Dulaney baseball squad off to strong start behind solid pitching

Before this season, the last time Dulaney High played a meaningful baseball game the Lions lost in the Class 4A North Region championship game to Sherwood, 1-0, in eight innings.

A lot has changed on the diamond for the Lions since that day.

Andrew Fava took over for Ryan Wolfsheimer as head coach before the 2020 season that was canceled because of COVID-19.

Fava had coached at McDonogh as an assistant from 2017-2019.

During that same span, the Lions posted a 56-9 record, including a 21-2 mark in 2019.

The 2020 schedule cancellation deprived 10 seniors of their final campaign, which Fava felt would have been very good.

“Last year’s team would have been really, really good. I think they would have been right there in the running for the state championship,” Fava said. “This year’s team is not far off. We are pretty solid.”

This year’s squad includes two key players, who were on the varsity in 2019.

Wilson Farlow was the Baltimore County Pitcher of the Year and Todd Mozoki was another ace who was also one of the team’s top hitters.

Mozoki was the winning pitcher and went 3-for-4 with a home run in a 6-2 victory over Howard in the 2019 regional semifinals.

Mozoki, who will play at James Madison University next season, pitched in this spring’s season-opening 8-0 win over Towson.

“He was pretty dominant. We made the plays that we needed to make, but there weren’t a lot that needed to be made,” Fava said. “He throws hard with a lot of movement on it. He’s going to be tough to beat.”

Farlow was the winning pitcher against Franklin when he didn’t allow any earned runs in an 11-1 win in the second game of the season.

Mozoki also got the victory in a 6-5 win over Hereford on May 12. Two days later, the Lions improved to 4-0 with an 11-4 triumph over Sparrows Point.

The rest of the leading pitching candidates this season are senior David Dermowicz, juniors John Kirstukas and Colson Felt and sophomore Matt Dow.

In addition to Mozoki, the Lions have potent hitters in seniors Jack Felt (3B), Reid Bark (OF), Kyle Frederick (OF), David Durmowicz (2B) and Farlow and junior Colson Felt (OF).

Farlow blasted a three-run home run against Towson to break a 0-0 tie in the fourth inning.

“He might have had one at bat in high school up to this point, but I saw him hitting in batting practice, so I let him hit last year in the couple weeks that I had him and he’s got some pop,” Fava said. “I would have definitely used him last year at points to get him some at bats.”

Griffin Tunison is the starting shortstop and seniors Grayson Labbe and Ben Ellis are reserve second baseman.

Teddy Morrow, Rahil Talati and John Kirstukas are outfield candidates along with Colson Felt.

“We’ve got a lot of options,” Fava noted. “I have more players than I have positions and that’s a good problem to have for me.”

One of those decisions involves four catching prospects, including senior Eric Sugarman, juniors Mason Frohme and Andrew Szalczyk and sophomore Liam Gaumont.

“I’m just trying to feel that out and see which way to go,” Fava said. “I’m still trying to figure a few things out, but I think I’m narrowing it down to at least who my better players are and just figuring out how to put the lineup together.”