When Pallotti baseball coach baseball Jeff Palumbo started his job in the offseason, it didn't take him long to go through a roll call of returning starters. That's because it was as easy as one, two, three.
That's the number of Panthers who came back from last year when Pallotti posted an 8-9 record in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference.
The returnees are sophomore catcher Devin Brogden, senior shortstop/pitcher Nico Marchetti and senior outfielder Colin Burns.
"I would say it's a very young team," Palumbo said. "We have six seniors that play a lot and some freshmen and sophomores that are getting a lot of time."
Palumbo, who is also Pallotti's principal, is at home on a baseball field. He has coached for three decades at the high school and college levels and in youth travel leagues.
"It's a solid program, but not a lot of them have a background in baseball," said Palumbo, who ran Bowie State University's program and guided Archbishop Spalding to an MIAA A Conference title. "We are doing a lot of teaching and coaching."
Boys' Latin coach Bill Greenwell says Pallotti (4-5) is headed in the right direction.
"He is a baseball teacher and will do a good job," Greenwell said. "He is a class act with a lot of college and high school coaching experience. He will really help these players."
Palumbo said Marchetti is Pallotti's best player. The shortstop will play next season at California University of Pennsylvania.
He is batting .524 with 3 doubles, 2 triples, 10 RBIs, 10 stolen bases and a .655 on-base percentage. Marchetti batted .359 with 14 RBIs and 15 runs scored last season.
"He is a very good high school player," Palumbo said. "He can hit with power and has a very strong arm. He's got speed. He can do a lot of things."
Marchetti also pitches as part of the Panthers' starting rotation along with junior Mick O'Brien and senior Colin Burns.
Samuel Mudd and Elindsey Dodson provide pitching depth.
Marchetti had praise for the other pitchers, citing O'Brien.
"He is a crafty left-hander," Marchetti said. "He gets a lot of ground balls and he works pretty fast."
Palumbo said his pitchers won't strike out a lot of batters.
"We don't have anybody that is overpowering," Palumbo said. "We have to make them hit the ball and make the routine plays."
Brogden is the starting catcher. He earned a starting job as a freshman and batted .277 last year.
"He has a very good arm and he loves baseball," Palumbo said. "He is a starting quarterback on the football team, so he is a very good athlete. I coached his dad in college and his grandfather was a baseball coach so he understands the game."
Marchetti said Brogden is part of a standout defense that includes second baseman Mudd and third baseman David Krause.
"Our defense is pretty solid," Marchetti said. "We are not the best offensive team. We have to rely on our defense."
The Panthers want to make the postseason double-elimination tournament. To do that, Pallotti must finish among the top six in the 10-team conference.
"Our goal is to make the playoffs, get in and see what happens," Palumbo said. "They didn't make the playoffs last year and they lost a lot of players, so I think it would be a good thing. But we have to play better than we are playing right now."