Radnor Baseball made a storied run to the State AAA Quarterfinals last year, where they fell to North Pocono, 5-1. This year they set their sights higher, with the talent to do so, returning seniors Charlie Connolly, Will Hoysgaard, Jack DeShan, Patrick McDermott, Brad Henkin, Joe Riley, Evan Zhang, and Jack Koons. They started off their season with a victory against Marple Newtown. Closing out 2-1, the Raiders closed their runs with sophomore Sean Mullarkey and Jack Deshan. Charlie Connolly recorded eight strikeouts in his five innings pitched against the Tigers, and that’s all Radnor needed to start their season off on the right foot.
The worst was yet to come. The Raiders would give a up a three game lose streak immediately following their first victory. The first of which was against the Rams, at home. Although accruing a 3-1 lead within the first three innings, the Rams remained persistent, and took seven of the last eight runs of the game to close out 8-4. Jack Deshan and Mullarkey once again recorded most of Radnor’s runs, with George Hoysgaard securing one to help out as well. Will Hoysgaard did the majority of pitching this competition, and all though earning five strikeouts, he gave up four of Harriton’s big runs.
The Raiders went on to face the Springfield Cougars away, and took a shutout. Connolly took the pitching mantle once again, pitching 88 of the Raiders 104 pitches, and earned another five strikeouts, but the pitching of the opposition proved too strong for Radnor to overcome.
Penncrest dealt the Raiders a crushing blow, defeating them 4-1 on home soil. Radnor’s away games were proving to be a problem, as only one run was put in by sophomore George Hoysgaard. On the other side of the plate, the older brother, Will, put in seven strikeouts and pitched 86 of the 99 Radnor pitches. The rest of the team contributed little, and the season was beginning to fall through their grasps.
The team however rebounded quite successfully, edging out Strath Haven at home 5-4 to start the spring break off right, Pat McDermott, Will Hoysgaard, and Connor Rinehart all put in a run, as Mullarkey once again produced for the team, putting in two more. The senior presence at the batting plate proved vital for the Raiders to end their losing skid. At the pitcher’s mound, George Hoysgaard and Charlie Connolly shared more evenly, pitching 76 and 47 times, respectively.
The Raiders returned to an even record after recording their first away win of the season against Chichester, in a highly scoring game, 13-12. The 13 Radnor runs were contributed by eight different players, Six of their finally runs were scored in the 7th inning, and the Eagles were unable to fend them off at the bottom. The pitcher’s mound gave opportunity to Brad Henkin, Nick Camposano, Matt Cohen and Evan Moore that day.
The age old rivals of Lower Merion will stood in their way April 19th, an away game which certainly got the hunger and the blood going for the youthful team. However, Lower Merion’s athletic prowess does not extend to the baseball field, and the Raiders took delight in easily dealing them a 4-0 loss. Sean Mullarkey, Jack Deshan, and Will Hoysgaard scored their runs, For the first time in six games, Radnor broke into a positive record. But Garnett Valley was quick to change that. In an 11-6 game with five runs scored in the 5th inning, Garnett Valley took care of business away, and the team fell back to .500. Will Hoysgaard, Jack Deshan, Brad Henkin, and Nick Camposano all took to the mound that game, but Hoysgaard pitched the majority of the game.