Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #17 Archbishop Curley

February 25, 2019
Kyle Campbell
Maryland Scouting Director

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It's hard to believe but the start of the 2019 Maryland high school baseball season is almost here. Every week throughout the season we will release our Power 25, ranking the top twenty-five teams from across the Old Line State. Today we continue our Preseason Power 25 countdown by taking a look at our #17 team, the Archbishop Curley Friars from Baltimore, MD. Be sure to stay tuned as we release one team each weekday leading up to the release of our 2019 #1 Preseason Power 25 team on March 19th. Then, on March 20th our PBR Maryland staff will release our final preseason predictions for the upcoming 2019 season.

Archbishop CURLEY 2019 SEASON PREVIEW

Head Coach: Brooks Norris (8th Season)
Mascot: Friars
Conference: MIAA "A" Conference
2018 Record: 28-4
2018 Conference Finish: Champions
Twitter Handle: @CurleyBaseball
CLICK HERE to view the Archbishop Curley Baseball Website
CLICK HERE to view the Archbishop Curley Baseball Schedule

2019 PBR MD POWER 25 PRESEASON RANK: #17

Returning Starters: 3

Derrick Booker (Sr.) OF
Gavin Evans (Jr.) C
Tyler Locklear (Sr.) INF

Returning Pitchers: 1

Travis Nale (Jr.) RHP

Returning Players with Post-Season / Pre-Season Honors

Tyler Locklear - 2018 All-Metro 1st Team, 2018 All-MIAA, 2018 PBR Maryland All-State 1st Team / 2019 MSABC Preseason All-State

Key Loses

Nick Brown (Towson University)
Corey Burton (Salisbury University)
Trent Gast-Woodard (Towson University)
Jalen March (Caldwell University)
Paul Nixon (Harford CC)
Nick Richardson (University of Maryland - Soccer)

Top Newcomers

Christian Messercola (So.) INF
Jake Michel (So.) RHP/INF

2019 Key Players

Derrick Booker (Sr.) OF
Gavin Evans (Jr.) C
Tyler Locklear (Sr.) INF
Christian Messercola (So.) INF
Jake Michel (So.) RHP/INF
Travis Nale (Jr.) RHP

Players Signed / Committed to College

Gavin Evans (2020) - James Madison University
Tyler Locklear (2019) - Virginia Commonwealth University

Season Snapshot

2018 was a magical season for the Friars as they rolled through the MIAA with a 15-3 regular season record and went undefeated in the playoffs capturing their first MIAA Championship since 2001. Curley defeated Gilman 8-3 in the final game at Harford CC to finish the season with a 28-4 overall record and secure their third MIAA Conference Championship in school history (1999, 2001, 2018).

2019's team is talented but they are much younger and will have some big shoes to fill as Nick Brown (Towson University), Corey Burton (Salisbury University), Trent Gast-Woodard (Towson University), Jalen March (Caldwell University), and Paul Nixon (Harford CC) have since moved on and are now playing at the collegiate level. This year's team will be led by all-everything infielder and VCU commit Tyler Locklear, whom led off the Friars offensive outburst with a home run in the 2018 MIAA Championship Game. Locklear hit .355 with 10 home runs and 35 RBI's last season and will anchor a lineup that returns junior JMU commit, C Gavin Evans (.244 AVG, 1 HR, 9 RBI's) and senior OF Derrick Booker (.240 AVG, 2 HR's, 13 RBI's). Sophomores Christian Messercola and Jake Michel will look to help bolster the lineup with Michel also figuring to see plenty of innings on the mound in 2019.

As the only returning pitcher from last year's team, junior RHP Travis Nale (4-0 W-L, 3.97 ERA, and 21 K's in 24.2 IP) will be looked upon as the leader of a new look, younger staff in 2019. 8th year head coach Brooks Norris is excited for the challenge of repeating with this year's squad but will need more than Nale and Michel to step up on the mound for the Friars in big situations. Expect to see the Friars grow over the course of the season and with solid leadership back, don't be surprised to see them make a serious run at defending their title in 2019.