Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #6 Howard
March 12, 2019
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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 #6 team, the Howard Lions from Howard County. 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.
Howard 2019 SEASON PREVIEW
Head Coach: Nick Hoffner (9th Season)
Mascot: Lions
County: Howard
MPSSAA Classification: 4A North Section I
2018 Record: 20-5
2018 MPSSAA Playoff Run: Won the MPSSAA 4A State
Championship 5-4 over Severna Park.
Twitter Handle: @Howard_Baseball
CLICK HERE to view the Howard Athletics Website
CLICK HERE to view the Howard Baseball Schedule
2019 PBR MD POWER 25 PRESEASON RANK: #6
Returning Starters: 6
Alex Campbell (Jr.) MIF
Gabe Delgado (Sr.) RHP/OF
Brian Jakubek (Sr.) RHP/C/OF
Shayan Kassiri (Jr.) C/INF
Ryan Kulick (Sr.) OF/DH/RHP
Jerry O'Neill (Sr.) 3B
Returning Pitchers: 6
Nathan Dawes (So.) RHP/INF
Gabe Delgado (Sr.) RHP/OF
Ben Fader (So.) LHP/OF
Brendan Foster (Sr.) RHP
Brian Jakubek (Sr.) RHP/C/OF
Ryan Kulick (Sr.) OF/DH/RHP
Returning Players with Post-Season / Pre-Season Honors
Alex Campbell - 2018 All-Howard County 2nd Team
Gabe Delgado - 2018 Howard County Pitcher of the Year, 2018 All-Howard County 1st Team 2018 PBR Maryland All-State 2nd Team / 2019 MSABC Preseason All-State
Brendan Foster - 2018 All-Howard County 2nd Team / 2019 MSABC Preseason All-State
Brian Jakubek - 2018 All-Howard County 1st Team
Ryan Kulick - 2018 All-Howard County 1st Team, 2018 PBR Maryland All-State 3rd Team
Jerry O'Neill - 2018 All-Howard County 2nd Team
Key Loses
Matt Flynn
Craig Wiley (York College)
Top Newcomers
TBD
2019 Key Players
Alex Campbell (Jr.) MIF
Gabe Delgado (Sr.) RHP/OF
Brendan Foster (Sr.) RHP
Brian Jakubek (Sr.) RHP/C/OF
Ryan Kulick (Sr.) OF/DH/RHP
Jerry O'Neill (Sr.) 3B
Players Signed / Committed to College
Gabe Delgado (2019) - University of Maryland - Baltimore County
Brendan Foster (2019) - Salisbury University
Brian Jakubek (2019) - York College
Ryan Kulick (2019) - York College
Season Snapshot
Ryan Kulick's two out, two RBI single to center with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning propelled the Howard Lions to their first state championship in school history last season as they defeated the Severna Park Falcons 5-4. Howard returns a good majority of their team in 2019 with only three seniors having graduated from last years state championship squad. Howard County Pitcher of the Year and UMBC commit Gabe Delgado returns to anchor a staff that sees everyone back from a year ago. Delgado (5-2 W-L, 73 K's in 47.1 IP) will be joined by University of Salisbury commit Brendan Foster (3-2 W-L, 58 K's in 33.2 IP), and a pair of York College (PA) commits in Kulick (3-0 W-L, 22 K's in 19.1 IP) and Brian Jakubek (5-0-1 W-L-S) as seniors in the rotation. Sophomores Ben Fader (4.06 ERA in 20.1 IP) and Nathan Dawes (2-1 W-L, 12.1 IP) also figure to help solidify what looks to be a very strong staff in 2019.
At the plate Howard returns six everyday starters from last year's lineup with seniors Kulick (.439 AVG, 27 RBI's), Delgado (.339 AVG, 13 RBI's), Jakubek (.303 AVG, 13 RBI's, 26 R's), and Jerry O'Neill (.370 AVG, 18 RBI's, 24 R's) leading the way. Look for All-Howard County 2nd Team member Alex Campbell (.351 AVG, 21 RBI's, 20 R's) and fellow junior Shayan Kassiri (.400 AVG) to help bolster the offense.
The Lions have played for the 4A State Championship now in back-to-back years and its easy to see why they look to have a realistic shot of making it three championship appearances in as many years. The experience and caliber of players this team returns in 2019 under 9th year head coach Nick Hoffner makes them one of the favorites to dethrone Marriotts Ridge for the Howard County title and repeat in the MPSSAA Class 4A State Tournament.
MORE PBR MD POWER 25 PREVIEWS
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #1 Archbishop Spalding 3/19/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #2 Calvert Hall 3/18/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #3 Gilman 3/15/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #4 DeMatha Catholic 3/14/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #5 Huntingtown 3/13/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #6 Howard 3/12/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #7 Georgetown Prep 3/11/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #8 Loyola-Blakefield 3/08/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #9 Sherwood 3/07/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #10 Thomas Johnson 3/06/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #11 Boonsboro 3/05/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #12 La Plata 3/04/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #13 Walt Whitman 3/01/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #14 Northern (Cal.) 2/28/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #15 Severna Park 2/27/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #16 Chesapeake-AA 2/26/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #17 Archbishop Curley 2/25/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #18 Colonel Richardson 2/22/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #19 Leonardtown 2/21/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #20 Saint Michaels 2/20/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #21 John Carroll 2/19/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #22 Bullis School 2/18/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #23 Dulaney 2/15/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #24 CH Flowers 2/14/19
- MD Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #25 Old Mill 2/13/19