HATBORO-HORSHAM BASEBALL PREVIEW
Coach's name: Pete Moore, 11th season
Last year's record: 8-12 Overall, 6-8 SOL Continental
Key players:Conner Crookham (Sr., Captain, SS/RHP) signed with Old Dominion; Casey Saverio (Sr., Captain, CF) 1st Team All League, .386, 4 HR, 14 RBI as junior; Tyler Zingle (Sr. 3B/OF/RHP) 4-2, 3.59 ERA as junior; Chris Hens (Sr. 2B) plans to play at Gwynedd Mercy, .410, 1 HR, 10 RBI as a junior; Zach Crim (Sr., Captain, OF/RHP) will play at either Chestnut Hill College or Delaware Valley; Casey O'Donnell (Sr., LHP) several colleges interested including Temple, LaSalle, ESU, Millersville & Shippensburg
Season Outlook:Led by the depth of our pitching staff, I believe that we will win a lot of games this year, make the playoffs, and compete for a league championship. We have four senior pitchers (Zach Crim, Casey O'Donnell, Tyler Zingle, & Conner Crookham) that will pitch in college, in addition to four juniors with high ceilings. Two of those juniors gave us innings last year as sophomores (Ryan Kelly & Zach Prendergast) and will contribute to the offense as well this spring. The other two junior pitchers have looked strong early (Tyler Markovic & John Hlywiak). We are focusing on our defense, pitching, and base running here in the early season. Those are the things that I believe that we can control every time we step on the field.
We will be a fundamentally sound and aggressive baseball team. Our offense will be led by seniors Casey Saverio, who will soon make his college decision, and Chris Hens. Junior Grant Opalisky has opened some eyes in our early workouts. He runs, throws, and swings it very well.
Our catching situation will be handled by senior Kyle Scannell (a good catch and throw guy) and junior Chris Naiberk. Senior corner infielder John Nellett returns and looks to earn regular playing time. Seniors Andrew Keehn and Alex Matteo are new to the varsity roster this year and look to make an impact.
Our league is always one of the best in the state. It's an honor to be able to compete against the best high school talent in our area on a daily basis. Games in our league are frequently decided by one or two runs, so it often comes down to execution and doing the little things. Seven of our 14 league games last year were decided by one or two runs. We are putting a heavy focus this year on winning the 90-Foot War. The 90-Foot War means eliminating giving up free bases (Walks, HBP, Errors, Wild Pitches, Passed Balls, Stolen Bases, & Balks) to our opponents, and offensively it means that we want to earn as many free bases as possible. Statistics show that teams that win the 90-Foot War win more often then not.
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