By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
For most programs, high school sports is cyclical. Every few years a coach gets a great class of kids and can make a run at a sectional or state championship.
DM Phillips is hoping that 2025 could be that kind of year for the Paul VI baseball team.
The Eagles took some lumps last year while playing a lot of underclassmen, going 13-15 overall. But there were some good signs of things to come, as they finished 8-2 in the always tough Olympic National conference, just a game behind perennial state power Bishop Eustace, and PVI earned berths in the Diamond Classic and state playoffs.
Phillips is in his third season as head coach at PVI, and he’s hoping three years of weight training and installing his systems and philosophies will make the Eagles a team to be reckoned with this spring.
PVI is slated to begin its season today by hosting Rancocas Valley at 4 p.m., and the Eagles have some tough games in the first two weeks of the season, including road games at Cherry Hill East and Eastern and home games against Audubon and Bishop Eustace. We’ll find out a lot about who the Eagles are before tax day.
“Last year was a growing pains type of situation. We only had two or three guys with any type of significant varsity experience, especially as hitters. We started off strong but went into that sophomore lull — we had a lot of sophomores playing. But we fought out of that and by the end of the season we were playing really well,” Phillips said. “(Inexperience) was a challenge, but they worked through it, and toward the end of the season we were playing a lot better and hopefully now they will be able to take that next step to really show what they can do. (Last year) they were thinking that if we were winning after three innings, the game was over. But you have to play all seven. That was a learning experience, and now they are taking the attitude of, hey, let’s get after it and play all seven innings.”
One of PVI’s biggest problems last season was not being able to finish teams off via the 10-run mercy rule, meaning instead of using one or possibly two pitchers in a 5-inning game, the Eagles were burning more pitching to go a full seven innings while still winning the game comfortably.
“That happened a couple times last year where we had a team buried, took our foot off the gas and only ended up winning by four runs, and we’d have to go through more pitching,” Phillips said. “The only way to really teach them that is for them to go through it, and we went through it last year.”
PVI certainly has the pieces to take the next step. Leading the pitching staff is senior Anthony Ungaro, a right-hander who is committed to Stockton University and who had 39 strikeouts in 37 innings a year ago. Also back is Tyler Rodgers, a right-handed junior committed to Charleston Southern, as well Christian Williams, a junior who posted a sub-4.00 ERA in 21 innings a year ago. Trent Ferrara is a crafty lefty Phillips can use in key situations as well.
“I’m excited. We’re going to compete, and I think we’re ready. (Last year) obviously fuels us and it’s great motivation. We all worked hard (in the offseason) gained weight, gained muscle strength. This team is ready to go,” Ungaro, a Cherry Hill native, said. “We’ve improved on a lot from last year, just everything in general. Our pitching is going to make a huge impact. We have a lot of arms and everybody gained velocity (from last year). Our confidence is really high. Everyone knows we can compete, and we want it.”
The offense is a year older with more experience, too, and will be led by junior infielder Nick Sheer, who hit .421 last year with 23 runs and 20 RBIs, and junior Coastal Carolina commit Mason Meyers, a Carpenter Cup selection outfielder who hit nearly .300 with 14 extra-base hits, 24 runs and 10 stolen bases in 74 at-bats.
“Everyone is excited and ready to play. We’ve been in the offseason and preseason for too long. Everyone is excited,” Meyers, from Gibbstown, said during a preseason media day on Saturday. “I think last year we had too many bad losses — games that we should have won that we lost — and I think we need to eliminate that this year. We were very young, about half our lineup was in their first year of varsity. This year we’re all older, and we have more depth in our pitching rotation and that’s a big thing that can definitely help us this year.
“A lot of times (last year) we would have a lead, but then give it up. We would coast if we had a lead instead of stomping on teams and finishing them. I think if we can do that this year it will be much better.”
Meyers said he’s expecting a lot from himself this season, but also said he doesn’t feel any added pressure by having one of the top college baseball programs in the nation associated with his name now.
“I got a lot bigger, a lot faster and a lot stronger this offseason, and hopefully that will show on the field. I just want to be me,” he said. “Who cares what other people think? I just want to go out and play my game. I kind of think it’s less pressure now, I can just go out there and play.”
“This is my third year in the program and we instilled a weight program from Day One. After three years of us lifting together, you can see that these guys are put together. They are bigger, stronger and that athleticism is starting to pay dividends for us,” coach Phillips said. “These guys have gelled really well, and team chemistry is big for us. We’re polishing things up a little bit. That’s big for us — instead of having to install new things, we’re just polishing things up.”
Meyers said that, like every other team in South Jersey, the ultimate goal is to be holding that blue NJSIAA state championship trophy in June. But right now, he said, the Eagles are focused on erasing the frustration of a sub-.500 season from a year ago and building toward being mentioned in the same breath as teams such as Bishop Eustace, St. Augustine Prep and Gloucester Catholic. The Eagles have lost early in the state playoffs the last couple of years, including a tough, 2-1 loss to Red Bank Catholic in the Non-Public A South quarterfinals a year ago. The Eagles had won 7-of-9 entering that game.
“The end goal, obviously, is winning a state championship, but hopefully we can have a lot more wins than last year. We were below .500 so we need to beef that up,” Meyers said. “In the playoff game, we only lost by a run, so if we can eliminate some of those mistakes and score more runs earlier in the game I think that can help us.”
WHAT’S NEXT: PVI opens its season by hosting Rancocas Valley today at 4 p.m. The Eagles close out the week by hosting Kings Christian on Friday at 4.
