(PHOTOS BY ALLIE RICHES FOR PSD)

BY JEREMY GOODE

PHILA. PA--Even Superman had his issues with Kryptonite.

For the Friends' Central baseball team? It does not seem like anything, or anybody, can really get in their way.

Sure, they lose significant players every year who move onto college, but they just replace them with kids already in the program and enhance their roles.

This season, it is no different.

For the past four seasons, Friends' Central has ended its season the same way, by hoisting an FSL championship trophy. This year, they shoot for their fifth consecutive league title. In the four championship wins in a row from 2021-24, Friends' Central has outscored its opponents 37-3. In that four-year span, they have lost only one league game, going 38-1.

“I am really, really, really proud of the culture with the baseball program,” Friends' Central head coach Jon Rubin said. “The teams are always really connected, and I know this team feels particularly connected to each other. It’s smaller; not as deep as prior years, but they really support each other and are having a lot of fun.”

The culture and continued success Rubin has established at the school located on City Avenue has been dominant. When one season closes as league champions, the next begins.

George School experienced that dominance first-hand, losing at Friends' Central 11-1 while getting mercy-ruled on Tues., April 8.

Friends' Central sent Lucas Abreu to the mound. It is the first time the junior is really getting to play high school baseball, after he sat out the last two seasons with injuries. While Abreu had been hobbled, you would not know it from his outing against George.

The right-handed pitcher dueled, pitching the full five innings that Friends' Central played on defense. Abreu struck out six, while most of the outs on balls that George put in play were routine.

“Fastball felt pretty good. Got a lot of ground balls and pop outs from the guys behind me,” Abreu said. “Got the outs, guys made plays… and we won the game.”

Danny Rodriguez started for George.

While Abreu did not allow many baserunners, he opened the first three innings with leadoff walks. The walks did not hurt him, since he finished those innings going one-two-three after putting a runner on.

After a scoreless first inning, Friends' Central’s bats got going in the bottom half of the second inning.

And even in the first inning, it was not for a lack of effort that Friends Central could not score. Two-thirds of their outs and three at bats in total involved hard-hit line drive outs to the outfield.

They converted during their next inning at bat.

After a leadoff single by Gavin Yeager, he scored on a grounder to third in which the throw to second went to right field, giving Friends' Central a 1-0 lead.

One of the core aspects of Friends' Central baseball has been consistent, and was true again against George: they run.

A lot.

They are aggressive on the basepaths. They take extra bases when the ball is in play. They steal every base when they have runners on. It is a quality that has propelled the team for years, guaranteeing runs and ultimately wins.

“We take a lot of pride in our baserunning. What changes from year to year is [the] actual team speed we have and therefore how we get the extra 90 feet,” Rubin said. “I feel like it is a great way to impact a high school baseball game, and the kids buy into it.”

Friends' Central added two more runs in the bottom of the second by putting the ball in play in the infield and having Oliver Lederman and Vaughn Jones steal bases, as both eventually scored.

The home team added two more runs in the bottom of the third with a two-run single to center field from Jones. Lederman and Ryan Mack both scored. Both also had stolen bases that helped lead to the scoring.

“That at bat, I had two strikes, worked on my two-strike approach to find a way to get the runs in to extend the lead,” Jones said. “And just got the pitch that I wanted.”

It feels like when anyone on the team gets on first base, you can assume they are on second. Or if they have runners on first and third, assume it will be second and third within a pitch.

An RBI bloop single to left from George School’s Akaash Hardaway made it a 5-1 Friends' Central lead. But that lone run might only have served to motivate Friends' Central’s bats, as they saved most of their runs for the bottom of the sixth, scoring six runs and a 10-run mercy ruling to defeat George School.

Luke Makuen ended the game with an RBI double to the left field fence. The inning saw eight players successfully get on base.

“What we try to focus on is quality at bats,” Rubin said. “That can be seeing six or more pitches in a single at bat, or anytime you hit the ball hard is a quality at bat. If you hit the ball hard, certainly they’re going to fall.”

It is Friends' Central’s first Friends School League game. They jump out to a record of 1-0, a good start in their campaign to win the league for the fifth year in a row.

“I think we have a great group of leaders who do a really good job of coaching up the team and keeping us motivated” Abreu said. “We have great guys all around, one through nine, and I love all of them.”