MALVERN PREP 2025 PAISAA CHAMPIONS
Congratulations to Malvern Prep, your 2025 PAISAA Baseball champions - PSD Photo by Patty Morgan
Photos: Patty Morgan
By: Jeremy Goode
MALVERN, PA - This was not your older brother’s Malvern Prep baseball team.
That’s what makes this 2025 PAISAA title team so special.
Malvern Prep is no stranger to winning league titles and state championships. They have a rich history of winning and sending players off to compete at the highest level after high school. Their X account bio puts it on full display.
Since 2006, Malvern has won 11 state championships. Since their time in the Inter-AC, they have earned 27 conference championships.
The culture has been established for decades; bring in great baseball players, win a lot of games, and then cap most teams off with hardware.
The 2025 team was different.
With Malvern baseball, everyone is used to the dominant lineups, consisting of several athletes who are some of the bests in the greater Philadelphia area.
The team this year was hardly talent deficient. It was still a talented team, just younger and a little more inexperienced. Last year’s Malvern team, a powerhouse, graduated seven seniors, all of whom were significant contributors. This season, the team did not have as many bona fide stars or power.
Results showed this early on the season. Malvern was beating the teams on their schedule, but not with the ease they had enjoyed last season. Games were closer; final scores were tighter. While Malvern had run through teams for years, this season felt different, like other teams would have a chance to win the Inter-Ac and PAISAA.
Which is makes Malvern’s 6-1 PAISAA title game win against Episcopal Academy, to win their third consecutive state title on Sat., May 24, even more impressive.
They just had to win in a different way besides suffocating other teams with shear talent.
2025 PAISAA Baseball Highlights - Malvern Prep vs. Episcopal Academy - PSD Video by Jeremy Goode
Malvern Prep receives the PAISAA first-place trophy - PSD Video by Jeremy Goode
“They figured out their niche,” Malvern Prep head coach Freddy Hilliard said. “They found ways to score runs by only getting one or two hits here and there. And we played clean defense and pitched it.”
According to Hilliard, the 2025 Malvern team has had to work a lot harder. Last year, they could score runs in bunches and had a lock-down rotation. This year, it was a slimmer margin for error.
Instead of home runs and power hitting in the gaps to the wall, Malvern turned to small ball to rally and win their league championship and, eventually, the state championship. It showed in several ways, including stealing the most bases of any Malvern team.
Since this year’s team was used to playing in close games, they grew accustomed to being able to close out teams and deliver when it really mattered. This was fully on display against Episcopal during the PAISAA championship game.
And like this team has done all year, they would have to rally.
After going down in by a run in the top of the first, Malvern was sending runners to base but was unable to capitalize and get them home. Episcopal starting pitcher Hunter West was shaky in terms of location but was able to get out of the first two innings without a run given up and a 1-0 led.
That changed in the bottom of the third when Malvern’s Jackson Melconian scored from second to tie the game on a ground ball to short. Little did Owen Hammond realize at the time, but his double to the left center field wall to score Andrew Pellicciota would be the game winner.
“I was just looking for him [West] to go away,” Hammond said. “I know Hunter is a really great pitcher; we all respect him very well and have faced him three times this year. I was just looking for that fastball to crush. He gave it to me middle-in and I did damage with it.”
After a hiccup in the first, Malvern’s starting pitcher Chase Ecker, who will be playing outfield at William & Mary next year, cruised for the rest of the game. The senior finished the game with six scoreless innings, keeping Malvern in the game when they were trailing in the first few innings and then holding onto the lead once they gained it.
Owen Hammond on His Game Winning Hit In The Third Inning
Chase Ecker on His Performance From The Mound
Malvern Prep celebrates after receiving the PAISAA first-place trophy - PSD Photo by Patty Morgan
Ecker’s complete game win did not surprise the team, after he let up only four hits and struck out four. The defense behind the ace also had his back, making several stellar plays in the field and tallying 17 outs in the field.
“I feel like everything was working and I was just trusting my coach, Joe Moore who was calling everything,” Ecker said. “I was doing what I needed to do, had my team behind me, and the dugout was keeping me going too.”
Even though it was not a surprise to Hilliard, it was still a treat to watch Ecker deal one last time at Malvern, when it counted the most.
“He’s been Mr. Everything for us and that’s what he gives us every time out,” Hilliard said. “He is a strike throwing machine. He changes speeds. He does not care who is in the batter’s box. He’s going to challenge hitters, and knows our defense is going to make plays behind him.”
2025 PAISAA Championship Gallery by PSD's Patty Morgan
Quite the compliment.
But what really sets this team apart is the timely play.
After two quick outs on as many batters in the bottom of the sixth, with Malvern now leading 3-1, they could have been content to just send Ecker to the mound to get the final three outs up two runs.
That would be an easy move.
With two outs in the bottom of the sixth and no one on, however, Malvern doubled its runs, enabling it to go into the top of the seventh up five runs.
You can never count them out. With the bases loaded, Tommy Sergio singled through the left side, scoring two runs. Hammond then recorded a single for his second RBI of the game.
It was all welcomed by Ecker.
“That’s what we’ve been waiting for, just waiting for the breakthrough,” Ecker said. “It definitely gave me comfort to throw strikes.”
For Malvern, the season ended like it had the last three years, a dog pile on the mound and a Gatorade shower for Hilliard.
While it was a different type of Malvern team, they reinvented themselves and again displayed how deep the program and culture is.
At this point it is hard to see what there is left for Malvern to prove. Yes, win more trophies. But what are they really chasing at this point?
Malvern Prep head coach Freddy Hilliard gets doused with Gatorade - PSD Video by Jeremy Goode
At Malvern, it is always about playing the best baseball.
“We’re always chasing excellence. It is about playing the best brand of baseball we can, win or lose,” Hilliard said. “I am very happy for the team and the school and for the tradition that we have. It never gets old; we love dogpiling.”