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2024 New England High School Team Previews

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2024 Spring Team Preview: Phillips Exeter Academy (NH)

EXETER, N.H. - Great mentors have admittedly been helpful for Tim Mitropoulos in his short time to date as head coach at Phillips Exeter Academy.

“I was an assistant for six years under coach Dana Barbin before taking over as head coach,” explained the fourth-year mentor of the Big Red. “Coach Barbin took over the program from Bill Dennehy, who was at Exeter for 40-plus years. Coach Barbin and coach Dennehy have been great mentors for me and I try to live up to their great coaching reputation in the prep school world and for Exeter.”

That is never easy playing against the competition in the New England Prep School Athletic Council. Last year Exeter finished 11-11, highlighted by league wins over Dexter, Cushing and Andover. A loss to Deerfield in the playoff quarterfinals ended the  season, with the quest still there for the first conference title for the program since 2019.

“Our program starts with a strong sense to compete and is comprised of players who are driven to improve every day on the field, in the classroom and other areas of life,” noted Mitropoulos. “We want players that love to come to the field every day and compete hard. We like to build a good team that will sacrifice for the betterment of the team, to help us win and be successful. We like to set up an environment that will help players reach their goals to play at the next level, so they can make that transition smoothly when they get there.”

The top pitcher from last year’s squad, Andrew Houghton, has moved on to play in college at UMass and must be replaced along with catcher Gabe Marcoux.

“Andrew was our best pitcher and leader on the mound last spring,” pointed out Mitropoulos. “Gabe was our starting catcher and caught every inning of every game. He was a rock behind home plate and led our team in hitting, too. Those two guys will be tough to replace.”

But the cupboard is far from bare this year headlined by the return of left-handed hitting Will Cooke, the 20th-rated senior shortstop in New England who is a Bowdoin commit.

Sophomores Nate Edin and Dana Mussulman are also back after playing varsity innings last spring, Edin an outfielder/catcher and Mussulman a catcher/pitcher.

“The strength this spring is that we are an older team,” explained Mitropoulos. “We’ve been able to bring in a lot of new faces that are older and physically ready to play varsity baseball.”

Pitchers Owen Tahnk and Landon Penney, from Scottsdale, Ariz., are being counted on to play major roles on the mound. Tahnk, the 10th-rated senior right-handed pitcher in New England, is a Harvard commit while Penney is a left-handed post grad who has signed with Catholic University.

Ryan O’Leary, another post grad, is penciled in to play outfield and pitch as is Charlie Dick, who came over from Orinda, Calif.

“We have some good depth on the mound at the top and should be able to catch the ball well in the field,” noted Mitropoulos. “Our weakness would be experience playing in our league and at the prep school level for many of our guys, so it will be important that we come together as a team and work together through the ups and downs that are presented to us. We face a lot of pitching in our league, too, so how we will hit and score runs will be interesting to see.

“The keys to success for us this spring is can we complement our play in all phases of the game – defense, pitching, offense and base running? We have the players and abilities to be successful, but it will depend on how we come together as a group to win games. I am excited to see what happens because it is a group that is motivated and excited to wear the Exeter jersey this spring.”

But it will be far from easy with a tough schedule ahead.

“I am biased, but our league is very good top to bottom,” Mitropoulos concluded. “Every league game is a battle and you need to play well to win. You are going to go up against a collegiate pitcher every game, with great arms coming out of the bullpen, too. There is a lot of talent in the field as well, with some great athletes and players who can swing it. It is what makes it fun to compete against some of the best players in our area.

“Prep baseball has a lot of good talent and it’s fun to see how it all plays out every year because you are going up against players who will be playing at high-level programs and even get drafted in the MLB. It's going to be another great year of prep baseball.”

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