Hometown, DeSales rally around survivor
Brandon DiChiacchio has been hospitalized since March 6, when 3 others died in accident
The innings waning, it was still 0-0, but things weren’t looking good for the Springfield-Delco baseball team. It was the Class 5A quarterfinals, and opponent Cedar Cliff had the bases loaded with a chance to take the lead. The next batter stepped to the plate and ripped one. Springfield head coach Brian Francis thought it was a surefire base hit up the middle.
But there, as always, was Brandon DiChiacchio.
“Brandon made three quick steps to his left and caught the ball in the air and threw the ball to second for a double play and got us out of the inning,” Francis recalled of the moment June 8, 2017, on a baseball diamond in Berks County. “And then we went on to win the game in 10, with the bases loaded ourselves, 1-0.”
DiChiacchio was there all year for the team, which lost 2-1 in the state semifinals, as a senior shortstop who committed just three errors in 27 games, the quiet kid with a calming influ
ence who would do anything for his teammates.
Four years later, the tightknit Springfield community, and many others, are there for DiChiacchio, a 22-year-old DeSales University senior baseball player who was critically injured in a fiery, one-car accident March 6 in Upper Saucon Township that killed three of his friends.
DiChiacchio was rescued from the car just after 8:30 p.m., before the vehicle burst into flames. He was transported to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, where he remains in critical, but stable, condition, and continues to undergo surgeries.
“He is a fighter,” Francis said. “We get updates from friends of friends and his parents. Every day is a new day for him. A surgery here, a surgery there. That’s what he’s been going through the last two weeks, and he’s been in stable condition now for awhile. Every day is a good day for Brandon. Despite his injuries, and what he’ll go through, I have no question he’ll be resilient as we know him to be.”
That’s the Brandon that Evan Plummer knows, too.
Plummer, a 2020 DeSales graduate and a former Bulldogs outfielder, said DiChiacchio is a soft-spoken leader, the kind of person who doesn’t talk all that much but, when he does, everybody stops and listens.
“He always brought a calming presence,” said Plummer, who lives in the Philadelphia area. “When tensions were high, he
was the kind of guy who brought a level-headed, sense of calm on the team.”
Plummer on March 9 created a GoFundMe to help pay for DiChiacchio’s hospital expenses and to support the family. As of Friday afternoon, it had raised more than $56,000 from nearly
800 donors.
Plummer said DiChiacchio and 21-year-old Sean Hanczaryk, a senior DeSales baseball player who was killed in the crash, had lived together since their freshman year in the dorms.
“They were pretty much inseparable,” Plummer said. “They
did everything together ... best of friends.”
They were together that night, along with 2019 DeSales graduates Nick White, 23, and White’s girlfriend, 24-year-old Emily Kattner. Plummer and longtime DeSales baseball coach Tim Neiman said the group of four were likely hanging out in downtown Allentown, where White had recently got an apartment.
Authorities have provided virtually no details about the crash. Upper Saucon police Chief Thomas Nicoletti said Friday he had no updates, reiterating that he couldn’t yet disclose what factors may have played a role when White’s vehicle left the road and hit a tree in the 4400 block of Lanark Road. The Lehigh County coroner’s office said Hanczaryk, White and Kattner died from blunt force injuries and ruled their deaths an accident.
Upper Saucon police, the coroner’s office and the Lehigh County district attorney’s office continue to investigate.
“We hope to get some closing directions soon, but I have nothing new,” Nicoletti said. “It’s still open.”
While grappling with tragedy and praying for DiChiacchio, the DeSales baseball team opened its season as scheduled last weekend, with fans sitting atop the bank behind the right field fence at Weiland Park. The grass below them painted in DeSales’ colors and stenciled: “Pray for 8, 18, 23 EK.” White, a former Bulldogs’ all-conference outfielder, wore No. 18, while Hanczaryk was No. 23.
DeSales is still hoping to get No. 8, DiChiacchio, back with the team. In an interview March 8, Neiman said DiChiacchio was primed for a big 2021 season and would have been the team’s starting second baseman. That’s the position where he fit best in Neiman’s lineup, but the longtime coach noted how DiChiacchio was a three-year starter at shortstop at Springfield.
And to Neiman’s surprise, the quiet DiChiacchio also played quarterback in high school.
“Did somebody else bark the signals for you?” Neiman would usually tease.
DiChiacchio would just laugh. “Let me guess, you ran the Veer,” the coach would joke, referring to an option running play in football.
That would get the soft-spoken DiChiacchio to speak up: “No coach, I threw it about 20 times a game.”
Neiman and Francis said he’s the kind of player any coach would want on his team.
In high school, Francis said DiChiacchio was a top-notch student. On the diamond, he was a good fielder with great feet who could run well. At the plate, the left-handed hitter was scrappy and would do whatever the team needed. If the coach needed a bunt laid down, DiChiacchio was the guy. Anything for the team.
Back to that game in June 2017, the one where DiChiacchio gave his team a second chance with a double-play to keep Cedar Cliff off the scoreboard.
The game went into the 10th inning, and it was DiChiacchio who got things rolling with a two-out single. Following a catcher’s interference call and a hit batter, he found himself on third base.
When a teammate snuck a dribbler into right field, DiChiacchio ran home and kept going, jogging to first base where the celebration ensued.
“Despite his injuries, and what he’ll go through, I have no question he’ll be resilient as we know him to be.” — Springfield-Delco baseball head coach Brian Francis