GA baseball opening season with newfound confidence

Posted 4/8/19

Now in his fourth season as head baseball coach for Germantown Academy, Tim Ginter and his squad have a lot to look forward to in the 2019 season. by Jonathan Vander Lugt Now in the fourth season of …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

GA baseball opening season with newfound confidence

Posted

Now in his fourth season as head baseball coach for Germantown Academy, Tim Ginter and his squad have a lot to look forward to in the 2019 season.

by Jonathan Vander Lugt

Now in the fourth season of the Tim Ginter regime, Germantown Academy’s baseball team has a different air to it.

Because they have two legitimate aces starting each league game – Division I prospects and team captains Colten Smith (Duke) and Jack Popolizio (Fordham) – the Pats know that they’ll be able to compete every time they take the field.

The guys behind them should be able to do their part as well, because the GA defense has received a facelift.

Senior shortstop Dakota Barbet (who missed last season due to injury) will return to lead the infield, and senior Grant Giampalmi – who, by Ginter’s measure, plays the best center-field defense in the area – will patrol the outfield. The corner spots, which gave GA trouble at times last year, will be manned by the sure-handed former catcher Shane Harkins and Alexander Browne, a junior who – in addition to solid fielding – is putting on a show offensively.

Elsewhere, the rest of lineup is littered with varsity returnees, back with another year under their belts.

It’s an equation that’s causing Ginter to feel as good as he has in his tenure.

“I’m confident,” he said, “because we have a lot of talent. We’re bringing back most of the roster – including nearly all of our pitching staff – from a team that could have legitimately finished 5-5 or 6-4 in the league if a couple balls had bounced differently.”

Last year, Germantwon Academy finished with a 3-7 league record, where six of those losses came by just three runs or less.

“We’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on how we’ll turn those one or two-run losses into wins,” he said. “Getting kids to walk on the field and expect to win isn’t the easiest thing to do, and I’m glad that we’ve seemed to accomplish that.”

“There’s no doubt that we should be able to compete with anybody,” he said.

It’s been a long time coming. Four years ago, Ginter took over a moribund squad that lacked much direction, and because he was hired after the 2015 season ended, he wasn’t able to recruit any kids for the class of 2019.

Fortunately, Popolizio and Smith were already waiting in the wings, but Ginter has still had his work cut out for him as he’s overhauled the program’s entire ethos.

“I really believe that one of the primary roles of the coach is as a caretaker of the team’s culture,” he said. “Culture is grown from within, and I’ve never found it easy to just dictate to kids about what they think should be important.”

“In order for it to really work, the players have to claim ownership of the team,” he said. “It’s hard for them to do that for something they don’t really feel like they’re a part of.”

“There needs to be a level of mutual respect,” he said.

So, he’s led by example and his players have seemed to take to it.

“With this group, that’s been very easy. Our seniors really know what it takes to be successful,” he said. “So they’re able to manage that themselves to a degree.”

“I love coaching this group,” he went on. “They work hard, and really like being in each other’s company. There’s really an emphasis on winning. They’re not scared of anybody.”

That would include archrival Penn Charter (who they were slated to play in a rained-out, would-be opener Friday) or Malvern Prep, who the Pats beat last year for the first time in over a half-decade.

They open the league slate Tuesday against the Springside Chestnut Hill Blue Devils, which undoubtedly have high expectations of their own.

“We respect the talent in the rest of the league,” Ginter said. “We know that we can’t take anything for granted. Every game is a 7-inning battle that you have to win – you can’t expect the other team to lose it.”

“I know teams say things like this a lot,” he went on, “but I don’t really think there are rosters out there that are head and shoulders better than ours.”

“We aren’t pulling any punches this year,” he said. “Our expectation is to compete for a championship.”

sports