Baseball 2018 Preview

Bob Harmer

BASEBALL- The 2018 North Penn Baseball team huddles up between innings in South Carolina during one of their first games of the season.

Coach: Kevin Manero (7th season as head coach, 16th season overall)

Assistant coaches: Joe Drelick, Kevin Harder, Bredan Billetz, Bryan Clayton, Kevin Harris, Frank Yanni, Keith Clauss

Last year’s record: 20-5 Overall, 11-3 SOL, lost first round of states. Suburban One Conference Champs. District 1 runner up

Varsity Returners (2017 starters in italics):

Danny Kirwin – RHP, Zack Miles– SS, Tyler Siddal– 3B, Ryan Bealer– OF, Atlee Hasson– OF, Joe Picozzi– OF

Billy Collins– 1B/RHP, Hunter Hamlin- C, Rob Weiss- 2B, AJ Patterson- RHP/INF, Mason Blankenburg- LHP, Colin Brown- C, Connor Mikulski- OF

Newcomers:

Colby Chan (2020)- 1B/OF, Kolby Barrow (2020)- RHP, Nate Brown (2020)- RHP, Joe Valenti (2019)-LHP,

Griffen Juckniewitz (2019)- INF, Jack Yunaska (2019)- INF, Jake Morello (2019)- RHP,

Jake Drelick (2019)- C, Ethan Weber (2019)- RHP, Connor Ertel (2019)- 2B/RHP, Kyle Schulze (2019)- OF

Starters Graduated in 2017:

Matt Stevenson( RHP- Millersville), Corey Stouffer (1B- Northampton CC), Nate O’Donnell (2B),

Matt Marino (C), Jon Udzinski (RHP), Dan Drop (DH)

Outlook: “Like every year, the Suburban One League will be highly competitive, and there is no game that will not present challenges. We will have to find ways to beat good pitching in our conference and will have to command the strike zone and stay away from free 90’s. If we do those things consistently, we believe we have a strong core of returning players who, since the day our season ended on June 5, 2017, have been determined to get back on the field and play again. We like the progress our returning guys have made since last season, and we are excited about a nice mix of varsity rookies who will compete for playing time right away. The offensive options in our lineup should give us good threats one through nine, and as always defense and pitching with a command will be a top priority,” said Manero.

GAMES TO WATCH:

4/18 Home vs. CB South (Autism Awareness)

4/24 Home vs. CB East

5/15 Home vs. Pennridge (Senior Day)