North Penn Baseball Preview

North Penn Knights Baseball

2018 Season Preview

Home Field: North Penn High School: 1340 Valley Forge Rd, Lansdale, PA 19446

Twitter/Instagram: @NpKnights

Facebook: North Penn Knights Baseball

Website: www.northpennbaseball.org

 

Head Coach: Kevin Manero (7th season; 16th season with program)

 

Assistant Coaches: Frank Yanni, Kevin Harris, Keith Clauss, James Ward

 

JV Head Coach: Joe Drelick (2nd season)

 

JV Asst. Coaches: Kevin Harder, Brandon Billetz, Bryan Clayton

 

2017 Record: 20-5 Overall; 11-3 SOL; Continental Conference Champions; District 1 Runner-Up; Lost to SJP in PIAA 6-A States

 

Varsity Returners (2017 starters in italics):

Danny Kirwin – RHP, Zack Miles- SS, Tyler Siddal- 3B, Ryan Bealer- OF, Atlee Hasson- OF, Joe Picozzi- OF

Billy Collins- 1B/RHP, Hunter Hamlin- C, Rob Weiss- 2B, AJ Patterson- RHP/INF, Mason Blankenburg- LHP, Colin Brown- C, Connor Mikulski- OF

 

Newcomers:

Colby Chan (2020)- 1B/OF, Kolby Barrow (2020)- RHP, Nate Brown (2020)- RHP, Joe Valenti (2019)-LHP,

Griffen Juckniewitz (2019)- INF, Jack Yunaska (2019)- INF, Jake Morello (2019)- RHP,

Jake Drelick (2019)- C, Ethan Weber (2019)- RHP, Connor Ertel (2019)- 2B/RHP, Kyle Schulze (2019)- OF

 

Starters Graduated in 2017:

Matt Stevenson( RHP- Millersville), Corey Stouffer (1B- Northampton CC), Nate O’Donnell (2B),

Matt Marino (C), Jon Udzinski (RHP), Dan Drop (DH)

 

2018 OUTLOOK: Like every year, the Suburban One League will be highly competitive, and there is no game that will not present challenges. We will have to find ways to beat good pitching in our conference and will have to command the strike zone and stay away from free 90’s. If we do those things consistently, we believe we have a strong core of returning players who, since the day our season ended on June 5, 2017, have been determined to get back on the field and play again. We like the progress our returning guys have made since last season, and we are excited about a nice mix of varsity rookies who will compete for playing time right away. The offensive options in our lineup should give us good threats one through nine, and as always defense and pitching with a command will be a top priority.

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