Baseball Team of the Year delivered a district championship
Central Bucks West's 2023 season was the school's best by a significant margin.
Brian Weaver's baseball team became the first in school history to win a District One championship and the first to qualify for the PIAA state playoffs.
West also won its first state playoff contest in storybook fashion with senior Julio Ermigiotti retiring all 21 batters and throwing an 80-pitch perfect game in a 3-0 opening-round victory over Wilson West Lawn.
The 20 wins established another baseball school record. Even its 1-0 quarterfinal loss to eventual Class 6A state champ Father Judge was a classic nine-inning affair.
CB West outscored opponents 44-9 during seven postseason games, including 37-3 with three shutouts over the last six. The 14th-seeded Bucks defeated the top three seeds by a combined 25-1 on the way to the district crown.
"In districts, we were hanging runs on people almost every single inning," Weaver said. "The boys were relentless. When we looked back after each game as a staff, that would be the thing we pointed out first: 'Dude, we scored in four innings today!'
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"We didn't have a ton of guys on the all-league team, but we put together this season because the whole team found a way to do enough in almost every game. It was never any one guy carrying the whole load."
Primarily for those reasons, CB West is the Courier Times/Intelligencer's Baseball Team of the Year.
Weaver realizes how rare a season like this season is.
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"The biggest things on reflection are the fact that the guys were such a 'team' in the truest sense of the word — they fought like crazy," Weaver said, "and the fact that they didn't just have a great team but built a program from pretty much scratch."
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Final baseball rankings
Here are our final baseball rankings for the 2023 season:
Public schools
1. Central Bucks West
The Bucks finished 20-7 and won the first District One baseball championship in school history, as well as advanced to the state playoffs for the first time. Seniors Max McGlone, Julio Ermigiotti, Kevin Bukowski and Will Hogenauer were among the Bucks' standouts.
2. North Penn
The 21-6 Knights reached the state semifinals with a 10-0 victory over Hazleton in five innings and a 4-3 win against Bethlehem Liberty after ending up third at districts, then were ousted by Judge 4-1. North Penn also won the Suburban One League Colonial Division. Seniors Jack Picozzi, Mario Sgro, junior Ben Farley and sophomore Trevor Lugara paced the Knights.
3. Abington
The Ghosts (13-10) earned the first state berth in school history by garnering the sixth and final spot from districts, then dropped a 9-0 decision to District 3 top seed Cedar Cliff at states. Seniors Alex Dardaris, Matt Worek, LJ Wolff and Jake Kaplan led Abington.
4. Quakertown
The 23rd-seeded Panthers (11-13) defeated Owen J. Roberts (7-3) and Pennsbury (10-2) at districts before losing to No. 2 seed North Penn 4-2 in the quarterfinals and Abington 8-4 in a first-round consolation game that would've resulted in Quakertown's first trip to states. Senior Vinny Pellegrini, juniors Danny Qualteria, Caleb Everitt and sophomore Cole Reich paced the Panthers.
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5. Harry S. Truman
The 12-9 Tigers topped Wissahickon 6-3 and then suffered a 3-2 walk-off district setback to Abington. Seniors Andrew Armstrong, Caleb Wright, Ryan Cavanaugh and Gabe Marrero were among the Truman standouts.
6. Pennsbury
The Falcons finished 16-5 and won the SOL Patriot Division. Pennsbury earned the seventh seed and first-round bye in the district playoffs before falling to Quakertown 10-2 in the second round. Seniors Ryan Zuckerman, Joe Tiroly, Kayden Faulcon and junior James Schaffer played key roles for Pennsbury.
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7. Souderton
The Big Red (11-11) downed Ridley 4-0 in the opening round of districts, then dropped a 5-4 decision to state qualifier Plymouth Whitemarsh. Seniors Joey Crecca, Ethan Warner and juniors Chris McKenna and Austin Kreyenhagen led Souderton.
8. Council Rock North
CR North (11-9) dropped its first-round district game when West Chester Henderson scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning in a 4-3 game. Seniors Jadon Tang, Lucas Mullen, Brian Curry and Quinn Erlandsen paced Rock North.
9. Hatboro-Horsham
The 12-9 Hatters were ousted 4-2 to state qualifier West Chester Rustin in the Class 5A district tournament. Senior Trey Porter, junior Stephen Plefka and sophomore Jamie O'Neill were among the Hatboro-Horsham standouts.
10. Council Rock South
The Golden Hawks (9-11) fell to Upper Darby 3-1 after making the district 6A playoffs as the 24th and final seed. Senior Trey Sajeski, junior Chase Ennis and sophomore Johnny Mendola led CR South.
Private schools
1. Archbishop Wood
The 18-7 Vikings rolled through the first two rounds of states, toppling Pope John Paul II 15-5 in five innings and Montoursville 9-2 in the quarterfinals before dropping an 8-3 decision to Dallas in the Class 4A semifinals. Seniors Joey Gale, JP DiGuiseppe, Brian Klumpp and junior Patrick Gozdan paced Wood.
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2. La Salle
The 15-4 Explorers gave Father Judge its only Philadelphia Catholic League loss of the season and advanced to face Judge in the title game with a 6-2 semifinal victory over Neumann-Goretti, only to be edged by Judge 3-2. Seniors Nathan Kress, Tristan Helmick, Tahir Parker and Tim Schuler led La Salle.
3. Dock Mennonite
The district champion Pioneers (21-3) advanced to the Class A state semifinals by downing Marian Catholic 7-2 and Northeast Bradford 11-2, losing to DuBois Central Catholic 4-2. Seniors Nate Lapp, Sam Laux, Zach Frederick and sophomore Brayden Kratz were among the Dock standouts.
4. Holy Ghost Prep
The 13-8 Firebirds fell to visiting Upper Perkiomen 6-2 in the District One Class 4A semifinals. Seniors Aiden Robbins, Reese Acord and Isaac Acosta paced Holy Ghost.
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5. Faith Christian
The Lions (13-4) downed Jenkintown 6-5 in the District One Class A semifinals prior to falling to Dock Mennonite 5-3 in the title game with only the victor advancing to states. Senior Lincoln Hower and juniors Grayson Weikel and Kendri Beltre led Faith.
Tom Moore: tmoore@couriertimes.com; @TomMoorePhilly
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Baseball Team of the Year captured a district championship
