You can argue what the best Delco Baseball rivalries are. Bonner/O’Hara, Chichester/Interboro, Strath Haven/Marple, there’s plenty to go around.
I won’t say that Haverford School/Episcopal is the best, but I do think that it often feels like it means the most because of how short the Inter-Ac season is. The season is only ten games, so the two games that they play together make up 20% of their regular season.
In 2026, that 20% went to Episcopal.
(Brendan Ricciardi)
Episcopal 5, Haverford School 4
By: Brendan Ricciardi:
Episcopal and The Haverford School played two tight rivalry games this season, but in both games, Episcopal came out on top.
The Churchmen took down Haverford 10-6 in our game of the week back on April 21st, and win this one 5-4 thanks to a JD Amoroso sac fly in the top of the seventh to break a 4-4 tie.
Episcopal scored two in the top of the first on a Spencer Schuh RBI groundout to score JD Amoroso, and a Reggie King RBI single to score Dillon Walls.
Haverford would get their first run on a Harrison Bongiovanni RBI groundout scoring Nicky Vanni in the bottom of the second, but EA responded right back in the third as Schuh drove in another run with a sac fly to score Walls.
The Fords had another answer, as they brought the power out. Zack Lawler and Braydon Scanlan both homered, and just like that, it was tied up at 3-3.
JD Amoroso broke that tie with an RBI single in the fifth to score Matt LaTour, both another Haverford homer, this time by Mike Noone, tied it up.
Ty Cohen led off the seventh with a double, and Matt LaTour did his job with a sac bunt to move him over to third. The small ball worked to perfection as JD Amoroso’s sac fly scored him to take the lead.
Charlie Smith went out to try and close it out for Episcopal, but an error and a walk put the tying and winning runs on base.
Haverford attempted a sac bunt, but a great play by Episcopal catcher Ty Cohen got the force out at third base to nail the lead runner.
Smith would retire the next two hitters via fly outs to bring home a 5-4 win.
JD Amoroso and Spencer Schuh both drove in two runs for the Churchmen, while Reggie King drove in the other. Dan Castro allowed three runs on five hits across four innings with two strikeouts. Charlie Smith allowed just one hit and one run over the final three innings with two strikeouts.
For Haverford, Jacob Horwitz allowed four runs on five hits across five innings while striking out four. Owen Murphy allowed a run over two innings with two strikeouts in relief.
Braydon Scanlan had two hits including a homer, with Zack Lawler and Mike Noone homering as well.
Episcopal improves to 15-8 on the year and finishes their Inter-Ac season tied for second place with Germantown Academy at 6-4. Next up for them is a home game with Holy Ghost on Saturday morning at 11.
As for The Haverford School, it has been a tale of two seasons for them. They started the season 12-4 but have lost eight straight to fall to 12-12 as they end the Inter-Ac season at 3-7. The only game on their schedule at the moment is a home game vs Central next Saturday 5/16, but based on recent history, I would think the PAISAA State Tournament would begin before then. We’ll have more info on that bracket soon.
Penncrest 7, O’Hara 0
By: Brendan Ricciardi
Penncrest lost a tight one to rival Strath Haven on Tuesday, but they rebounded in this one to get back on track against O’Hara.
Michael Schade was the story in this one, as the senior pitcher threw six shutout innings with five hits allowed and six strikeouts.
Penncrest scored their first run in the bottom of the second when Sander Robinson knocked in Andrew Luber-Solic with a groundout, but Penncrest really took over when they scored three in the bottom of the third.
All of those runs came with two outs, including a two-run single from Henry Murphy.
Penncrest would score one run in each of the last three innings to bring home the win. Sergio Hernandez had three hits to lead the Penncrest offense. Henry Murphy and Travis Younger both drove in two runs.
For O’Hara, Michael Brown threw three innings allowing one earned run and a strikeout. Freshman Joey Thompson continued a great debut season as he went 3/3 including a triple.
Penncrest improves to 12-7 on the year with this non-conference win. They are 10-5 in the Central League and will host Radnor on Monday for their last conference game. They are already headed to the playoffs, and could very well earn a first round bye should they beat Radnor on Monday.
As for O’Hara, they fall to 8-12 on the season as their regular season has come to an end. They will head to Bonner on Monday at 4:00 for the first round of the PCL Tournament.
Bonner beat O’Hara back on April 15th 1-0, you can watch the broadcast of this game on the Delco Baseball Now YouTube channel.
Malvern Prep 9, Springside Chestnut Hill 2
By: Brendan Ricciardi:
Malvern Prep had already clinched the Inter-Ac outright after defeating Penn Charter on Tuesday, but they win this one on the road handily to put the icing on the cake.
The Friars put seven on the board in the first two innings, including five right off the bat to take control of this game. Jalen Bowman and Brady Abate doubled back-to-back to start the game, and it was all Friars from there.
Brady Abate would also homer in the game, driving in two runs. Nick Schmitt also drove in two runs in the win. Grady Forsberg, Cole Scarbinsky and Luke Moore drove in a run. Jackson Melconian had two hits and a walk.
On the mound, Collin Romanczuk allowed just one hit over four shutout innings with six strikeouts. Kayden Wallace allowed a run in an inning of relief and Paul DiBona threw the final two.
Malvern finishes the Inter-Ac season at 9-1 and is now 27-4 overall. Their next scheduled game is home vs Westtown on Monday. As mentioned above, we should have the PAISAA Tournament bracket sometime soon and will let everyone know when we have that.
Holy Ghost 14, Chichester 6
By: Brendan Ricciardi:
In the battle of Delco Baseball Now interns David Szczepanski (Holy Ghost) and Dylan Johnson (Chichester), Szczepanski takes this one between the two Villanova journalism students.
Things started off great for Chichester after Zach Murray tripled to begin the game and Luke Werley grounded out to knock him in, but the game turned quickly as the Firebirds put six on the board in the bottom of the first.
Side note: Firebirds is without a doubt one of the best high school team names around. A lot of names are terribly boring (yes offense).
It looked like Holy Ghost was going to run away with this game as they lead 10-1 in the bottom of the fourth and almost hit mercy rule territory, but Chichester stormed back for five in the top of the fifth to make things interesting.
That included RBI singles from Damian Diaz-Badillo and two-run singles from Josh Stephenson and Logan Werley.
That was as close as Chichester would get, however, as Holy Ghost scored four in the bottom of the sixth to win this one 14-6.
The teams actually tied in hits with 14 each, but Holy Ghost was much more efficient.
Josh Stephenson had three hits for Chichester. Logan Werley, Evan Valentine, Gavin Derrickson and Damian Diaz-Badillo all had two hits. Werley and Stephenson drove in two runs.
Chichester falls to 12-6 overall, but this was a non-conference game, so it doesn’t affect their playoff chances. They are still 11-0 in the Del Val and assuming they beat Academy Park on Tuesday, they will be the #1 seed in the District 1 5A bracket again.
Before that, there will be a big rivalry game with Sun Valley on the road Monday.