Coach Craig Conlin RESULTS, YEAR BY YEAR 2003 W-L GA Opp Haverford School W 3 0 Penn Charter W 5 3 Chestnut Hill W 16 2 Malvern W 9 8 Episcopal W 6 4 Penn Charter W 4 2 Malvern L 0 1 Episcopal W 1 0 Chestnut Hill W 7 0 Haverford School W 3 0   9-1 54 20 2004 W-L GA Opp Haverford School W 6 2 Episcopal W 9 3 Chestnut Hill W 8 0 Episcopal W 20 8 Haverford School W 4 0 Penn Charter W 9 0 Chestnut Hill W 3 1 Malvern W 4 1 Penn Charter W 14 0 Malvern W 8 0   10-0 85 15   Totals 19-1 139 35   Average   7.0 1.8         ALL-CITY HONOREES FIRST TEAM Pos. Class 2003     Matt Bruderek INF Jr. Sean Grieve OF Jr. 2004     Sean Grieve OF Sr. Joe Matteo P Sr. SECOND TEAM Pos. Class 2003     None     2004     Danny Overcash INF Jr. Kevin Gordon OF Sr. Matt Bruderek P-INF Sr. THIRD TEAM Pos. Class 2003     Alex Kaplan C Jr. Pete Vernon P Jr. 2004     Andrew Hanson INF Jr. Matt Brown OF Jr. Pete Vernon P Sr.   ALL-INTER-AC HONOREES FIRST TEAM Pos. Class 2003     Matt Bruderek P-INF Jr. Sean Grieve P-OF Jr. Alex Kaplan C Jr. Pete Vernon P Jr. 2004     Sean Grieve P-OF Sr. Joe Matteo P Sr. Kevin Gordon OF Sr. Andrew Hanson INF Jr. Danny Overcash INF Jr. Matt Brown OF Jr. SECOND TEAM Pos. Class 2003     Matt Brown OF So. Joe Matteo P-OF Jr. Danny Overcash INF So. 2004     Matt Bruderek P-1B Sr. Pete Vernon P Sr.

Tribute Page Germantown Academy's Great Seasons, 2003-04 This story was written after coach Craig Conlin's Patriots clinched their second consecutive title and raised their record to 9-0. It is followed by a short recap after victory No. 10. By Ted Silary   Mothers always are trying to do nice things for their sons.   So yesterday, after a noteworthy Inter-Ac League baseball game, with excitement on her face and pride in her heart, Nancy Bruderek scurried over to her son, Matt, and delivered a message she figured would be a warm-and-fuzzy surprise.   "Ah, I kind of knew about it,'' Matt said later, smiling. "I kind of remembered. But still, that was very nice."   "It'' referred to the fact that Matt's brother, Joe, then a senior righthander, earned the win, in a game against Malvern Prep, that netted GA the 1996 I-A title.   Now, Matt has matched the feat. In a tidy three-hitter, in which he walked just one and his teammates committed no errors (and kept scoring and scoring), Bruderek led the Patriots to a 14-0 win at Penn Charter and the clinching of this year's title.   Coach Craig Conlin's squad (27-2 overall) is 9-0 in league play with a Friday game at Malvern remaining.   "The rotation just worked out this way, that I'd get to start this game. I was lucky,'' said Bruderek, a 6-2, 195-pound senior righthander bound for Rhode Island on scholarship. "I just wanted to take advantage and have one of the best games I could.   "It turned out better than I could have imagined. This means so much to me. ''   Bruderek, relying mostly on a hopping, mid-80s fastball, faced the minimum number of batters through four innings. (David Skinner doubled in the first, then was caught off base after a ground out.)   Overall, PC advanced just one runner as far as third base.   Offense, you ask? Phew. The Patriots had plenty (although the first five runs were unearned).   Sean Grieve went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Kevin Gordon went 3-for-3 with a walk and two RBI. Bruderek went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Matt Brown lined a two-run single. Alex Kaplan, Joe Matteo and Tyler Stampone lashed RBI singles.   In the seventh, Conlin went heavily with subs and Jason Davila crushed an inside-the-park, two-run homer to left-center. Via the re-entry rule, the starters returned to the field for the bottom half. All thus were able to celebrate together when Mario Incollingo grounded out to end it.   As recently as 2000, GA went 0-10 in the Inter-Ac and then was only 2-8 in '01. Now it owns two consecutive titles.   "We've put in so much hard work,'' Bruderek said. "Right up to this day, we still do. Every day there are people still staying after practice.   "I knew what could be with this team. But when you're a freshman and things aren't going well, it looks like such a long road. Now, it seems like it went too fast.   "I figured we'd be doing this in our senior year. That we also got one last year was a bonus. We got a lot better as players from our sophomore to junior years.''   PC coach Rick Mellor said, "Well, that was an old-fashioned butt-kicking. That's a very good team. No weak spots in the lineup and four deep in good starting pitchers [also Grieve, Matteo and Pete "Paco'' Vernon].   "I think our '81 championship team, with Mark Gubicza [later a longtime quality starter for Kansas City], might have been better. And we had some good teams [in the mid-'80s]. But this GA team is right up there in league history.''   Joe Bruderek was the Pitcher of the Year on the Daily News All-City team in '96, then had a successful career at Fairfield. Matt last year was a first-teamer as an infielder. At Rhode Island, he expects to mostly pitch and perhaps get at-bats in assorted roles.   With the Rams, he'll hope to get similar support.   "We hit so well,'' he said. "For away games, you know you're going to go out to the mound with a lead. And then, when you're pitching, you want to get through the inning in a hurry so you can get in and get more runs.'' -----   Germantown Academy not only has repeated as the Inter-Ac League baseball champion, it has one-upped itself.   The Patriots, 9-1 last season in league play, yesterday finished at 10-0 with an 8-0 win at Malvern Prep.   Senior righthander Joe Matteo, who's bound for Lehigh, struck out six and allowed only one hit, a scratch infield single, while raising his overall record to 8-0. Catcher Alex Kaplan (Dartmouth) slammed a two-run homer.   Four other members of coach Craig Conlin's team are also headed for D-I programs: pitcher-outfielder Sean Grieve and pitcher-first baseman Pete "Paco" Vernon (both William & Mary), pitcher-infielder Matt Bruderek (Rhode Island) and outfielder Kevin Gordon (also Lehigh).   GA (28-2 overall, season not complete) outscored its league opponents by 85-15. It won five games by shutout and only once won by fewer than three runs (3-1 score). Also, it allowed only two runs total in its final six league games.   GA's losses have come locally against Archbishop Ryan and to a school from Massachusetts during a mid-March trip to Florida.

This story was written after Craig led the Patriots to I-A win No. 6 in 2004 . . .

By Ted Silary
  On Germantown Academy's star-studded baseball team, even the odd man out makes strong contributions.
  Lefthander Pete "Paco" Vernon is one of four senior pitchers (among six guys total) bound for Division I college
programs. Sean Grieve, Joe Matteo and Matt Bruderek get to start. Vernon gets to watch.
  Would he prefer to occupy a spot in the rotation? Of course.
  Is he complaining? Of course not.
  The Patriots are in good shape (6-0 record) as they try to defend their Inter-Ac League championship, and have even
earned respect from some who compile national rankings.
  Plus, it's not like Vernon is covered with cobwebs. He is carving himself quite a niche as a late-game reliever.
  Yesterday, Vernon worked two eventful innings and completed a shutout started by Grieve (five innings, two hits,
eight strikeouts) as GA downed visiting Penn Charter, 9-0, in a slow-moving game played in August-like heat and
humidity.
  The seventh was noteworthy because Vernon struck out the side, with a walk mixed in.
  As for the sixth . . .
  R.J. Hollinshead and Ryan Nanni greeted him with back-to-back singles. The score at the time was 4-0, but PC
coach Rick Mellor opted for a sacrifice bunt and Vernon, under pressure, made a strong and true throw to second
baseman Tyler Stampone, covering at first, to get an out.
  Vernon then fired a pitch past catcher Alex Kaplan to the backstop. Hollinshead broke for home. Kaplan made a
quick recovery and flipped to Vernon, whose tag barely beat Hollinshead's arrival. Very barely. Mike Parrilla
immediately grounded out. Inning over.
  GA removed any suspense with five runs in the bottom half.
  "The credit for that sequence goes to [assistant] Jon Cross," Vernon said. "Just yesterday, we spent about 30
minutes on bunt defense and even that play where the ball gets past the catcher. It's boring and tedious, but you
could see the results it gave us."
  Vernon, who like Grieve is headed for William & Mary, has made just two starts and none in league play.
  "There was no formal meeting to set things up this way," he said. "It just kind of happened. Some of the guys take
a little longer to come back after they've thrown. I'm OK with it.
  "You have to keep in mind, just like I'd like to start, the guys who are starting I'm sure would like to finish. They're
filling their role and I'm filling mine. It's all working out."
  While Grieve is something of a plodder, especially with runners on base, Vernon works like he's late for a date.
With Miss Universe.
  "We give 'em different tempos," he said, smiling. "I like to keep it moving. I probably pitch a little different in
relief. I'm only in there for three to six outs, depending, so I can air it out."
  Grieve collected three RBI in varied manners (single, hit by pitch, grounder that became an error). Matt Brown,
Andrew Hanson, Stampone and Matteo had RBI singles. Hollinshead posted two of PC's four hits.
  Vernon, who lives in Fort Washington, not far from GA, has been "Paco" since the sixth grade.
  "I got the name in Spanish class," he said. "There were two Petes. Another guy became Pedro and I became
Paco. Pretty much everybody in school calls me Paco. I even get called that at home sometimes."

This story was written in 2003 after star football-baseball player Sean Grieve
recorded a save in the Carpenter Cup Classic . . .

By Ted Silary
 When you're going to be a baseball closer, it doesn't hurt to look fierce.
  Say hello to Sean Grieve, who as of early yesterday afternoon was sporting a goatee. It did not exactly, um,
intimidate.
  "My family says I look like a leprechaun," he said, smiling. "My last name is Scottish, but I'm Irish. Definitely Irish."
  Grieve, a 6-1, 175-pound senior-to-be at Germantown Academy, is one of the city's top athletes as a quarterback
and pitcher-outfielder. Yesterday at Veterans Stadium, he was asked to try a new role in the Carpenter Cup Classic
for high school all-star teams.
  As the round-of-16 game between Bicentennial/Inter-Ac and the Catholic League chugged along for 3-plus hours,
Grieve dealt with boredom and nervous anticipation by walking back and forth between the third-base dugout and
leftfield bullpen.
  Then he strode to the mound to pitch the ninth and recorded three strikeouts in a four-batter inning, sealing a 6-4 win.
  Later last night, the goatee might have been retired.
  "I'm thinking of shaving it off," Grieve said. "It's getting to me a little. When I go swimming in the ocean, the
water gets in there. It irritates me.
  "This was the idea of [GA's] captains, Jeff DeLong and Ivan Alber. We grew them during the season. At least the
guys who could grow them. Everybody else got rid of theirs already."
  While earning MVP honors and leading GA to its first Inter-Ac championship since 1996, Grieve did his pitching
strictly as a starter.
  He was his team's seventh hurler in this one, following Will Romanowicz (Malvern Prep), Peter Vernon (GA), Tom
Close (Haverford School), Matt Bruderek, Joe Matteo (both GA) and Jason Brown (Episcopal Academy).
  With one strikeout already in the books, Grieve was charged with a throwing error on a comebacker by Mike Maule
(Archbishop Ryan). He blew away the next two batters to end it.
  "I was scheduled to relieve a couple times for GA, but the starters didn't need it," Grieve said. "This is definitely
different.
  "I usually don't throw my fastest until the second or third inning. Since I knew ahead of time I'd be pitching the
ninth, I was able to warm up a little extra. As a closer, you only get that one chance to get it right. It's not every day
you get to pitch at Veterans Stadium. I was nervous, at least a little, the whole time out there."
  Close (one), Bruderek (two) and Brown (one) also pitched scoreless innings. Catcher Joe Illgas (Malvern) had an
RBI single in a four-run third. Danny Overcash (GA) went 2-for-3 with a double.
  The Catholic League was guilty of seven errors in dropping a round-of-16 game for the fourth consecutive year.
  Senior lefthander Frank Gailey (Archbishop Carroll) pitched one-hit, no-run, five-strikeout ball over three innings.
Another senior lefty, Mike Antonini (Cardinal O'Hara), pitched 2 1/3 shutout innings.
  Kevin Horning (Monsignor Bonner) and Brian Campbell (O'Hara) had two hits apiece. Kevin Ahern, Joe DiMenna
(both O'Hara) and Mike Maule (Archbishop Ryan) had RBI on base hits; Maule's was a double.
  Grieve last fall passed for 1,821 yards and 25 touchdowns - both totals are No. 1 in Inter-Ac history - and was a
second-team Daily News All-City honoree. He's a first-teamer in baseball, as an outfielder. He is hearing from
Division I-AA schools for football while his baseball skills are producing D-I and pro interest.
  "Pitching's OK because it lets you help the team, but I like outfield better," he said. "It lets you be more of an athlete.
  "I'm keeping all of my options open. By the end of the summer, I'll try to have more of an idea about [what path
to follow]. I definitely want to do baseball in college. Depending on where I go, if there's a chance to play football,
maybe I'll do that, too."

Varsity Players 2003-04 Alex Kaplan 2003-04 Andrew Hanson 2003-04 Avi Meyers 2003-04 Brett Greenberg 2003-04 Danny Overcash 2003-04 Ivan Alber 2003 Jeff DeLong 2003 Joe Matteo 2003-04 John Barr 2004 Kevin Gordon 2003-04 Mark Shimrock 2004 Matt Brown 2003-04 Matt Bruderek 2003-04 Pete Vernon 2003-04 Phil Azarik 2004 Sean Grieve 2003-04 Tommy Matteo 2004 Tyler Stampone 2004 Zach Berman 2003-04

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Recaps of the 2003 Games . . .   GA 3, Haverford School 0: Pete Vernon’s fourth start was his fourth win, a seven-strikeout, five-hit shutout. In the three-run sixth, Matt Bruderek doubled in a run and Tyler Stampone doubled in two.   GA 5, Penn Charter 3: Sean Grieve (five innings) outdueled Matt Ryan (121 pitches) and Pete Vernon earned the save by inducing a bases-loaded doubleplay grounder to end it.   GA 16, Chestnut Hill 2: Matt Brown homered, and Matt Bruderek had a single, triple, two runs scored and six RBI.   GA 9, Malvern 8: Sean Grieve was 3 for 4 with two RBI and Danny Overcash added a single and a two-run triple. GA won with three in the sixth on Grieve's two-run single and an RBI single by winning pitcher Joe Matteo.   GA 6, Episcopal 4: GA scored all six in the seventh, including Matt Brown’s grand slam and Kevin Gordon’s two-run double.   GA 4, Penn Charter 2: Pete Vernon threw four innings to get the win, but Sean Grieve faced 10 batters and fanned nine. GA’s Matt Bruderek and PC’s Zack Zeglinski had two hits each.   Malvern 1, GA 0: Will Romanowicz pitched a no-hitter with nine strikeouts and one walk. Buck Schaaf’s sacrifice fly plated Paul Keldsen in the seventh.   GA 1, Episcopal 0: Peter Vernon allowed four hits and fanned five as the Patriots (7-1) clinched a tie for the title. In the fourth, Danny Overcash doubled and scored on Matt Brown's single.   GA 7, Chestnut Hill 0: The Patriots (8-1) clinched their first title since '96 as Joe Matteo pitched a two-hitter and Matt Bruderek clubbed a three-run triple.   GA 3, Haverford School 0: Sean Grieve whiffed 14 in a three-hitter as the champion Patriots finished 9-1 in league play. Tyler Stampone and Matt Bruderek had RBI.

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Recaps of the 2004 Games . . .   GA 6, Haverford School 2: Danny Overcash went 3-for-3 with two RBI and Joe Matteo hit a three-run homer in the home fifth to seal the victory for Sean Grieve (eight whiffs; 4-0 on season).   GA 9, Episcopal 3: Joe Matteo got the win as Danny Overcash contributed three hits, three RBI.   GA 8, Chestnut Hill 0: Sean Grieve pitched two-hit ball over six innings and 2-for-4 with a double, sacrifice fly and two RBI. Matt Brown and Tyler Stampone also got runs home with SFs.   GA 20, Episcopal 8: Danny Overcash posted two homers and six RBI. Matt Brown and Tyler Stampone added homers and Kevin Gordon went 4-for-6.   GA 4, Haver. School 0: Joe Matteo raised his record to 6-0 with a seven-whiff two-hitter. Sean Grieve went 2-for-2 with an RBI.   GA 9, Penn Charter 0: Sean Grieve (five innings) and Pete "Paco" Vernon did the pitching and Grieve had three RBI.   GA 3, Chestnut Hill 1: Joe Matteo scattered six hits and struck out nine.   GA 4, Malvern 1: Sean Grieve pitched a three-hitter with seven strikeouts and Kevin Gordon smacked a three-run triple to break a 1-1 tie in the home sixth.   GA 14, Penn Charter 0: Matt Bruderek pitched a three-hitter as the Patriots (9-0) clinched their second consecutive title. Kevin Gordon, Matt Brown and Bruderek had two-run singles and sub Jason Davila smacked a two-run homer.   GA 8, Malvern 0: Joe Matteo struck out six and allowed just one hit, a scratch infield single while raising his overall record to 8-0. Catcher Alex Kaplan slammed a two-run homer. In league games, the Patriots outscored their opponents by 85-15, won five by shutout and allowed just two runs total in the last six.