but will have some time off before their next game at Conestoga (2-1) on Tuesday April 7th.

Radnor 9, Harriton 1

By: Shelby Kauffman:

All bad things come in threes, and unfortunately for Harriton, that was the case today as three different pitchers took the mound, and each allowed three runs as Radnor cruised to a 9–1 win over the Rams. 

Blake Havertine led the way for the Raptors on the mound, going five innings with 10 strikeouts, but it was a full-team effort that carried Radnor past the Rams.

The Raptors got on the board early in the top of the third. 

Hayden Goldenberg doubled on the first pitch he saw, and clearly something was in the air as his double was immediately followed by a double from Daniel Kellis to bring him home. 

With the help of an error at third base, Radnor scored three runs in the inning and took control of the game up a comfortable 3-0.

Despite a dominant third, the next three innings were quick and clean for both teams, but Radnor opened things up again in the top of the sixth.

A series of walks and a single by Austin Havertine gave the Raptors some breathing room. (just wait, the pitchers were on fire)

The team’s pitchers continued to make their mark at the plate: Daniel Kellis singled, Caden Szychulski doubled, and Matt Medina singled to push the score to 8–0.

Harriton managed to avoid a shutout with a run in the bottom of the sixth, but it wasn’t enough. 

Leading 8–1 going into the seventh, Radnor played keep-away and added one more insurance run when Austin Havertine singled to bring home the final run of the day.

With the win, Radnor improves to (2-0) on the season but will have a quick turnaround as they go on the road to face Springfield (1-2) on Thursday.

Harriton (1-1) will also have a quick turnaround on the day facing Strath Haven (0-1) at home Thursday, as they continue their homestand.

O’Hara 11, Ryan 1

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

Now THAT is how you start conference play.

I actually got to see the last four or so innings of this game because I was taking BP at the O’Hara cages with my fellow washed up 25+ baseball players and the Lions looked great. High Point recruit Adam Schreiber was locked in on the mound with ten strikeouts and the young guys in the lineup looked stellar.

O’Hara really did the majority of their damage in the span of two innings. They put four runs across in the second and five runs in the sixth to hit the mercy rule.

Connor Clark and Vinny Mancini both had two hits, with Mancini and Colin Thomas both driving in two runs. John Welde pitched a scoreless sixth in what would be the final inning.

Joey Thompson, Jack Quinn, and Jayson Gniewoz also drove in runs. The Lions were very patient at the plate, drawing 12 walks as well.

O’Hara has been playing some good baseball to start off the season. They improve to 1-0 in the PCL and will host Lansdale Catholic next Wednesday for their next game.

Judge 7, Carroll 6

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

You just can’t make eight errors in a game and expect to win.

Carroll held a 4-0 lead going into the top of the fifth before they made six of their eight errors in one inning, allowing seven runs to come across for Judge. They made five errors in the span of six batters, and the Crusaders took full advantage of that.

Carroll made things very interesting in the bottom of the seventh as they loaded the bases and got one run in on a balk. Max Barnes followed that up with a single to make it a 7-6 Judge lead.

Then in some terrible luck, Ricky Evans lined into a double play for the first two outs, and a strikeout ended the game.

Jack Stadnicki pitched well, going 4.2 innings with five strikeouts and seven unearned runs.

Dan McNally had a huge day at the plate, going 4/4 with an RBI. Max Barnes had two hits while Ricky Evans drove in two runs.

Carroll (0-1 in PCL) will look to have a bounce back game when they travel to Quakertown on Friday.

Conwell-Egan 4, Devon Prep 0

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

If you don’t know the name Brady Guzzie yet, it’s time to learn.

The Conwell-Egan junior lefty, who is committed to the University of Virginia, struck out FIFTEEN Devon Prep hitters in six hitless innings. Only two runners reached base, both via errors. It is still early of the season and the Eagles are likely just being cautious with his pitch count so he did not finish the game.

Billy Degler had the lone hit for the Tide in the seventh.

Johnny Doogan pitched well for the Tide, striking out four over three shutout innings.

Devon Prep (0-1 in PCL) will host Penncrest for a non-conference game on Saturday for their next game.

St. Joe’s Prep 5, Bonner 1

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

The PCL is loaded with arms this year, and three of the best all play for St. Joe’s Prep.

One of those is Junior RHP Chris Grasso, who is committed to the University of Miami.

He struck out 12 over six innings with four hits and one unearned run allowed in the win for the Hawks. St. Joe’s Prep scored two runs in the second, one in the third and two in the fifth after Bonner took an early 1-0 lead on an error.

Ryan Friel, Gavin DiRita, Cole Romano and Owen Lockhart had hits in the loss for Bonner.

Both Danny Buckton and Jack Coleman allowed one earned run over three innings of work.

The reigning PCL Champion Friars fall to 0-1 in PCL play and will host Pope John Paul II on Saturday for their next game.

Great Valley 7, Chichester 5

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

A tight game for the first three innings, Great Valley dominated the middle part of the game as they scored three in the fourth and four in the fifth to take full control.

Chichester rallied late with one in the fifth, one in the sixth and two in the seventh, but it was not quite enough to take down a good 6A Great Valley team out of Malvern.

Zach Murray and Chase Wanner both had two hits for the Eagles. Evan Valentine, Cole Sanford, Logan Werley and Brayden Sweigart also drove in runs for Chi.

Chichester will be right back to work on Thursday, for the Delco Baseball Now Game of The Week with rival Interboro. You can watch that game on the Delco Baseball Now YouTube channel with Jonah Casel and myself on the call.

Rustin 15, Sun Valley 0

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

To say it’s been a tough week for Sun Valley would be a bit of an understatement, but at least it went better than Coatesville did.

Rustin scored one in the first, six in the second, seven in the third, and one in the fourth to take home a mercy rule win.

Ryan Messick had the lone hit on the day for the Vanguards.

Sun Valley (1-2 in Ches-Mont) will host Henderson on Friday for their next game.

Faith Christian 21, Delco Christian 2

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

Delco Christian and Faith Christian have met in the district title for the last two years, and it was a little less close today than it was in the past.

Faith scored three in the first, four in the third, three in the fourth, but really ran away with it scoring 11 in the top of the sixth. Faith Christian has won two straight state championships and if today is any indication, may very well win a third.

Gabe DiGregorio, Josiah Lyren and Maden Longley had hits for the Knights in the loss.

On the bright side, Delco Christian does not have much time to think about this one as they travel to Church Farm on Thursday.