Seven SOL baseball teams are scheduled to be in action when the District One Tournament gets underway Monday. Check out Jarrad Saffren’s preview capsules for all the games as well as the SOL teams with opening round byes.
By Jarrad Saffren
There are 22 teams in the three Suburban One League conferences, seven in the National, seven in the Continental and eight in the American.
Thirteen of them qualified for the 2017 District One baseball playoffs.
Nineteen of the 22 are District One Class 6A teams. Eleven of those 19 made the District One Class 6A playoffs.
Wissahickon (5A), Upper Moreland (5A) and Springfield Township (4A) are below 6A. Wissahickon and Upper Moreland qualified for the District One Class 5A playoffs.
The SOL National was the deepest SOL conference in 2017, sending five teams—Pennsbury, Neshaminy, Council Rock North, Council Rock South and Bensalem—to the District One 6A playoffs.
The SOL Continental and American conferences both sent four teams to the postseason. So all three leagues were deep this year.
The District One playoffs start on Monday, May 22. All 5A teams open the postseason that day. Some 6A teams earned first round byes. They will open the postseason on Wednesday.
See a breakdown of the seeds and matchups below.
District One 6A
#2 Hatboro-Horsham (Bye)
• 15-4 overall
• SOL American champions (12-2)
• Score 4.2 runs per game and allow 1.6
• Offense led by Eddie Schultz, Eric Jester and Ryan O’Donnell
• 0.28 earned run average in 14 league games
• Pitching staff led by senior Brian Edgington (6-1, 0.30 ERA in 47 innings), senior Colin Kennedy (4-1, 0.33 ERA in 43 innings) and junior Alex Crim (2-0, 0.00 ERA in 10 innings)
• Wins over #13 Central Bucks East (8-4) and #5 Quakertown (2-0)
• Enter playoffs with 13 wins in last 14 games
#4 Pennsbury (Bye)
• 14-6 overall
• SOL National champions (10-2)
• Score 5.1 runs per game and allow 2.7
• Offense led by senior Tyrone Hodges, sophomore Justin Massielo, senior Dave Murphy and senior Vaughn Ward
• Pitching staff led by seniors Billy Bethel, Nick Price and Ryan McCarty
• Wins over #19 Bensalem (4-1), #9 Souderton (8-4) and #8 Neshaminy (6-1)
• Swept season series with #16 Council Rock North (6-3, 14-3) and #17 Council Rock South (4-3, 1-0)
• Enter playoffs on five-game winning streak
#5 Quakertown (Bye)
• 15-5 overall
• 11-3 in SOL Continental play (Finished second to Hatboro-Horsham)
• Score 5.4 runs per game and allow 2.8
• Offense led by seniors Matt Bukavich, Lake Friday, Brian Robison and Jake Wooden
• Pitching staff led by senior Viktor Morelock and junior Justin Guidos
• Wins over #2 Hatboro-Horsham (2-0) and #20 William Tennent (5-0)
• Enter playoffs on four-game winning streak
#6 North Penn (Bye)
• 16-3 overall
• SOL Continental champions (9-3)
• Score 5.8 runs per game and allow 2.2
• Offense led by junior Tyler Siddal, junior Ryan Bealer, sophomore Zack Miles and senior Corey Stouffer
• Pitching staff led by junior Danny Kirwin and senior Matt Stevenson
• Beat #13 Central Bucks East (6-1)
• Swept season series with #20 William Tennent (5-1, 6-1) and #17 Council Rock South (7-1, 7-0)
• Enter playoffs on three-game winning streak
#8 Neshaminy (Bye)
• 15-4 overall
• 9-3 in SOL National play (Finished second to Pennsbury)
• Score 5.5 runs per game and allow 2.2
• 1.41 team ERA
• Pitching staff led senior Zach Boop (6-2, 1.00 ERA in 49 innings) and senior Evan Matthews (5-3, 0.87 ERA in 48.1 innings)
• Offense led by Ben Raab (.341 batting average, .455 on-base percentage, 11 runs batted in, four doubles), Ed Parry (Team-leading 19 RBIs), Brian Nicolas (.333, 19 runs, 14 RBIs, eight doubles), Anthony Rapposelli (.323, .392, 14 runs, 21 hits) and Zach Tredway (.405, .447, 10 runs)
• Wins over #16 Council Rock North (3-0), #2 Hatboro-Horsham (9-6), #4 Pennsbury (1-0), #20 William Tennent (8-4), #17 Council Rock South (3-2) and #13 Central Bucks East (3-2)
• Swept season series with #19 Bensalem (4-0, 7-1)
• 2-2 in last four regular season games
#9 Souderton (Bye)
• 13-7 overall
• 8-4 in SOL Continental play (Finished second to North Penn)
• Score 5.3 runs per game and allow 3.9
• Offense led by seniors Thylar Summarell, Jack Despain, Derek Freed and Brett Moyer and junior Luke Barnum
• Pitching staff led by junior Blaise Sclafani, sophomore Jordan Morales and senior Dan Knechel
• Wins over #16 Council Rock North (3-2), #7 Perkiomen Valley (10-6), #13 Central Bucks East (10-3), #4 Pennsbury (3-2) and #20 William Tennent (10-2)
• Swept season series with #6 North Penn (9-8, 4-2)
• 12-2 in last 14 games
Monday, May 22
#17 Council Rock South at #16 Council Rock North
Council Rock South
• 11-9 overall
• 7-5 in SOL National play (Finished third behind Pennsbury and Neshaminy)
• Score 4.9 runs per game and allow 4.6
• Offense led by senior Josh Kim, junior Matt Smith, senior John Crane, senior Eric Jeronis and sophomore Trey Obarowski
• Pitching staff led by senior Zach Mayer and junior Brendon Carter
• Wins over #9 Souderton (7-3), #20 William Tennent (6-4), #16 Council Rock North (2-1) and #8 Neshaminy (5-1)
• Swept season series with #19 Bensalem (3-2, 4-3)
• Enter playoffs on two-game winning streak
Council Rock North
• 10-10 overall
• 6-6 in SOL National play (Finished fourth behind Pennsbury, Neshaminy and CR South)
• Score 3.8 runs per game and allow 3.6
• Offense led by junior Cavan Tully, senior Cole Olshavsky and senior Joe Preciado
• Pitching staff led by junior Eric Hoefer and junior Gavin Ferrandino
• Wins over #19 Bensalem (7-0), #17 CR South (10-0) and #8 Neshaminy (4-2)
• 1-5 in last six games
• CR North went 2-0 in non-league crossover games, beating Central Bucks West twice (7-2, 2-1). CR South went 0-2 in non-league crossover games, losing to North Penn twice (7-1, 7-0). SOL National and Continental teams both played two non-league crossover games that counted for power points. That is why North is a higher seed than South, despite winning one less league game.
#20 William Tennent at #13 Central Bucks East
William Tennent
• 7-13 overall
• 5-7 in SOL Continental play (Finished fourth behind North Penn, Souderton and CB East)
• Score 3.2 runs per game and allow 4.6
• Offense led by junior Greg Delgado
• Pitching staff led by senior Chris Sliwka
• Beat #9 Souderton (2-1)
• Swept season series with #13 CB East (6-0, 10-6)
• Enter playoffs on five-game losing streak
• 1-7 in last eight games
Central Bucks East
• 12-8 overall
• 7-5 in SOL Continental play (Finished third behind North Penn and Souderton)
• Score 6.0 runs per game and allow 4.1
• .292 team batting average and .399 team on-base percentage
• Senior CJ Gillmer leads team in hits (24), RBIs (20) and runs (18)
• Offense also led by seniors Cameron Komonchak (15 runs, 10 RBIs, six doubles), Jimmy Wiegers (.348, .434, 14 runs) and Collin Sheehan (.328, .451, 16 RBIs, five extra base hits)
• 2.56 team ERA
• Pitching staff led by seniors Tyler Quinlan (5-2, 1.91 ERA in 36.2 innings), Zach Millar (2-1, 2.13 ERA in 23 innings) and Jared Thompson (1.77 ERA in 23.2 innings)
• Beat #9 Souderton (9-8), #6 North Penn (6-1) and #17 CR South (18-7)
• Enter playoffs on two-game winning streak
#19 Bensalem at #14 Methacton
Bensalem
• 11-7 overall
• 6-6 in SOL National play (Finished fourth behind Pennsbury, Neshaminy and CR South)
• Score 4.3 runs per game and allow 2.4
• Offense led by junior Keith Parrish
• Pitching staff led by junior Stephen Aldrich, sophomore Nicholas Dean and sophomore Dom Grady
• Beat #4 Pennsbury (1-0) and #16 CR North (3-2)
• 6-2 in last eight games
Methacton
• 12-6 overall
• 10-5 in Pioneer Athletic Conference play (Finished third behind Pope John Paul II and Spring-Ford/Perkiomen Valley)
• Score 5.5 runs per game and allow 3.8
• Wins over #2 Hatboro-Horsham (7-6) and #7 Perkiomen Valley (3-2)
• 4-1 in last five games
District One Class 5A First Round
#15 Wissahickon at #2 Holy Ghost Prep
Wissahickon
• 11-9 overall
• 8-6 in SOL American play (Finished fourth behind Hatboro-Horsham, Quakertown and Upper Moreland)
• Score 4.7 runs per game and allow 3.2
• Pitching staff led by senior Logan Willans
• Offense led by seniors Alex Tappen, Matt Shilling, Andrew Seitz, Steven Loden, Trey France and Mike Schoenleber
• Swept season series with #10 Upper Moreland (5-1, 5-3)
• 6-2 in last eight games
Holy Ghost Prep
• 14-4-1 overall
• 14-2 in Bicentennial Athletic League play (Won BAL Independence Division; Finished third in BAL behind Dock Mennonite and Plumstead Christian)
• Score 6.7 runs per game and allow 1.9
• Offense led by freshman Will Binder, junior Sean Kerrigan, junior Mark Seibert, junior Brett Sternberg and sophomore Phil Stahl
• Pitching staff led by seniors Peyton Birch and John McCrane and sophomore Ryan Staropoli
• Did not play a District One 5A playoff team in regular season
• 3-3 in last six games
#10 Upper Moreland at #7 West Chester Henderson
Upper Moreland
• 12-6 overall
• 9-5 in SOL American play (Finished third behind Hatboro-Horsham and Quakertown)
• Score 4.1 runs per game and allow 2.1
• Offense led by seniors Randy Meehl and Ryan Lowry
• Pitching staff led by senior Brandon Kohn and junior Dawson Ruggles
• 6-5 in last 11 games
West Chester Henderson
• 11-8 overall
• 11-7 in Ches-Mont League play (Finished fourth behind Downingtown West, Bayard Rustin and Bishop Shanahan/Downingtown East)
• Score 3.4 runs per game and allow 3.3
• Offense led by juniors Ian Tracy (.333, .385, 13 runs) and Thomas Caulfield (.373, .492, 11 runs, 12 RBIs, six extra base hits)
• Pitching staff led by senior Matt Cappelli, junior Brady Bash, junior Evan Spano and sophomore Brendan Gray
• Swept season series with #9 Bishop Shanahan (4-0, 7-6)
• 8-3 in last 11 games
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