DiGalbo’s bloop gives Briarcliffe jump
NEWTOWN TWP. » Collin DiGalbo couldn’t quit baseball once he got to college, so he kept coming back to the EDCO League. “I’m too competitive,” he said. The starting quarterback at Kutztown University is playing summer ball for Briarcliffe, alongside his brothers Anthony and Christian. The DiGalbo boys have been mainstays on Briarcliffe for years under coach Vince Sculli and his dad, Vince Sr., who are retiring from their coaching duties after 13 years following this week’s Senior EDCO championship series with Brookhaven.
Collin DiGalbo, a record-setting quarterback in college and during his days at Bonner & Prendergast, delivered the goahead RBI single in the bottom of the fifth inning Sunday in Game 1 of the best-of-five series. Jared Morris was dominant on the mound, throwing a complete game with 10 strikeouts as Briarcliffe claimed a 3-1 decision.
The weekend rain wreaked havoc on Briarcliffe’s home field on Oak Ave. in Darby Township. As a result, Game 1 was held at Gable Park in Newtown Township. The teams will return to Gable for Game 2 Monday. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
DiGalbo hit a jam shot to the outfield to knock in courtesy runner and starting center fielder Eric Bradley from second base. Bradley was running for designated hitter Russ Trojan, who moments earlier had belted a run-scoring double to left field to tie the game at 1-1.
“Just a little bloop,” DiGalbo said of his clutch knock.
Sometime after Briarcliffe’s season, DiGalbo will return to Kutztown for his junior campaign. A starter since his redshirt freshman year, DiGalbo looks to improve upon a season in which he went 6-3 as a starter with 1,976 passing yards and 19 touchdowns. In less than two full seasons, he ranks in the top10 in career completions (309), career TD passes (29), TD passes in a season (19) and career passing yards (3,619) for the Golden Bears.
“You learn new things every day,” DiGalbo said. “It’s exciting. We have an offensive coordinator, (G.A.) Magnus, who coached for years at South Carolina and all over the place before coming to Kutztown (last year). He’s got a lot of knowledge and he’s really taught me a lot of things that I wouldn’t have thought of by myself. He really has helped me grow a lot as a player.”
DiGalbo will devote all of his time and energy to football soon enough. For now, he’s focused on helping Briarcliffe win one more Senior EDCO title before coaches Vince III and dad Vince Jr. call it a collective career.
“It’s huge for us. We want to win this, especially for the Scullis,” DiGalbo said. “Hopefully we can send them off on a high note. Today was a good start. We grew up with these guys and it’s fun playing together. As long as we’re still playing well together, that’s all that matters.”
After roping the game-tying double, Trojan jogged off the field, his brown locks flowing through the wind, to a loud ovation.
With a long beard to boot, Trojan resembles Eagles Pro Bowl center Jason Kelce. His Briarcliffe teammates call him Thor, the hammer-wielding mythical god, and The Bearded One.
“It definitely doesn’t hurt to have (the hair and beard),” Trojan quipped. “Once I hit it, I knew it wasn’t going out of the park or anything, I just knew it was a line drive to the gap. I was just happy that I was able to hit a ball well. Off the bat, I knew it was going to split the outfielders and bring home Pete (Klein, who singled). It was a good thing Pete was on base because he’s pretty fast.”
DiGalbo advanced to second base on a passed ball and scored on a two-out hit by Kevin Finn. The rest of the day belonged to Morris, a two-time All-Delco at Springfield, who recently completed his freshman season at Neumann University. Morris threw a heater that couldn’t be touched, and mixed in a slew of offspeed offerings to hold Brookhaven’s lineup in check.
“I threw a couple change-ups, but I was mostly working with a slider to righties and threw the curve to lefties,” said Morris, who scattered five hits and walked only one. “I had a decent first year in college and our team had a great year. Out here, I come out with the same intensity and focus as if I was starting a college game. The guys I’m facing are all college-level athletes, so I just try to make pitches as best as I can. It’s all about mentality. I can go out there and play like it’s just EDCO, like it’s no big deal, and go out there and throw, but that wouldn’t do anybody any favors. That’s why I go out there and treat every start like a college game.”
Early on, Morris was on cruise control, striking out the side in order in the third inning and retiring nine of the first 10 hitters faced. But Brookhaven got on the board first in the top of the fourth when Cody Herestofa led off with a ringing double and scored on an single by Jesse Kulp.
In the fifth, Briarcliffe’s bats finally solved Brookhaven starter Kevin McGarvey, plating three runs on four hits. Morris handled the rest.
Briarcliffe is vying for its second straight Senior EDCO title and sixth overall since the Scullis took over a depleted Briarcliffe EDCO program in 2006 and built a perennial winner.
“This is a team that’s been together for 12, 13 years, so they have the experience of playing in big games,” Sculli Jr. said. “With us, it can be 10-0 or 1-0 and everyone stays even-keel. Everyone is calm because you know we’re going to break out eventually. It happened last week (in the semifinal round), Ridley was up 2-0 in the fifth and you know it was just a matter of time. We got a couple of baserunners and a few knocks. When you look at our lineup, whether it’s onethrough-nine or one-through-10 with the extra hitter, there really isn’t a sure out in there. In EDCO ... our eight, nine, 10 (hitters) can be another team’s two, three, four. We can strike pretty much at any point. It’s never a surprise.”