Before we get into the newsletter, I first want to plug our second Dollar Dog Day, that will be happening this Saturday at noon at Bonner High School. It will be a Friar vs Friar matchup as Malvern Prep comes to town.

We have 414 Hot Dogs and 50 Bernie’s Pretzels coming and the goal is to leave with zero.

With that being said, let’s get into Thursday’s games:

Haverford School 5, Germantown Academy 4

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

The Fords could have quit this one after Germantown Academy scored four runs in the top of the first inning, but they stuck with it and came out with a 5-4 win in walk-off fashion.

Braydon Scanlan was the hero, as his two-out single found a gap to score Aiden Zwilling, who was running for Danny Getz after he doubled to start the inning.

Side note: Now that this is our fourth year covering high school baseball, it’s cool to see the siblings of some of our better high school players that we’ve covered make a name from themselvs. Connor Scanlan and Ryan Getz were both studs for the Fords.

Germantown Academy took advantage of three Haverford School errors in the top of the first to jump out to a 4-0 lead, but they would never score again.

The Fords answered back in the bottom of the third in a big way.

Zack Lawler singled and David Falcone doubled, before their first run came in on an error. Nicky Vanni then turned this game upside down with a monster three-run shot to tie it up at 4-4.

You can get your jokes in about the Haverford School field being small but I was watching live and that was an absolute rocket.

Jacob Horwitz did a great job staying the course after the errors scored those runs in the first. He threw four shutout innings after that with five strikeouts to keep them in this game.

Gabe Danisi threw the next 1.1 innings innings without any runs, and Matt Borden retired the last two hitters in the seventh to set the stage for the walk-off.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. The Fords were 9-17 last year and are already 11-4 this year. Jack McCann has done an unbelievable job this season and the Fords are missing arguably their best two hitters in Jaidyn Rivera (missing the whole season with a torn ACL) and Thomas Lawler (injury timetable TBD).

The Fords will host Archbishop Carroll on Saturday for a Delco on Delco non-conference game before they are back in the Inter-Ac against rival Episcopal on Tuesday at EA.

Malvern Prep 10, Kennett 1

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

I believe we have our first seven-inning no-hitter of the year!

This one comes in combined fashion as Cooper Romanczuk and Gavin Antenucci split this game up and were both stellar:

Romanczuk: 4 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 K

Antenucci: 3 IP, 0 H, 1 ER, K

The Malvern offense helped them out early as they scored two in the first, two in the third, five in the fourth and one in the fifth. The lone Kennett run came on a fielder’s choice in the fifth.

Tyler Ryan had a hit and drove in two runs for the Friars. Austin Crowley had an RBI triple, Scott Dvorak, Stephen Postek and Bryan Cogliano also drove in runs.

The Friars only had five hits in this one, but they did walk a whopping 15 times as well.

The Friars improve to 18-3 on the year and will head to Penn Charter on Friday to continue Inter-Ac play, where they sit at 1-2 after falling to Episcopal on Tuesday.

Chichester 12, Interboro 3

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

While not mathematically official, this win for Chichester basically clinches the Del Val title for the Eagles.

Chichester got out of the gate red hot as they scored six in the top of the first and never looked back. They also added one in the second, one in the fourth, three in the sixth and one in the seventh.

Luke Werley led the way on offense as he went 3/5 with 3 RBI. His brother Logan went 2/4 with an RBI as well.

Cole Sanford had two hits and drove in two runs, Jeremy Murray also added two hits and drove in three runs.

On the mound, Gavin Derrickson allowed three runs over three innings and Zach Murray threw four shutout innings with four strikeouts.

Jaxson Munro and Kaiden Whalen both had two hits in the loss for Interboro. Austin Dean and Whalen drove in runs.

With the win, Chichester improves to 7-0 in the Del Val and will be off until they head to Academy Park on Thursday.

As for Interboro, they fall to 5-2 in the Del Val and will have a non-conference game at Susquehanna Township on Saturday.

Chester 11, Academy Park 1

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

Chester scored two in the first and three in the second to really take control of this game, but put it out of reach with six in the bottom of the fifth to claim a mercy rule win and take the season series over Academy Park with one game against them left to go.

Jacoby Roman was excellent on the mound for Chester. He allowed just one hit and one unearned run over five innings with ten strikeouts.

Juan Martinez paced the offense for the Clippers, having two hits while driving in two runs. Kevin Logan and Emil Smith Jr. also both drove in two runs as well.

Chase Clark had the lone hit on the day for Academy Park.

Chester improves to 3-4 in the Del Val with this win and will host Penn Wood on Tuesday looking to get to .500.

Academy Park falls to 1-5 and will head to Interboro on Tuesday for their next game.

Penn Wood 17, Overbrook 2

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

After losing four straight games to open up the year, Penn Wood has now won two of their last three games since then.

This time, they did it in convincing fashion, scoring 17 runs in just three innings.

The Patriots put eight on the board in the first and did the same in the second before adding one more in the third inning to hit the mercy rule.

Tyler Smith had a big day from the #9 spot in the order as he went 3/3 with a triple and 4 RBI. Jasai Hailey hit a three-run homer as well for Penn Wood.

Sal Faralli had two hits and drove in a run.

On the mound, Jaeden Davis threw all three innings and allowed just one hit with two earned runs and seven strikeouts.

This was a non-conference game for Penn Wood so their Del Val record remains at 1-4, but they are now 2-4 overall. They’ll host String Theory for another non-conference game on Friday.

Bristol 12, Delco Christian 11

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

Well this one’s going to sting for a long time for the Knights.

Delco Christian had two separate leads of five or more, and lost both of them in a 12-11 loss in walk-off fashion.

They led 6-0 going into the bottom of the fifth, and Bristol scored six to tie it up at 6-6. They then scored three in the top of the sixth and two in the top of the seventh to open up an 11-6 lead.

Bristol then put six runs on the board in the bottom of the seventh to walk away with an improbable win.

That’s a tough one to mentally move past for sure.

Josiah Lyren and Maden Longley both had two hits and drove in three runs. Micah Dutton and Cyrus Mulder had three hits as well in the loss, while Nathan Burd drove in two runs.

Lyren also struck out ten over 4.2 innings with three earned runs.

Delco Christian falls to 3-2 in the Bicentennial League and will be off until Monday when they host MAST Charter.

Downingtown East 10, Sun Valley 0

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

After losing to Downingtown West on Wednesday in mercy rule fashion, Sun Valley saw the same fate in this one against Downingtown East.

The Cougars scored two in the first, two in the second and iced it with six in the bottom of the fourth to hit the mercy rule after Sun Valley hit in the top of the fifth.

Jaeden Larch, Josh Dawson and Jaden Comisiak all had hits in the loss for Sun Valley.

The tough season for a young Vanguards team continues as they fall to 1-9 in the Ches-Mont. They will be off until Monday when they head to Avon Grove looking to get back on track.