by Jonathan Vander Lugt

Lately, the expectation for Penn Charter baseball has been “Inter-Ac championship or bust.” In 2014, they tied for the league crown with Malvern Prep before back-to-back 5-5 seasons – each a disappointment amidst high expectations. Last year, the Quakers actualized and rolled to a 9-1 league record as perhaps the best prep team in the state.

This year PC finished 5-5 again, though it was far from a disappointment for first-year head coach Justin Hanley.

“With the way our year played out – we had seven new players in the lineup – the fact that we were in contention for the league title going into the last week of the season is something I’m happy with,” Hanley said. “I couldn’t be happier with the way that they battled all year. They didn’t quit or give up, and that’s all you can ask for.”

After replacing 10 college athletes, it’s hard to consider the year anything but a success. That kind of talent exodus would decimate most teams.

“It was a lot of talent to replace and a lot of innings to find,” Hanley said. Matt Gorman (Harford Community College), Brendan Cellucci (Tulane) and Joe Lancellotti (North Carolina) made up the pitching staff last year and all three are playing college ball.

“Our ace Will Samuel totally exceeded my expectations this year,” Hanley went on. “He was phenomenal, and Tommy Snipes, who is normally a middle infielder, stepped up big as our number two as well.”

“After that, three freshmen rotated in at different spots,” Hanley said, mentioning Jake Siani, Danny Will and Colin Lewandowski. “I told them at the beginning of the year that I was going to throw them in the fire a little bit, and they all handled the situation much better than I expected. The future is bright with those kids.”

Two more freshman were regulars in the lineup: designated hitter Dean Bergmann and shortstop Aaron Maione. Catcher Gavin Zavorski, a sophomore, batted full-time this year (after only catching last season) and called each game with minimal input from the coaching staff.

Bergmann showed a level of resiliency that even escapes some pros: the first live pitch he saw all season (in a scrimmage) came in at 92 miles per hour and hit him in the face.

“That would scare a lot of kids, but he bounced right back and had a phenomenal year,” Hanley said. “Getting them this much experience this early is definitely going to pay off, especially in a league as tough as ours.”

Elsewhere, first-round MLB draft prospect Michael Siani performed as he was expected to, though his younger brother Sammy was perhaps the most valuable Siani sibling to the Quakers this year.

“For the first three or four weeks of the season, Michael didn’t see a lot of fastballs, so he was only hitting around .200,” Hanley said. “In the three-hole, Sammy was by far our best player – there’s a case to be made that he’s our most valuable player wire-to-wire.”

The MLB draft starts on June 4, so the eldest Siani will have about a week after playing his last high school game before learning which pro team will hold his amateur rights. After the draft, he’ll have to mull turning down what is likely to be a $2 million or more offer in favor of playing college ball at the University of Virginia.

“He’s at a crossroads,” Hanley said. “The next few weeks will be important for him and his family. I can just imagine that they’re ready for it to be over – it’s been a long year under the microscope.”

After a rain-filled week following the conclusion of the Inter-Ac season, the fourth-seeded Quakers will take on their neighbor a few blocks north, Germantown Friends School on Tuesday to kick off the PAISAA tournament.

Should it win, PC will face the victor of the matchup between Springside Chestnut Hill and the Hill School Thursday before the tournament finals on Saturday.

“Though our league is like the SEC in that the regular season title trumps everything else, we don’t take the PAISAA tournament lightly,” Hanley said. “It requires a lot of strategy because of the way it’s structured.”

Weather permitting, the tournament will feature two games within the first three days and then a double header just two days later. In all, it totals to three or four games in five days for the teams that reach the final.

“It’s fun,” Hanley said. “It’s a week of high-pressure baseball and I think that makes it special.”

Penn Charter All-League Honorees:

First Team: Michael Siani (Sr.) OF; Sammy Siani (Jr.) OF; Will Samuel (Sr.) RHP

Second Team: Demetrius de Ramus (Jr.) OF

Information from TedSilary.com was used in this article.