A cadre of GFS players (Thomas Primosch among them, second from right) at a practice in the Lenfest Center in Hunting Park.

by Jonathan Vander Lugt

Germantown Friends School’s head baseball coach Tim Gunn expects a lot out of his seniors this season.

“One thing I’m learning about this level is that your seniors have a lot to do with your success,” Gunn said. “Not just with their play, but with their leadership. Last year, it was a lot tougher.”

Obviously, given that the Tigers had only two. This year, they have 11. It’s likely that six or seven of them will be regulars.

“This year, having so many, it makes a huge difference,” Gunn went on.

Among this year’s twelfth graders are Garrett Melby, Sam Istvan, Thomas Primosch and Joe Block. Melby and Primosch were first-team All-Friends League for their bats, while Block and Istvan helped Primosch anchor the starting rotation.

“Our team chemistry is way better than it was last year,” Melby said. “All of us have been playing together for at least seven years now, some guys longer. Six of our nine guys are seniors. We’ve got Mike Buckmire playing now.”

“Last year we had two,” Melby continued. “Our leadership and our cohesiveness is a lot better than it has been.”

Take the following exchange as proof, where Melby waxed about what else this year’s team has that last year’s team didn’t. First, it was that the Tigs features three sub-seven-second runners in the 60-yard dash. For reference, seven seconds is about the average time for a major-leaguer.

Next, it was Primosch’s heat off the mound.

“We have Thomas,” Melby said, “who’s getting up near 90 on the mound.”

Primosch quickly cut in: “That’s not true.”

“You hit 88—that’s near 90,” Melby appealed back.

Primosch replied, “I hit 88.”

“Once,” he went on. “In the summer.”

“Count it,” Melby said.

Istvan added to the banter: “He throws really fast.”

Primosch continued, “I don’t throw 88 miles per hour. Don’t print that.”

For the record, Primosch sits in the mid-80s (82-85), and occasionally touches higher.

Their exchange was light-hearted, fun and above all, showed a group of kids that were comfortable with each other. They’ve been playing together for a long time, and it was apparent.

“We’ve grown together and haven’t won yet,” Block said. “In four years, we’ve been chomping at the bit, only to get knocked out early in the playoffs.”

“I think, as a group, because we’ve faced hardship in the past, it’ll come to fruition,” he went on.

“This is the best team we’ve had since we’ve been in high school, easily,” Melby said.

Even though that’s the case, they aren’t playing with a ton of pressure. They know what the expectations are, and don’t stress too much.

“We expect to be a playoff team, and we’re going to try to win a championship,” Primosch said. “I know it sounds cliché, but we need to take it one game at a time. That’s what we didn’t do a good job of last year.”

“We’re not necessarily playing with a lot of weight on our shoulders, but we’re playing hungrier,” Istvan chipped in. “We have expectations for ourselves. Rather than being scared, we’re going to get it.”

“This is our last chance,” Melby added. “We want to get after it.”

Last year, the Tigers were bounced in the four-five playoff game early in the Friends League tournament. The main downfall of that roster was that there was so much uncertainty baked into who was going to play where.

GFS went into the season with a lot of questions and found relatively few answers. Kids filled in at multiple positions, switching throughout the season when holes popped up. On this topic, the group offered more banter:

“We had literally five or six positions where we had no clue what was going to happen,” Primosch said. “This year, we know it’s different because there’s more than one guy who could play.”

“It’s more like a battle than a free-for-all,” he continued. We definitely have more depth this year.”

“We have questions, but they’re good questions,” Istvan said.

“Last year they were bad,” Primosch said.

Melby added: “We have options, I would say.”

Gunn was in agreement.

“This has been the first year where it’s been a good problem that we don’t know who’s going to play where,” he said. “We have a lot of guys competing for different spots. We have four pitchers that have pitched varsity, and a really good freshman class.”

“I’m excited,” he said. “We have a whole different attitude.”

Jonathan Vander Lugt can be reached at vanderlugt.chlocal@gmail.com