(PHOTOS BY COCO CHEN WESTTOWN '25)

BY JEREMY GOODE

After making the Friends School League championship game two years ago in 2023, last year Westtown baseball earned the final playoff spot, only to lose to Friends Central in the semifinals.

This year, the goal is clear: return to their 2023 roots and compete for an FSL championship.

Westtown took its first step to reach this goal after beating Barrack Hebrew Academy at home on Thurs., April 3, 11-1.

It was Westtown’s FSL opener, so they begin league play at 1-0.

“It’s great to get a win, especially at home,” Westtown head coach Kurt Kebaugh said. “Hopefully, that keeps our momentum going as we get into more league games.”

The Westtown baseball team just got back from its Spring training program in Florida. It was the second time the team has headed south to compete against other schools in that part of the country. They were able to play three official games and one scrimmage, finishing 1-2 in games that counted. The two losses came against talented teams from Illinois and Colorado.

Kebaugh schedules these games to force his team to play strong competition early in order to prepare themselves for the better FSL teams at the end of the season.

While Westtown benefitted from its games in Vero Beach, Fl., they came back to suffer a 15-0 loss at The Hill School, a bit of a rude awakening after coming back from the sunshine state and about to begin conference play.

Despite the loss to Hill School, Westtown would eventually avenge the loss and mercy-rule Barrack at home, although it would take a few innings to get going.

Westtown sent out pitcher Davis Grunwell, who ended up dealing for 5 and 2/3 innings. Grunwell gave up an unearned run in the first inning and then was perfect after that.

“I just trusted myself to throw strikes and fill up the zone,” Grunwell said. “I trust my bats to get it done and it is easy from there.”

It took Westtown hitters a few innings to acclimate themselves at the plate. While they were putting runners on the base paths in the first two innings, they did not have anything to show for it in runs. What turned out to be a lopsided finish started off as a tight one-run deficit for Westtown heading into the bottom of the third inning.

That changed in the bottom of the third, as they were able to break through with scoring and take the lead. After Grunwell hit Dylan Zahm in on a sacrifice fly to tie the game at one, Westtown scored three more runs in the inning. Trey Koplinka and Cooper Speacht both hit RBI doubles.

Grunwell finished the game with 10 strikeouts, just missing out on completing six innings. Westtown was up 5-1 when he exited the game.

“We put one of our better pitchers on the mound and he delivered for us,” Kebaugh said. “We really needed that after a long week in Florida; playing a lot of games and plating one yesterday. We really needed him to go deep and give our pitchers a break, and he stepped up and wanted the ball today and delivered.”

The Westtown bats used the bottom of the sixth to put the game away, scoring six runs and ending the game early since they led by 10 runs.

 Speacht hit another double down the right field line scoring two runs. TJ Bolivar scored two with his own single to right field. Dane Cook ended the game an inning early with an RBI single through the right side.

Cook initially did not realize his hit had officially ended the contest.

“I was not keeping track of the score, I was just thinking hit the ball,” Cook said. “It was not just me; we had so many other hitters today.”

With the victory, Westtown gets back into the win column and starts itself off at the top of the FSL. The team has not been 100 percent healthy yet, so Kebaugh is looking forward to the team getting healthier in the near future. He also thinks that as time goes on and the team continues to get reps in practice and in games, they will start playing their best baseball.

It is just a matter of time.

“I have super high expectations,” Kebaugh said. “Just have to get healthy and as the weather warms up and things get rolling , I think we can do really great things.”

For now, Westtown passed the test… a test that Kebaugh challenged his team with before the game against Barrack. While it is still early in the season, Westtown had also been on the other side in terms of results within the last week.

That changed against Barrack. Westtown heard the call.

“We stepped up as the game went on, so it was great to see,” Kebaugh said. “We expect big things out of ourselves, and I think this is a win that really gets us going moving on.”