GA junior Jack Popolizio deals in an early-season game against Penn Charter. The right-hander, paired with fellow junior righty Colten Smith, has helped anchor the GA rotation through the conference slate. (Photo by Jonathan Vander Lugt)

by Jonathan Vander Lugt

At 3-3 in the Inter-Ac, Germantown Academy has already clinched its best conference record since 2014. The Pats have a pair of convincing wins – 9-2 over the Episcopal Academy, and 8-2 over defending champ Penn Charter. Their other win is over perennial league power Malvern Prep – the first time GA has topped the Friars since 2011.

“Our kids are playing well,” said third-year head coach Tim Ginter. “Even our three losses were close – two came by one run and the other came by two. We’re right there.”

At the beginning of the season, Ginter’s expectations were modest. His goal was just to be competitive in each game. But, as Sam Hinkie once said about the now-shining Sixers, progress isn’t always linear.

“They’re pulling for each other, and putting the GA jersey on is starting to mean something again, Ginter said. “Culture is a big thing across all levels of sports. It wasn’t going to change overnight but I think we’re in a good place.”

Helped by a year in which no team has emerged as a clear favorite in the Inter-Ac (no squad has more than four or fewer than two losses), Germantown Academy has a legitimate chance at playing for a league title in the coming weeks.

“We’ve always known that they were good players but figured that they were a year or two away,” Ginter said. “Things are starting to click a little bit. We’ve put ourselves in a pretty good position.”

After an opening week that featured a pair of losses to Penn Charter and Springside Chestnut Hill, Germantown Academy bounced right back with its wins over Episcopal and Malvern Prep.

“For us to go 0-2 and lose them in the way we did and come back and win two straight, I think that speaks a lot about where the kids are mentally,” Ginter said. “Even the Haverford Game (a 2-1 loss last Tuesday) would have been a blow in the past. We played very well that game but still came away with the loss.

“To come back and score eight against Penn Charter [on Thursday] and have basically every batter contribute, it was cool to see.”

Helming the renaissance has been two junior righties: Colten Smith and Jack Popolizio. Smith has fired back-to-back compete games over PC and Episcopal, striking out a combined 13 batters with just a .64 WHIP (walks plus hits divided by innings pitched; or, basically, baserunners per inning). Popolizio has performed nearly as well himself, allowing just four runs combined against Malvern and the Haverford School.

Tim Ginter encourages his team from the third base coach's box. Ginter, now in his third year after coming over from Father Judge, has guided the Patriots to a 3-3 record in the league so far. (Photo by Jonathan Vander Lugt)

All this after Ginter spent a bunch of time early in the season talking about how he planned eschew high school pitching convention to mix and match his hurlers depending on batter matchups.

“After our SCH game, we’ve had four of the more dominant starting pitching performances that I’ve seen in my years coaching,” Ginter said. “I have a legitimate one and two.”

One has to take what one is given, and it’s safe to say that Ginter doesn’t mind this deviation from the plan.

“Colten has put together back-to-back starts unlike – and I’ve been doing this for a while now – anything that I might have seen,” Ginter said. “He’s got 14 innings pitched, all on the road, and if not for an error in the outfield against Episcopal, he would have thrown under 80 pitches in both starts.”

Up next for Germantown Academy are second go-rounds with Springside Chestnut Hill and Malvern Prep. The Blue Devils and Friars are tied for the conference lead at 4-2, so this is perhaps the most important week for Germantown Academy baseball in quite some time.

If the Pats win each, they’ll be in the driver’s seat for no less than a shared league title. Even if they split, they should still have a shot and something to play for in the season’s final week.

“Slowly but surely, our kids are starting to believe in themselves as a team capable of going on a run,” Ginter said. “The kids are having fun. Where we are right now is a huge step for the program… They’re stepping on the field and expecting to compete. It’s not a shock for them to win a game anymore.”

Around the area:

Of Northwest Philadelphia’s handful of teams, Springside Chestnut Hill had the best week. The Blue Devils swept their Inter-Ac slate with 7-0 and 8-4 wins over the Episcopal Academy and Haverford School, respectively. At 4-2 in the Inter-Ac, SCH (10-7 overall) is tied with Malvern Prep for best league record. Carter Davis and Jack Elliott paired up for the win over Haverford, while ace Aidan Frye notched the win over Episcopal. SCH will host a pair this week: Tuesday against GA, and Friday against Penn Charter.

Those Quakers struggled last week and dropped a pair of conference tilts to Malvern Prep and GA. Though senior MLB hopeful Michael Siani continues to get major attention from professional scouts, baseball is a team game and he can’t buoy the Quakers by himself. PC now sits at 2-4 in the conference, tied with Episcopal for last place. PC will duel the Churchmen on Tuesday before traveling to SCH on Friday.

La Salle baseball, at a perfect 7-0 in the Catholic League, is in the middle of its best season in fourth-year head coach Kyle Werman’s tenure. According to longtime Daily News reporter Ted Silary, with their win Tuesday over St. Joe’s Prep, the Explorers have now guaranteed their 23rd consecutive winning record in the Catholic League – quite a streak. The last time LS finished below .500 in the league was in the spring of 1995, five years before any current Explorer was born. La Salle will travel to Archbishop Carroll Monday and Archbishop Ryan on Wednesday as they look to keep their perfect league record intact.

Germantown Friends, in head coach Randy Mower’s first year at the helm, continues to play well, though the Tigers split last week with a 9-5 loss to Friends Central and a 5-4 win over Westtown. Friends Central, Westtown and GFS all sit at 5-3 in the Friends League, tied for second overall in the conference behind the perfect (8-0) Shipley. On offense, senior Alex Mirage leads the Tigers with a .571 on base percentage. Kai Cummings has a 3.00 earned run average and is getting on base at a .456 clip, while Nigel Hamilton leads the Tigers with a 1.19 ERA and is second in strikeouts with 14. GFS will travel to Moorestown Friends School Tuesday before wrapping up its league slate against Abington Friends on Friday.