WISSAHICKON BASEBALL PREVIEW
Coach: Shannon Gunby (8th year)
Assistant Coaches: John McSweeney, Brett Hiett, Jason White, Erich Fenstermacher, Bill Wilcox
Last year’s record: 9-8 Overall 8-6 Suburban One American; Defeated by Downingtown West 2-0 in Round 1 of District 1 Playoffs.
Notable losses: Randy Frankenfield – York College (P/OF/1B) Joe Gorman – (C/P) Greg McDonough – Widener University(OF) Kensuke Kushimoto - (INF) Billy McFarland - (P/1B) Cody Franko – (INF) Michael Marcantonini – (C)
Returning Lettermen: Nick Falso - (Jr.-SS/P) Julian Osterneck (Jr.-OF/P) Brian Fischer (So.-C) Lee Dugger (Sr.-OF/P) Matt Oruch (Sr.-OF/P) Ryan Becker (Jr./INF) Brett Downey (Sr.-P/OF) Blake Rapoport (So.–3B) Ryan Toltzis (Sr.-1B/OF/P)
Strengths: This year we are solid through the middle of the field defensively with some very talented baseball players with only one of them being a senior. Nick Falso filled a question mark for us at shortstop last year and has developed into a high caliber player. He and Ryan Becker will pair up in the middle with sophomore Blake Rapoport at third base. The young trio will give us a solid infield. First base and catcher right now are a battle between multiple guys. Our outfield will be anchored by Gannon bound Matt Oruch who will start for his third season in center field. Lee Dugger has significant experience as well as Julian Osterneck in the outfield, and we expect the two of them to cover a lot ground with Oruch. Sophomore Conner Freeston will have an opportunity to be our fourth outfielder and fill the void left when Osterneck, Dugger or Oruch are on the mound. Senior Brett Downey did a really nice job for us last year when called upon. He along with Jake Seagal, Will Brownlowe, Jimmy Gorman, Dugger, Osterneck will have an opportunity to win some starts on the mound with the loss of our two top arms from last season. We will need to have some of our younger guys step up early on the mound to complement them. Freshmen Logan Willans, Alexander Tappen and Matt Shilling are all showing promise. Offensively, we probably possess the most speed we’ve had in years and also a very solid hitting lineup top to bottom. It will ultimately come down to execution.
Question Marks: We have some holes to fill at a few defensive positions, and guys are competing hard to get into the lineup. Some of our junior and sophomore pitchers will need to develop quickly for us. Competition and execution has been the name of the game again this year.
Outlook: We hope that our competitive internal team atmosphere and the high level of work that was put in during the off-season and the first few weeks will put us in contention to win an American Conference Championship and play in the District I Playoffs.
Games To Watch: Every game in our 14-game league schedule. We often don’t get as much respect as the bigger conferences, but each year the representatives from the SOL American play deep into the District I playoffs.
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