CENTRAL BUCKS EAST BASEBALL PREVIEW
Head coach: Kyle Dennis (7th Year)
Last year's record: 12-2 SOL, 16 – 4 overall, Lost in 3rd round of districts to Coatesville
Key players:
David Yanni – Jr. – SS – 1st team All-conference 2013
Pat Reilly – Sr. – 2B – 3rd Team All-Conference 2013
Brandon Birkhead – Sr. – RHP/1B/OF - 3rd Team All-Conference OF 2013
Carter Usowski – Jr – 3B – HM All-Conference 2013
Dan Morrin – Sr – RHP – 2nd year Varsity Player
Thomas Prato – Jr. – 1B/DH – 2nd Year Varsity Player
Outlook: There is no doubt that we lost a great 1-1a punch in graduating senior pitchers Robbie Welhaf (Elon) and Blair Killough. They started 12 of our 16 wins last season and threw 75 percent of our innings pitched, and threw a combined 8 CG with 3 shutouts. We are fortunate to return Brandon Birkhead (1 – 0 with 2 Saves, 14IP 2.00 ERA) who had the third most innings pitched and is coming in with three years of varsity experience on the field. Sr. Dan Morrin (Moravian, 1-0 last season) and Sr. Dalton Smoot (4IP, 0.00 ERA last season) will also see significantly more innings on the mound this season than last year. They were varsity players last year, but saw few innings because of the dominance of Killough and Welhaf. We need a few underclassmen to step up and show they are varsity ready to round out the rest of our pitching staff.
David Yanni (.345BA, .456OBP, .543Slg), Carter Usowski (.250BA, .321OBP, .291Slg, and Pat Reilly (.333BA, .490OBP, .435Slg) all return to anchor an experienced IF. Each had a great deal of success last season. Our spark plug CF and leadoff hitter the last two seasons Vince Careghini (Shippensburg) has graduated along with LF Sean Usowski, but there is a solid group seniors and underclassmen competing for the three outfield positions. Ethan Rode (Wesleyan) will be difficult to replace at first base, but Jr. Thomas Prato, a power hitting left handed bat, will step in a showcase his talents.
As a team our focus stays the same. Throw strikes and field the baseball clean. Hits will come as we stay within our approach at the plate. This philosophy was key to our success last season as our pitchers worked ahead in the account, kept the ball down and limited extra base hits (5 all season) and walks (47 in 136.1 IP). Our defense had a combined .951 Fielding percentage last season and we return 3 of our starters in the IF.
This is a difficult conference and district. Every game is difficult and you have to bring your best stuff each day. If you don’t have your best stuff that day, you need dig your heels in and find a way to win anyways. Every win counts when any team can be at the top of the standings at the end of the season.
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