Looking for their 4th consecutive Inter-Ac championship, the Friars start the season ranked #1

After capturing their third straight Inter-Ac title last season, the Friars find themselves right back at the top of the rankings to start the 2014 campaign after being projected as the best team in Pennsylvania by Maxpreps.

It’s certainly hard to argue with that ranking as Malvern’s dominant pitching staff from last year is nearly exactly the same as the one who helped the Friars to a 27-9 record a year ago. Senior Gardner Nutter and junior Chris Butera will once again look to lead the team to victory from the top of the pitcher’s mound. Nutter compiled a 7-0 record last year and Butera added a remarkable 8-1 record as only a sophomore.

Senior shortstop Matt Maul who is headed to St. Joe’s said, “With pretty much all of our pitchers returning and a solid defense to back them up, we should have a good shot at the 4-peat for the Inter-Ac title.”

While Inter-Ac MVP Joe Poduslenko and catcher Steve Robinson have graduated, Malvern will still have some serious pop at the plate to supplement the strong arms on the team. Third baseman Mark Gentilotti committed to Delaware to play baseball in the off season, and he certainly looks poised to have a break out year.

Also returning is the closer Tony Gruenling, a Babson signee, who said, “As a team our goal is to win the Inter-Ac and with the number of guys returning and the talent coming up, we should be able to do it again.”

The confidence of the team is definitely high, yet the squad isn’t getting ahead of themselves. Maul said, “We’re going to take it one game at a time, but we know we can score runs and that combined with our pitching and defense should help us to another successful season.”

Other than the always intense Inter-Ac season, some other exciting parts of the upcoming year are the Friars are heading down to Myrtle Beach, SC in late March to play five games over a long weekend. Also the team got a few sets of new Adidas uniforms after Coach Hilliard negotiated a deal to outfit the team in all Adidas gear this past fall.

The entire team is absolutely ready to break out the mitts and get the season underway with the first scrimmages scheduled for the middle of March. Now they only have to hope Mother Nature will cooperate, so they can get back to preparing to compete for their 4th straight Inter-Ac Championship.