(picture of Springfield’s Drew Kraus via Owen Dulski)

LIMEPORT, PA — Springfield made its first state tournament game since 2017 a memorable one.

Facing District 11 champion Southern Lehigh under the lights at historic Limeport Stadium, the Cougars won a 2-0 thriller.

In a hostile environment that would crush a lot of pitchers, Drew Kraus took his game to another level. The sophomore delivered a three-hit shutout against a strong Southern Lehigh offense and hundreds of opposing fans.

Springfield’s offense took a little while to get going against Kraus’ counterpart, Spartan starter Chase Woodring, but they came through in a big way. 

The Cougar bats made a lot of contact early but couldn’t seem to break through Southern Lehigh’s strong defense.

With Woodring’s pitch count just above 50 entering the seventh, it looked like he would be able to throw all night. Sometimes a little luck makes all the difference, and Danny Meakim seemed to have some leading off the inning.

Meakim popped an 0-1 pitch to centerfield. It’s hard to tell if the Spartan centerfielder misread it, lost the ball in/above the lights, struggled to get down the insane hill center at Limeport, or a combo of all three. Nevertheless, the ball dropped for a leadoff single.

I mean, look at this field. It’s certainlly a unique outfield to say the least.

Springfield played a little small ball after that, with Nick Corse dropping a sacrifice bunt to put Meakim in scoring position. TJ Valletti hit one hard, but right at the Southern Lehigh left fielder for the second out.

Johnny Hopkins took one off his hand for another Cougar baserunner. Sean O’Reilly had a couple great takes and loaded the bases with a walk to bring up Shane McCaffrey.

It’s probably safe to assume this was the biggest at bat of McCaffrey’s life. Bases loaded, two outs, in the seventh inning of the state tournament. McCaffrey is a senior and heading to UCLA as a student. There was a real chance this at-bat would be the last of his career. 

With all that pressure, and the hundreds of nervous eyes on him, McCaffrey ripped an 0-1 offering up the middle for a two-RBI single and a late lead.

One of the cool things about amateur sports is the different paths and futures of the people playing them. 

We spend a lot of time talking about big time college commits and rising stars yet today, the biggest hit in the biggest game of the last Delco team standing belonged to an 8 hitter who’s not pursuing the game past this. 

Now speaking of rising stars, Drew Kraus is one and showed why in this game. With a 2-0 lead and facing batters desperate to keep their season alive, Kraus barely broke a sweat while retiring the side in order to close out the win. He also closed out that WC East states game, so he’s certainly not afraid of the bright lights.

It’s the type of tough victory Springfield’s been able to get all season. The defense was rock solid as well behind Kraus, their highlight of the night came on a phenomenal throw from O’Reilly that cut down what would have been Southern Lehigh’s opening run in the fifth. 

The Cougars move on to the state quarterfinals on Thursday. Time and place is still TBD but they’ll face a very strong West Chester Rustin team. Both teams are familiar with each other as they scrimmaged early in the year, and went through the same district bracket.

Wherever it is, we’ll be out to stream this must-see matchup. We will update everyone on the time and location when we know more.

(photo of Zach Fein via Shelby Kauffman/DBN)

RADNOR, PA — Radnor squared up against a tough Hatboro-Horsham team with a spot in the District 1 5A championship and the state tournament on the line. The Raptors used a late rally and some great pitching to beat the Hatters 4-3 in nine innings.

Hatboro-Horsham got out to a 3-0 lead early on. Ryan Thomas singled and Chris Herrera walked with one out. The runners moved to second and third with two outs to set the table for Kenny Lutz.

Lutz singled to center to score one run and chaos ensued after that. Zach Fein fielded the throw home and tried to throw to second to get Lutz but the ball got away and past the centerfielder.

Herrera scored and Lutz came all the way around as well for quite the Little League home run and a 3-0 lead for Hatboro-Horsham.

The lead held for a while thanks to some great work from HH starter Cole Reinheimer. Reinheimer worked out of danger all day and gave the Hatters a great start.

Radnor tied things up in the fifth though, thanks to some heroics from starting pitcher Daniel Kellis. Teddy Monahan doubled with two outs and Fein singled him home to get the Raptors on the board. 

Matt Szychulski singled to keep the inning alive and bring up Kellis. Up to that point, Kellis had been pitching a fantastic game. He added to his day on the mound by blasting a titanic triple to tie the game at 3.

From there, we saw some great, high pressure pitching from Kellis, Ryan McWilliams, and Hatboro-Horsham reliever Chris Herrera to keep the game at 3-3 until the bottom of the ninth.

Radnor got things going again with two outs. Will Selbach beat out an infield single and Monahan drew a walk.

Zach Fein was the hero for Radnor. He hit a ground ball to third that was going to be a close play all the way. The throw took the Hatboro-Horsham first baseman off the bag and Selbach, who was hustling around the bases, came home to score the winning run.

Radnor books a spot in states and moves on to their second straight district championship game. They’ll get a rematch of last year’s semifinal against Upper Dublin at Villanova on Tuesday.

We’ll most likely get a matchup of the Austins; Austin Havertine for Radnor and Austin Dahl for Upper Dublin. You won’t want to miss that one as we will be streaming it on the Delco Baseball Now YouTube channel.

(cover photo courtesy of Hunter Haas/hhh.creations)

WEST CHESTER, PA — Winning on the road against 6A seven seed, West Chester Henderson, was always going to be a tough task. Even tougher considering they had their ace ready to throw coming off a first round bye.

Garnet Valley almost pulled it off though. The Jaguars led for most of the game before Henderson tied it in the bottom of the sixth. Garnet had a few chances in extras but could not capitalize, eventually falling 2-1 on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth.

Joe Anzalone and Dylan Orr pitched great for Garnet Valley. Anzalone started and pitched six innings. He struck out six and gave up only four hits and one unearned run. Orr pitched 2.2 innings of high leverage baseball, doing well until some control problems got him in trouble.

The Jaguars got out to an early lead in the top of the second. Brady Thompson led off with a single, stole second, and advanced to third on an error. He came in to score the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly from Orr.

It stayed 1-0 for a while, with Anzalone largely keeping Henderson’s offense off balance. Two errors set the Warriors up with no outs in the sixth though. 

Gabe Reinheimer singled to load the bases and Ethan Franks scored on a wild pitch during the next at-bat to tie it. Anzalone did manage to work out of the jam with a strikeout and a groundout.

Garnet Valley almost answered back in the seventh. Anzalone reached on an error and Cole Hoffacker singled with no outs. Henderson made two great defensive plays to get out of the inning with no runs scored though. 

The Warriors ran a bunt play to get the force at third on a sacrifice bunt for the first out and had a game-saving relay on a Cole Lombardo single to get Hoffacker at home.

There would not be much action until the bottom of the ninth, all three of Anthony Barthol, Michael Cugino, and Reinheimer threw very well for Henderson in this one. Back-to-back two out singles from Cole Ryan and Sam Prior set the stage. Prior advanced to second and Garnet elected to intentionally walk Liam Schwinn to load the bases.

Franks came to the plate with a chance to win the game. He worked the count full and Orr just missed with his 3-2 pitch off the outside corner. I thought it was a strike in real time but unfortunately I was not the umpire.

The walk brought in the winning run and sadly ended Garnet Valley’s season. It’s one they should be proud of, especially considering the injury issues the Jaguars dealt with. The future is bright for Garnet; they return most of their core offensive players and star pitcher Ryan McGhee.

As for Henderson, they will head to Methacton on Friday for the 6A quarterfinals. The winner of that game will earn a bid to the state tournament.

(photo of Austin Dean courtesy of Matteo Rivera/Delco Baseball Now)

After spending a while in the 5A classification, Interboro dropped down to 4A for the 2025 season.

That move came with another playoff appearance. The Bucs went 10-7 overall and 9-3 in the Del Val to snag the fourth and final spot in the 4A playoffs.

Interboro’s opponent will be top seed Springfield Township HS (Montco). The Spartans had a great year, going 17-3 overall and 14-1 in the Suburban One Freedom, winning the league. 

It’s a tough matchup for Interboro. This is a strong, veteran-heavy team with some really good top end pitching.

The ace of this staff looks to be Nolan Kidwell. He’s a left-handed pitcher and outfielder committed to Millersville. Kidwell leads the team in innings pitched and is 4-0 with a miniscule 0.79 ERA.

If Springfield decides to save Kidwell for a potential district final, Max May or Bobby Hartman could be the ones taking the mound. Hartman, a Catholic football commit, and May have both had really solid seasons and will be tough assignments for the Interboro offense.

Hartman, Kidwell, and May also make up part of what looks like a strong Spartan offense. Senior Matt Caruso leads the lineup in batting average and is one of six Springfield starters hitting over .300. Jon Matthews and Chris Cahill join the four previously mentioned players hitting above that mark.

Springfield has a lot of experience in the 4A playoffs. This is their third-straight year in the tournament; the Spartans made a run to the championship game last year.

Interboro will most likely take a committee approach to keeping Springfield off the board. Tyler Green, Mike McLaughlin, Jaxson Munro, and Shane West all have thrown a similar amount of innings and have been pretty successful. We saw Green and McLaughlin throw against Chichester back in April and both were solid on the mound.

We’ve also seen a lot of Bucs get a good amount of at-bats. Statistically, their best hitter this year is actually a freshman. Austin Dean has done a great job out of the leadoff spot and is hitting .351 on the year. 

Scott Poluchuck has split time in the outfield all year but has been starting recently and hitting well, posting a .458 average in 24 at-bats. JJ Nelson has also had a good year, hitting .333.

You always have to watch out for a few other seniors at the top of this Interboro lineup. Andrew Barbera, Nick Rivera, Evan Thomas, and West are all experienced players with a lot of success in their careers. They have been key parts of some pretty crazy offensive outputs over the years.

Interboro will punish you if you take them lightly and Springfield, a team seemingly with hopes for a district title and beyond, could really find themselves in trouble if they look past the Bucs. 

A win for Interboro would be a massive upset, but it’s far from impossible. This is a tough team led by a veteran core looking to pick up a career-defining win. It will be fun to see what this group can do on the road on Tuesday.

(cover photo of Toby Myers via Shelby Kauffman/Delco Baseball Now)

BRYN MAWR, PA — Lower Merion and Conestoga met in a high stakes rubber match as part of the first round of the District 1 6A playoffs. This time, the Aces won in convincing fashion.

An 8-2 win gave Lower Merion the season series and advanced them to the next round of the tournament where they will play #5 Pennsbury Tuesday afternoon on the road.

Brian Heck got the ball for LM and was fantastic yet again. He threw a ten-strikeout complete game and had Conestoga hitters off balance all day.

The first two and a half innings flew by in this one, with Heck and Conestoga starter Luke Hunter trading zeroes. That trend stopped in the bottom of the third, when the Aces broke through.

Good things happen when the bottom of your lineup gets on base. Lower Merion saw that first hand today after nine hitter Matt Hartstein singled to lead off their half of the third.

LM’s lineup flipped over and leadoff hitter Gus Wright followed with a single of his own to put runners on first and third. Brody Slensky got his team on the board with a RBI single to right and again, Lower Merion had runners on first and third.

That brought up Toby Meyers, who showed off some power. Meyers smoked a 1-0 pitch to dead center field that looked to clear the fence at Harriton pretty comfortably. 

Meyers’ bomb put Lower Merion up 4-0 and made the decision to move the game to Harriton, a field with a fence, look like a great one.

Conestoga showed some fight against Heck in the top of the fourth. James Quici led off with an infield single and Hunter helped himself out with a bloop to right that put runners on first and third with one out.

Chase Cherny cut the lead to 4-1 with an RBI single. Cherny was almost picked off during the next at-bat but Heck threw the ball away, allowing another run to come in. With Cherny now on third, Heck picked up two clutch strikeouts to end the threat.

From that moment on, it was all Lower Merion. In the fifth, Nicholas Dragut led off with a double and put them in a good position to add to the lead.

Calvin Rendle laid down a good bunt that was thrown away by Stoga pitcher Ryan Bauer and LM’s fifth run came home. Charlie Parsons made it 6-2 with a double to the left-center gap.

Meyers came back around to put things away in the bottom of the sixth. After a leadoff double from Wright and a Slensky single, the stage was set again. Meyers came through with a single, picking up his fourth and fifth RBIs of the day and giving Lower Merion an 8-2 lead.

Heck had another clean inning in the top of the seventh and this one was over. Lower Merion picked up a well-earned playoff win and advanced to the round of 16 in the 6A tournament for the second time in three years.

Their last trip to that round ended in a loss to Spring-Ford, but the Aces have reason to believe this time could be different. They’re swinging some hot bats right now and have Justin Heck and the rest of the bullpen ready to roll.

On the other side, Conestoga wraps up what was a great first season for head coach Anthony Greco. The Pioneers made their first playoff appearance since 2021 and have a lot to be excited about with some of their returning players. 

Losing obviously stings but they can hold their heads high knowing that this was a formative year for a program looking to get back to its previous heights.

Lower Merion will face 6A fifth seed, Pennsbury, on Tuesday. This game was originally scheduled for Wednesday but with the weather forecast not looking great, all the schools in the 6A bracket agreed on moving their games up.

I think moving the game up could help the Aces. Pennsbury is a really strong team so being able to just go right back out and face them the day after playing one of your best games all year feels like an advantage.

We’ll see how it shapes up tomorrow. It’s going to be a big day of baseball.

Of the four matchups involving teams we cover on the first day of District 1 playoffs, the most intriguing is the matchup of Central League foes in the 6A, 12 vs 21 game.

Lower Merion and Conestoga meet for the third time this year. The stakes are a little higher now that we’re in the “win or go home” portion of the season.

The Aces are the higher seed and will have home field advantage. I guess you could call it home field advantage, LM decided to play this game at Harriton not South Ardmore Park. They went 12-7 overall this year and 10-6 in the Central League, good enough for the twelfth seed in District 1.

This is the third-straight year we have seen Lower Merion make the playoffs, but the first without star pitcher Van Wilner. It has been an impressive group effort from the 2025 team to get back to this spot and the rise of two twin pitchers has certainly helped.

Brian and Justin Heck make up a legitimate 1-2 punch in Lower Merion’s starting rotation. While both are in their first year of getting real varsity experience, they have shown a lot of poise and pitched in many important games.

Playoffs always bring additional nerves, but a familiar opponent may help the Heck’s as it feels likely that we’ll see both pitch. Brian started the first game against Conestoga, going six shutout innings in a 3-1 win way back on March 19th. Justin threw a complete game in the second matchup, a 3-2 loss on April 30th.

If Lower Merion coach Colin Quinn decides to try and save one of the Hecks for the next round, Peyton Spiegler and Gus Wright look like reliable options to turn to out of the bullpen. Both have thrown a decent amount this year, but it feels more likely that one of the Heck’s starts.

Looking to give this staff some run support is a really deep LM lineup. Wright, Brody Slensky, and Toby Myers bring some firepower at the top of the order. In the middle of the order, Nicholas Dragut, Charlie Parsons, and Calvin Rendle have done a good job driving in runs.

Rounding out the lineup recently has been Leo Ufberg and Matt Hartstein. Coach Quinn has rotated Spiegler, Ryan Scholz, and Brendan O’Gara in the bottom of the lineup a bunch as well. I’m not sure who will get the start from those three in the playoff game.

Taking on this lineup will almost certainly be Conestoga’s Luke Hunter. Hunter has had a huge year as the Pioneer’s ace and is also one of their top bats.

Conestoga has been one of the stories of the year. Anthony Greco took over as head coach this offseason following a few difficult years for the program. It looked like his first season at the helm would be another difficult one after an 0-5 start.

A disappointing March turned to a hopeful April and the Pioneers caught fire, winning their first seven games of the month. They would finish 8-1 in April, bringing them from nowhere to a playoff contender and the hottest team in the area.

The Pioneers finished 11-8 overall and 9-7 in the Central League. That earned them the 21st seed and a spot in the 6A playoffs for the first time since 2021. 

Hunter’s emergence in all areas of the game led this Conestoga turnaround but the talent on the rest of this squad is not to be overshadowed.

Henry Fuerst has settled into the number two role and put up good numbers this year. He’s actually seen Lower Merion twice this year and been pretty successful; Fuerst threw a complete game in Stoga’s 3-2 win over the Aces.

Max Brown and Ryan Bauer have both thrown a decent amount out of the bullpen. Brown seems to be the first option in relief. He has closed out a good amount of games for the Pioneers.

Conestoga can swing it as well. This lineup is capable of producing a lot of runs and features three college commits.

James Quici and Cooper Evers make a strong top of the order. Quici, a Penn State – Harrisburg commit, and Evers, a Hamilton College commit, have both been hitting well recently.

Tasked with driving those two in will be the middle of the order featuring Chase Cherny, Hunter, and Chase Rantanen, a York commit. Brendan Soura, Kurt Tharnish, Landon Jones, and Josh Lee make up a last-four in the lineup that has proven themselves capable of coming up with big hits in big moments.

I’m very excited to see what kind of show these teams put on today. Neither are playing their best baseball, Lower Merion lost their last two and Conestoga dropped two straight before beating Upper Darby on the final day, but that could change in a playoff atmosphere.

Playoff experience should help Lower Merion. A few players from this team will have been a part of the past runs and can help some of the more inexperienced guys. They’ll have their work cut out against Hunter though, who has been one of the best pitchers in the area this year.

I mentioned earlier that this game is taking place at Harriton instead of at the Aces’ usual home, South Ardmore Park. It’s certainly an interesting move to change the location of your playoff game to your rival’s field, but we were told that being able to play on a field with a fence (South Ardmore does not have one) was a determining factor.

We’re in for a great game today. This one kicks off, along with three other games we’ll be following at DBN, at 4pm. Be sure to tune in for coverage on my personal Twitter account @ben_thorpe34 as well as our main one @delcobaseball.

(cover photo of Catholic OF Sammy Burman courtesy of Catholic University)

Well, a busy season at the Division 3 level has reached its final chapter. Many seasons have come to a close, dreams and careers have ended, and a select few remain with a shot at a national title.

Delco will be lighter on representatives compared to last year. Of our seventy-eight players on a D3 roster this year, only nine have made the postseason spread across four teams.

That doesn’t mean we will not see some of these teams make runs like last year. There are some really talented rosters coming up that all have a good chance to win a few postseason games.

Division Three regionals kick off on Friday. While there will be a lot of action across the country, here are the teams with Delco guys that we think you should watch.

Randolph-Macon Yellow Jackets

We start off with a familiar face in the D3 postseason scene. Randolph-Macon was one of our teams to follow last year and while they were slightly overshadowed by the Misericordia run, the Yellow Jackets also made a run to the World Series.

They’re back again and as strong as ever. Randolph-Macon went 30-15 this year, finishing second in the always strong ODAC and making it to the tournament championship game before falling to Lynchburg.

The Yellow Jackets are also hosting a regional for the first time ever. D3 works a little weird with the hosting sites so they are not the top seed (that honor goes to SUNY Brockport), but do get the advantage of being at home.

Jon Quici is our lone representative on the Randolph-Macon roster. The Conestoga grad is a regular in the RMC lineup, starting forty-three games and hitting .304. Quici added six doubles, two triples, twenty-nine RBIs, and had a .772 OPS.

The sophomore was fantastic in the field as well. Quici only made one error across 124 total chances for a .992 fielding percentage.

Expect to see Jon up in his fair share of important spots as well. He’s been hitting around fifth or sixth in the lineup so that should come with some chances to drive in runs.

Some other players to watch in the Yellow Jacket lineup are Carter Schmitt and Chaz Harvey. They typically hit second and third in the lineup and have done damage this year; Schmitt leads RMC starters in batting average at .384 and Harvey leads the team in home runs with nine.

On the pitching side, they seem to have three strong starters in William Wian, Peter Phillips, and Bere Bauers (sick name). Sam Slevin is back as their closer/late inning guy and has seen action in twenty six games. Michael Shanahan also has a lot of high leverage experience, pitching in twenty-one games. 

If the conference tournament is any indication, Shelvin and Shanahan will be busy in the regionals. Both threw in four of the five games Randolph-Macon played in the double elimination portion.

While he isn’t a Delco guy, James Baffone was a Delco League player. He and Quici both played for Chester this past summer. Baffone is an infielder for Randolph-Macon and should also see some time in the regionals. He started twenty-nine games this year and hit .320.

Randolph-Macon starts off with third seed Messiah in the regionals. They went 31-14 this year and won the MAC Commonwealth. These two met earlier in the year as well, with RMC taking a non-conference series win in late February.

Evan Wagaman will be a guy this Yellow Jacket pitching staff needs to watch out for. He hit .340 on the year with eleven doubles, six triples, ten home runs, and fifty-five RBIs.

This is a very winnable regional for Randolph-Macon, especially with them being at home. Messiah is strong but the Yellow Jackets have beaten them already this season. SUNY Brockport will be even tougher; they have one of the best records in the country at 36-3-2 but, in my opinion, it came against lesser competition than what RMC has faced.

I feel good about Randolph-Macon’s chances to advance to the super regional round and maybe even beyond.

Keystone Giants

Another postseason regular is the Keystone Giants. I think I called them the Bombers a couple times in last year’s preview so I apologize and will get it right this time.

Keystone enters the regionals off their insane twentieth straight conference championship. They went 35-9 this year and swept through the United East tournament, beating Penn State – Harrisburg to take the crown.

Darren Hagan is the lone Delco guy on the team but should be one of their main contributors. Hagan, a Garnet Valley alum, was banged up to start the year but made it back in time to pick up thirty-one starts.

In those starts, Hagan hit .331 with seven doubles, two triples, two home runs, and twenty-seven RBI. The senior had an on-base percentage of .409 and also added seventeen stolen bases.

Hagan has been strong in the field as well, with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage as Keystone’s starting center fielder. Expect to see him out there almost the entire regional and to be hitting around the six/seven spot in the lineup.

There are some absolute dudes in this Keystone lineup. I counted eleven guys that have received regular playing time who are hitting over .300.

Leading this deep offense is Andy Rivas and Chase Boyle. Rivas was the United East tournament MVP and hit .458 with twelve home runs and fifty-eight RBIs. Boyle hit .423 on the year with thirty-three RBIs.

Not to be outdone by those two are Robert Estrada, Nate Ewing, and Carlos Pascual, who all have started over forty games and hit over .350. 

Keystone is not all offense either. None of their three main starters have lost a game this year. 

Sean Brennan was the United East Pitcher of the Year and was 9-0 with a 2.65 ERA. Quinn Holt was 5-0 with a 3.40 ERA. He struck out forty-seven batters in forty-five innings and has a fastball that can get to the mid to upper nineties. Leam Powell rounds out the starting staff; he was 7-0 in nine starts and had a 4.24 ERA.

The Giants are the two seed in the Granville, Ohio regional, hosted by Denison. They will start out with the third seed, Penn State – Behrend.

I imagine Keystone will feel comfortable playing a Penn State branch campus. The Giants are 10-1 this year against them, the only loss coming to Penn State – Abington in March.

Behrend may be the best of them, though. They went 30-9 on the way to winning the AMCC. Mac Ciocco is a guy to watch for the Nittany Lions, he hit .455 with forty-two RBIs this year.

Keystone has a good chance to pick up a few wins in this regional. Getting past the top seed Denison may be a tall task though.

The Big Red went 35-5 this year and spent a decent amount of time as the number one team in the country. They have yet to lose to a ranked opponent and are winners of fourteen straight. Denison can hit, pitch, field… you name it.

Upsets happen all the time, and this Keystone team is more than talented enough to pull one, but being drawn in a regional with one of the favorites to win the whole thing is tough. Either way, it will be fun to see how the Giants do.

Catholic Cardinals

Alright as an Etown alum, this one stings a bit but it has to be done. I present to you our team with the most Delco representation, the Catholic Cardinals.

Catholic had an up and down regular season but caught fire when it mattered most. Shockingly in danger of missing the Landmark playoffs, they won their last six regular season conference games and rolled through the tournament, going 4-0. 

The Cardinals earned their spot in the NCAA tournament with a 5-3 win against Scranton and now have a 27-16 record going into the regionals.

We have quite a few familiar faces as Catholic rosters six players from Delco. You can expect to see a lot of them on the field as well, the Cardinals wouldn’t be here without a few of the guys we’ll talk about.

Sammy Burman was one of the leaders on Catholic’s offense. The junior had the second highest batting average on the team, hitting .361 with ten doubles, two triples, four home runs, and 36 RBIs. Burman is getting on base almost half the time he steps to the plate; his OBP is .443.

We’ll see a lot of the Friends Central graduate and Wallingford native in the outfield. Burman starts in center field and usually hits somewhere in the middle of the order for Catholic.

Another regular starter on offense is Archbishop Carroll grad Jack Bateman. Bateman, a sophomore in his first year at Catholic after a year at Holy Cross, started to earn a lot of playing time around the middle of the year and has stuck in the lineup. 

Bateman has been playing a lot of third base. He’s hitting a modest .226 but has shown some power, with four home runs on the year. Jack has been hitting well recently though and picked up a couple of clutch RBIs for the Cardinals in close wins in the Landmark tournament.

Roman Tozzi is back at the top of the pitching rotation again this year. The Preseason All-American got off to a bit of a tough start, but is playing his best baseball now, racking up some really good starts ahead of the regional round.

Tozzi, a Carroll alum like Bateman, is 6-2 on the year with a 3.76 ERA and will likely be taking the mound in either the first or second game this weekend. If he stays hot, Catholic can beat anyone in a game he pitches.

Jack Scholz surprised us by pitching as much as he has this year. The freshman was primarily a second baseman in his high school years at Lower Merion but has pitched in about every situation you could think of this year.

Scholz started getting some time out of the bullpen early, transitioned to starting some games and even picked up a win, and has now seemingly gone back to the bullpen, pitching some high leverage innings. In three appearances in the Landmark tournament, he pitched three scoreless innings and picked up two saves.

Overall, Scholz is 1-1 with a 4.13 ERA and five saves. He’ll most likely be crucial out of the bullpen for the Cardinals over the weekend.

Nico Tozzi (Penncrest) and Ryan Kearney (Bonner) are both on the Catholic roster as well. Unfortunately, neither saw too much playing time this spring but will be along for hopefully a solid playoff run.

If I didn’t give you enough to follow already, some other guys to watch in the lineup are Steve Thomas, Dante Pozzi, and Mitchel Johnson.

Thomas has arguably been Catholic’s best hitter all year. He hit .382 with seventeen doubles, three triples, three home runs, and thirty-three RBIs. Thomas has also been playing the leadoff role as well as anyone, getting on base 49.5% of the time.

Pozzi has been a mainstay in the Catholic lineup for a few years and was as good as ever in 2025. He hit .331 in the middle of the order and picked up eleven doubles, a triple, four home runs, and forty-three RBIs.

Johnson is the main power threat for the Cardinals. He leads the team with ten home runs this year and has picked up forty-two RBIs as well.

On the mound, Cody Bosak was one of the best starters in the Landmark, going 5-0 in eleven starts with a 2.89 ERA. Sam Fairhurst was also very impressive, going 6-1 with a 3.19 and leading the team with sixty-five strikeouts.

There are a good amount of Philly area guys on this Catholic team and hopefully playing at the former home of Eagles head coach, Nick Sirianni, gives them a boost. The Cardinals are the third seed in a regional hosted by Sirianni’s alma mater, Mount Union. 

The hosts will be Catholics first opponent, as they are the two seed. The Raiders went 27-11 this year. An 0-2 showing in the OAC tournament did not stop them from earning an at-large bid, though, and Mount Union will be looking for a better performance in the regionals.

Mount Union will be very strong overall. Seven starters hit over .300 and they look to have a really deep pitching staff, with three or four solid starters and a lot of good bullpen options.

Jaired Lehman looks like a player to watch for the Raiders. He led the team in batting, hitting .385, and also has seven starts with a 2.97 ERA on the hill.

Rowan is the top seed in this regional. A perennial contender, the Profs went 31-10 this year and also picked up an at-large bid. The feature a lineup, led by Nick Struble, that features nine hitters batting over .300 and another deep pitching staff.

Just looking at the stats, I think depth, especially in the bullpen, could present an issue for Catholic as they get further into these games. At the same time, this team is playing its best baseball and when you’re this hot, sometimes you can throw numbers out the window.

Others to watch

There are a couple other teams playing in the D3 tournament that have, but do not really feature, Delco talent.

Case Western Reserve is a top seed and regional host. They went 27-12-1 over a really tough schedule and have their eyes set on making another World Series run.

Former Harriton standout Ross Brotherston is a freshman infielder for CWRU but has not seen much time. Brotherston has played in one game, getting an at-bat against New York University in April. 

Nick Harms and Dane Camphausen are probably two of the better hitters in the tournament overall and are definitely dudes worth paying attention to. Harms leads the team in average, hitting .395, and has twelve home runs as well. Camphausen is the home run leader for Case Western, blasting seventeen out this year.

Jason Bennett (Marple) and Matt Kane (Strath Haven) are freshmen at previously mentioned Rowan. Both are redshirts though so we don’t plan on seeing either of them.

While it is not D3, I wanted to give a quick shoutout to our two JUCO guys and multiple club baseball guys still playing. Tommy Bradley is a freshman at 47-4, defending NJCAA D3 champion, RCSJ Gloucester. Bradley is a relief pitcher for the Roadrunners, who began play in the Region 19 D3 final four on Thursday. The Bonner grad has thirteen appearances on the year and could see some time as Gloucester goes for another national title.

When he’s not working as one of our fantastic interns, Mark Zuppo has been putting up numbers as a freshman infielder for Lackawanna CC. The Garnet Valley alum missed a lot of time to start the year due to injury, but has worked his way into the Falcon lineup.

Zuppo is hitting .323 with a double, triple, and six RBIs on the year. He started every game of the Region 19 D2 tournament that Lackawanna won and will play a big role as the Falcons look to win the NJCAA East District championship this weekend.

In the club baseball world, Zach Taylor (Chichester), Brendan Liney (Haverford) and Kevin McGuire (O’Hara) will begin the NCBA D2 World Series on Friday as West Chester looks to win their second title in a row. Taylor and Liney were on the squad last year, McGuire is a freshman.

Penn State will look to win their third straight National Championship, the first of which DBN President Brendan Ricciardi was a part of, and have six Delco guys on their roster. Owen Mathes (Marple Newtown) and Pat Mannix (Radnor) are both typical starters in the infield. Drew Lamonica (Conestoga) is a center field that starts a good amount of games. Austin Marx (Radnor) is one of the top relievers out of the bullpen.

Justin Brennan (Marple Newtown) and Joe McGinnis (Broomall/SJP) are also in the bullpen and have not been featured as much this year, though Brennan got an inning in regionals.

Good luck to all of our guys, and we hope to be writing some more of these articles soon.

(cover photo courtesy of Shelby Kauffman/Delco Baseball Now)

RADNOR, PA — A win against Penncrest on Monday guaranteed Radnor at least a share of the Central League title.

Thanks in large part to Austin Havertine being his usual self, the Raptors cruised a 4-1 victory.

Radnor got off to an ideal start, scoring two runs in the first and second innings. Zach Fein got his team on the board almost immediately, his triple brought home Teddy Monahan, who led off with a single.

Known mostly for his work on the mound, Daniel Kellis came through at the plate today. His single put Radnor up 2-0 in the first.

Matt Szychulski doubled the Raptor lead in the second. Havertine led off with a walk, Monahan singled again, and with two outs, Szychulski ripped a two-RBI triple to make it 4-0.

Four runs were more than enough for Havertine; he was dominant again.

Penncrest made it interesting in the top of the third, Braden Davis singled home Lucas Punzo and a walk loaded the bases for the Lions. Havertine would bear down and get two strikeouts and a groundout to escape with no further damage.

The rally in the third was as close as Penncrest would get though. They were only able to manage another single off Havertine who finished with 6.2 innings pitched, 5 hits, 1 earned run, and a ridiculous 15 strikeouts.

Ryan McWilliams came in for one batter and got a groundout that sealed a share of the Central League title.

For a brief moment following the final out, Radnor was in sole possession of first place. Haverford would close out Ridley though, meaning the teams will share the Central League title.

It’s the first Central League championship, shared or outright, ever for the Raptors. There may be a lot more to come from this historic season as well; Radnor awaits their playoff fate as they are currently the second seed in the District 1 5A tournament.

They can take some time to celebrate though. Randor is off until next Wednesday, where they play their first district playoff game.

WALLINGFORD, PA — An upset-minded Springfield team gave Strath Haven all they could handle, but the Panthers were able to pull out a win in the tenth inning and boost their playoff resume as they look to be ready to host a first round game.

This came courtesy of one of the most exciting plays you can have in the game, the walk-off balk.

Springfield took the lead in the top of the first off Haven starter Caden Shuster. Nick Corse drew a walk to start the game, advanced to second on an error and third on a groundout. Pat O’Neill drove him in with a sacrifice fly.

Quinn Kell tied things up in the bottom of the second. His two-out, RBI single scored Max Kotzen and knotted things at one.

The tie would not hold for long and again, Pat O’Neill had a hand in Springfield getting on the board. He doubled to left with one out and Jake Lennon followed with a double of his own, putting the Cougars up 2-1.

We found ourselves in the middle of a very back-and-forth part of the game, as Strath Haven tied things right back up in the bottom of the third. Ben Milligan singled and Eli Price brought him home with a double to right.

Springfield got right back out to a lead in the top of the fourth. Max McGhee reached on an error and stole second to put a runner in scoring position. John Hopkins came through with a one-out single that got the Cougars back ahead 3-2.

In the bottom of the sixth, Kell picked up another RBI and tied the game again, setting us up for a marathon of a game.

Shuster reached on an error and Atticus Bean walked with one out. Both would advance on a wild pitch to set the table for Kell, who tied it at three with a groundout.

Things would stay where they were until the tenth inning. Both relievers, Jasper Hals for Strath Haven and TJ Valletti for Springfield, were lights out in some really high pressure innings.

After escaping a bases-loaded jam in the top of the tenth, Strath Haven put together a threat of their own. Milligan was hit by a pitch, Price reached on an error, and Alex Selverian was intentionally walked with one out.

This brought up D’Ancona with a chance to win the game. His job was made pretty easy, as a balk allowed the winning run to score.

While it’s a bit anticlimactic, Strath Haven will take the win any day. The Panthers improve to 10-5 in the Central League and 10-7 overall. Not quite as dominant as they have been in recent years, but honestly very impressive to be 10-5 with D’Ancona not being able to pitch for most of the season.

With one league game remaining, they find themselves holding the eight seed in the District 1 5A tournament. That would give them a home game against Phoenixville if all things hold.

For now, there’s still more regular season baseball to play. Strath Haven wraps up league play at Marple on Monday before finishing the game on the road against Interboro. Even at 5-10 in the Central League, Marple is technically not out quite yet as Unionville is 6-10 in the last spot as of right now.

Springfield drops to 3-12 in league and 4-13 overall. They finish up their Central League slate at Harriton on Monday and wrap up their season with two non-league games, at home against Unionville and on the road against Sun Valley.

PROSPECT PARK, PA — Wednesday was business as usual for the Interboro Bucs.

They scored three in the second, four in the third, and eight in the fourth to beat Academy Park 15-0 in four innings.

Evan Thomas got the start on the mound. He only gave up two hits and struck out six over three scoreless innings. Kaiden Whalen pitched a scoreless fourth, striking out one. 

Mike McLaughlin led the way offensively on a day that saw eight different Interboro hitters pick up RBI’s. McLaughlin went 3/3 with a double, triple, and a walk. He also had three runs scored.

Thomas and Andrew Barbera both had three RBI at the top of the lineup. Barbera added two hits as well, one of them a double. Sean Terry also had a multi-RBI game. The Buccaneer centerfielder picked up two on the day.

Things got out of hand in the fourth, and eventually ended with a mercy rule. McLaughlin’s triple scored Shane West to make it 8-0. Vinnie Gaul made the lead nine with a groundout. 

One more came across on an error and Barbera’s double pushed the lead to eleven. Thomas singled home the twelfth run and two more came home on another error. With two outs, Nick Rivera scored on a passed ball to make it a 15-0 game and invoke the run rule. 

Interboro moves to 10-6 overall and 8-3 in the Del Val. They’re in pretty good shape in the District 1 4A bracket, holding the fourth overall seed. The Bucs end the week by hosting Conwell-Egan of the PCL on Saturday. They’ll finish league play on Tuesday against Penn Wood.

Lucus Gilbert, Tristan Thompson, and Zahmir Latimore all picked up hits for Academy Park. The Knights wrap up Del Val play at home against Chichester on Tuesday.