Local schools gear
up for PCL baseball

By Joe Mason
Times Sports Editor

Two of the schools are hoping for repeat performances.
Another is hoping for a return to the top of the league.
The fourth is hoping to build a program from the ground up.
And all four of the local schools have grand dreams of a postseason appearance.
Catholic League baseball season is on the horizon, and Archbishop Ryan, Cardinal Dougherty, Father Judge and North Catholic all have hopes of bringing a PCL championship back to the Northeast.
Here’s a look at the local schools’ prospects this year:

Archbishop Ryan
Head coach Ron Gerhart led the Raiders to the Catholic League championship game a year ago, but a 7-3 loss to Archbishop Carroll cost his team the trophy.
Gerhart’s squad, which finished 23-5 a season ago, returns seven of its nine starters from last year’s runner-up team. But the bad news is the team’s top two pitchers, Tom Dolan and Mike Szelagowski, graduated last June.
Leading this year’s charge will be starting catcher Nick DiEnno, who Gerhart feels is a Division 1 prospect.
He will be joined by an infield that remains intact, as Rob Fisher (first base), Ed Kovacs (third base) and Anthony Carter (shortstop) return for their senior year.
The outfield will consist of seniors Anthony Turco, Kyle Unger and Nick Klein.
While there are no returning pitchers, Gerhart has hopes that Fisher, Kovacs and Carter, the starting quarterback on the Ryan football team, can provide innings on the mound.
Though pitching is a concern, Gerhart believes the strength of his team is senior leadership and strong defense.
"The guys who threw about eighty percent of our pitches are gone, so that could be a problem," Gerhart said. "But other than that, we return a solid player at just about every position.
"We’ll make the plays in the field and we should score runs," he added. "Plus the team is a great group that works hard and is dedicated. It’s a great group of guys who want to succeed."

Cardinal Dougherty
Joe Kerrigan Jr. takes over a Cardinals program that won just five of 18 league games. But the former minor league star and son of Phillies ex-pitching coach Joe Kerrigan believes that this year’s squad could show dramatic improvement.
Pitching should be a strength of the team, as senior Mike McCann takes over as the staff ace. When he’s not pitching, McCann will play third base.
Dougherty has a new face as the number-two pitcher. Sophomore Kevin McGovern, the brother of former Dougherty star Sean McGovern, will see a lot of work on the mound.
Senior Pat Peter should provide a powerful bat as well as great defense at first base, and senior Nick Halbner will be a steady shortstop.
Luke Ashenbrenner, the starting quarterback for Dougherty’s football team, will again man centerfield for the baseball team, with McGovern also seeing time in the outfield.
Kerrigan knows that his team could experience some growing pains, but a playoff berth is a realistic goal.
"I’m very optimistic," Kerrigan said. "I think we have the potential to surprise some people, because we have a great senior class who will lead us on the field.
"It’s a hard-working group with a great attitude," he added. "We just have to play hard all the time."

Father Judge
The Crusaders fell short of the playoffs last season, finishing league play with seven wins and 10 losses.
But the team looks forward to another season from Shane Erb.
After Judge concluded play last season, the tall pitching prospect continued to show great improvement through the summer, and the Crusaders should have a chance to win every time he’s on the mound.
Juniors Matt Compton and Justin DeChristofaro also should perform well as part of the pitching rotation.
Dan Higgins returns for his senior season to play third base, where he was a first-team All-Catholic selection as a junior.
He will be joined in the infield by Jason D’Ambroso, a junior first baseman.
There is competition at second base and shortstop. Junior Steve Carr and senior Dan Bucher are fighting for the second-base position, while juniors Mike Verrecchio and Jeff McMahon are competing at shortstop.
The outfield will feature seniors Phil Gushue and Rich Berger, and when he’s not pitching, DeChristofaro will see time at centerfield.
The biggest weakness for the Crusaders could be catcher. Last year, Judge had sturdy Dale Curry behind the plate, but he graduated in June.
So far, sophomore Joe Thompson and junior Anthony Mirabella have looked good in their bids to be Curry’s replacement.
The Crusaders also return head coach Joe McDermott, who has 330 Catholic League wins to his credit and more than 500 wins overall.
He is optimistic heading into the new season.
"If we find a catcher, we could be very good," McDermott said. "The work ethic has been great. If we hit strikes, throw strikes and make the plays in the field, we’ll be fine."

North Catholic
Last year, his first season with the team, Falcons coach Gene Bryan led North to its third straight playoff appearance with a 12-6 regular-season record.
This year, the team has the potential to make it four in a row.
The leader of the squad is All-Catholic second baseman Chris Wenger. The senior, a four-year starter, should provide runs from the leadoff position.
Other seniors who should help out are George Fenton (catcher), Brett Bryan (centerfield), Timmy Wallace (third base), Greg Schaffer (pitcher), Nick Pantalone (first base), Joe McDermott (infielder) and Jack Walker (pitcher).
The ace of the pitching staff will be junior Sean Murphy, a 6-foot-5, hard-throwing righthander.
Other juniors who should see quality playing time are Rob Clark (outfielder), Jason Devlin (outfielder), Mike Constantine (catcher) and Mike Deegan (outfielder).
North also has a strong sophomore class, as Chris Bonecourse will be the team’s starting shortstop and outfielder Ryan Nally and pitcher Adam Miller should see playing time.
"If our pitchers come through, we could be a very good team," Bryan said. "We don’t have the power that we had last year, but our pitching could be strong and we’ll manufacture runs.
"I know we’ll make the plays in the field," Bryan said. "If everything else falls into place, we could be very competitive." ••
Sports editor Joe Mason can be reached at 215-354-3035 or jmason@phillynews.com