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Nazareth Area

2024 Baseball Preview: Nazareth Blue Eagles

Head Coach: Bryan Wolf – 12th season

Assistant Coaches:
Jason Brown-  Assistant Varsity
Jacob DeBoer- Assistant Varsity
Nolan Fry-  Assistant Varsity
Kevin Pulli- Assistant Varsity
Kevin Wolf- Assistant Varsity

Team Name: Nazareth Blue Eagles

League: EPC

2023 Record: 17-6 (including EPC and District XI playoffs)

Key Players Lost:
Jack Bacolo- playing at ESU
Lucas Bunting
Jake Dally- playing at Binghamton University (2023 EPC MVP)
Cole Dibilio
Max Kochenash
Gavin Panovec- playing at Northampton Community College
Jacoby Sauer
Zach Smethers- playing at Goldey-Beacom College
Preston Warne- playing at Kutztown University

Key Returning Players:

David Bertz – Senior – (Haverford College commit) P/SS – hit .368 with 25 hits, 5 2Bs, 1 HR, 22 RBIs and 15 runs scored. He also threw 7.2 innings with a win and a save. Over those 7.2 innings he didn’t allow an earned run and had 14Ks to go along with a 0.93 WHIP.

Last year, David played 2B/SS as well as pitched. This year, he will serve as our starting SS and will bat 3rd in the lineup. He will also be part of our pitching rotation. David has put in a lot of time over the offseason to continue to improve and we see him having a fantastic senior season.

Aidan Butz – Senior- (ESU commit) P/OF- hit .324 with 23 hits, 2 2Bs, 1 3B, 1 HRs, 16 RBIs, 25 runs scored and 8 SBs. He also pitched 17 innings and had a 2-1 record. He had 21Ks in those 17 innings.

Aidan has served as our leadoff hitter for the last two seasons and he will once again fill that role. This year, he will step into our pitching rotation and be the leader of our staff. Aidan has been a great leader for us this offseason and we look forward to seeing him put together another very productive season both on the mound and at the plate.

Chase Kilareski – Junior- P/OF- hit .393 with 22 hits, 4 2Bs, 12 RBIs, 21 runs scored and 12 SBs. He also pitched 12.2 innings for us.

Last year, Chase burst onto the scene as a sophomore and played gold glove defense, while also having a tremendous year at the plate. As Chase enters into his junior year, we expect Chase to continue to develop as he will be in our pitching rotation as well as hit towards the top of the lineup.

Key Newcomers:
Jacob Golinsky- SR. P
Mason Kuehner- SR. OF
Vincent Paar – SR. 3B
Arye Pulli- SR. 1B
Paul Serra- SR. OF/P
Reed Solderitch- SR. C
James Tomoney- SR. OF
Matthew Daems- JR. 1B/DH
Jack Fitzgerald- JR.. 2B/SS
Landon Glovas- JR. P/2B
Evan Shak- JR. OF/3B
Ryan Thomas- JR. C
Ryan Petruska- SOPH. P/OF

2024 Outlook:  With the loss of 13 seniors from last year’s team, our offense and pitching staff will look completely different. We need to find a way to replace Dally, Smethers, Warne, Dibilio, Kochenash, and Panovec in the lineup and Dally, Bacolo, and Sauer in our pitching rotation. With all of that said, we’ll have to find ways to manufacture runs. Butz, Bertz, and Kilareski will be the catalysts at the top of the lineup and from there, we’ll need some other bats to step up to help us win games.

From the pitching side, Butz, Bertz, and Kilareski look to fill out the pitching rotation with a very deep bullpen. We have a very capable group, however, they lack game experience, so we’re doing everything we can to get them up to speed so we can hit the ground running once games start.

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