PHILADELPHIA- A bright group of Inter-Ac all-stars’ dreams of playing in Citizen’s Bank Park came to an end this past Friday.
The Carpenter Cup representatives of the Inter-Ac/Independent schools lost 11-2 to the Delco team on Friday afternoon. The quarterfinal match-up was played at Showcase Field in FDR Park.
The Inter-Ac squad featured many familiar faces from the 2016 season including Episcopal Academy’s Kyle Virbitsky, Malvern Prep’s Chance DiFebbo, Springside-Chestnut Hill’s Mike Siani and Chris Alleyne.
The Inter-Ac starting lineup pulled out to a 2-0 lead after two innings thanks to an RBI triple by Penn Charter’s Mike Siani and an RBI single by Haverford School’s Tommy Toal, but Delco began to answer shortly after and continued scoring the rest of the way.
All the firepower of the Inter-Ac/Independents schools combined was no match for the pitching and bats of the Delco team.
Delco scored eleven straight runs off of the six pitchers the Inter-Ac used.
SCH senior Gunnar Hayes started and pitched 2 1/3 innings. Friends’ Central junior Chris Anas, Penn Charter’s Brendan Cellucci, GA’s ZJ Zabinksi and Jack Cuchanada relieved him. SCH’s Matt Hoffman finished the game.
Inter-Ac was just no match for Delco, who recorded 11 hits in 8 innings at that plate.
Delco’s four pitchers; Conestoga’s Angus Mayock, Harriton’s Jonah Frankel and Strath Haven’s Will Cary struck out the Inter-Ac batters a total of 11 times. But it was Haverford’s Cole Humes who pitched 3 scoreless innings which set the tone for the rest of his team.
The loss officially closes the books on Inter-Ac/Independents baseball in 2016. Though a sour end, the year was an exciting one as the Haverford School captured the independent schools’ state title against Inter-Ac foe Malvern Prep a few weeks ago.
Delco moves on to face the winner of Lehigh Valley and Suburban One American’s quarterfinal.
The Philadelphia Catholic League reps also moved on, featuring many members of Neumann-Goretti’s state championship team.
The semi-finals and final will be played in Citizen’s Bank Park on June 21 and 24.