By Scott Huff
Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. – Benjamin Franklin
And in the case of the Pennridge baseball team – it wins you championships.
Pennridge – under the direction of head coach Tom Nuneviller – is the defending Suburban One League Continental Conference champion. And the Rams set their collective alarm clocks before sunrise in an attempt to get the jump on a new day.
“Since 2007 we have had the varsity practice from 5:15 am until 6:40 am for the first two weeks of the season,” said Nuneviller. “We get in over an hour of hitting at various stations, and there are no distractions.
“Then we have a second practice in the afternoon,” added Nuneviller. “The players know what is going to happen, and really nobody complains.
“Both (assistant coaches) Dave Hollenbach and Kyle Jerrom are right there with us,” continued Nuneviller. “We always seem to have quality kids that also happen to be good baseball players.”
Last season Pennridge finished with an SOL Continental record of 11-3 and an overall mark of 16-7. The Rams lost in the first round of the state playoffs to Parkland, 3-2.
Gone from the PHS program are a trio of standout players in Brad Herrmann, Eric Kammler, and Nick Raymond.
But there is abundance of talent back for Pennridge that includes seniors Ray Puskar, Ryan Metzler, Dan Wolfe, Kyle Meyers, Tim Eversole, Ryan Trauger and Brad Hess. Dylan Tice, Kyle Peters, and Jared Schafer highlight the junior class.
“We have high expectations for this team,” said Nuneviller. “But we play in a very strong conference, and each team is going to be good.
“North Penn is the defending state champion, Hatboro-Horsham has some young, good pitchers, Quakertown always hits the ball, Souderton has a great pitcher in Keith Moyer, and all three Central Bucks teams (South, East, and West) have players returning.”
But they are going to have to get up very early in the morning to beat Pennridge – very early.
SOL National Conference – Spotlight on Abington
This is not the same old Abington Ghosts.
Abington will no longer play in the shadow of its luxuriant football stadium, but on a pristine new field.
“It is a significant upgrade to the old field,” said fourth-year Abington head coach Dave Torresani.
In addition to the upgrade of the diamond, Torresani is optimistic that the players on the field will also be an upgrade from last season’s 7-13 (6-8 SOL National Conference) team.
“Overall, this is the most talented team that I have coached in my four years at Abington,” said Torresani. “If all the pieces come together, we could challenge for a district playoff spot for the first time in 20 years.
“Jake Ruch should be one of the top pitchers in the National Conference,” added Torresani. “We have a very nice mix of returning and new talent.”
Some of that returning talent includes veterans Scott Schwartz, Phil Sabella, and Kyle Dougherty. The new talent includes Mike Mullen, Justin Emrich, Tony Cairone, Jeremy D’Elia, Sam Pitkow, Ben Salus, Jake Ferrante, and Sam Sparhawk.
“Our biggest question mark is finding pitching depth to throw behind Ruch,” said Torresani. “If we can do that, we should be able to compete for a playoff spot.”
No, this isn’t the same old Abington Ghosts.
SOL American Conference – Spotlight on Wissahickon
Wissahickon flirted with .500 all season last year. The Trojans finished with a 7-7 SOL American Conference record, and ended the 2009 season 11-9 overall.
This year Wissy hopes to flirt with a conference championship.
“We hope that our experience and versatility will put us in contention for an American Conference championship,” said Wissahickon head coach Shannon Gunby.
“This year our strength will be in our defense. We are likely to start a lineup that has a player at almost every position that has at least one year of varsity experience, and in some cases two years of experience,” added Gunby. “We have an outfield that can track down balls with some exceptional speed.”
Wissahickon returns Brian O’Donnell, Rob McKena, JT Critis, and Ryan McDonough. Others to watch include Nate Guaglianone, Brian Kassi, Mike Kropnick, Alec Lineberger, Luke Mallock, and Joe McGinley.
“Some of our junior and sophomore pitchers are going to have to develop for us,” said Gunby. “It’s been great to watch our guys go at it to fill the starting lineup. Competition has been the name of the game this year.”
And that competition should fuel the Trojans drive to compete for a conference title.
Non-League Results
SOL National Conference
Council Rock North 11 – Cardinal O’Hara 3
William Tennent 14 – Norristown 4
SOL Continental Conference
Central Bucks East 13 – Nueva Academy 0
Methacton 10 – Souderton 5
Quakertown 13 – Palisades 1
SOL American Conference
Upper Dublin 11 – Central Bucks 10 West (10 innings)
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