Philadelphia College Baseball Notebook
The first full weekend of the college baseball season witnessed Saint Joseph's and La Salle secure their first victories of the year while several rookies at the D-I level made an impact in their collegiate debuts.

Entering the second full week of the season, here are three things to be on the lookout for around the Philadelphia college baseball scene:

1. Rain and snow could cause havoc to the weekend schedule
The three-game set between Furman and La Salle set for this weekend has already been canceled. Other contests could see a similar fate. Saint Joseph's is set to play a three-game series with High Point down in North Carolina with rain forecast throughout the weekend. Villanova, meanwhile, is scheduled for a three-game series with Virginia down in Charlottesville with rain peppered throughout the forecast.

It's tough to see, but we may be looking at nine postponements this weekend involving Philly based D-1 programs.

Expect similar issues with local D-II and D-II programs with the exception of Cabrini who will be in Florida to open an eight-game spring break trip with a split doubleheader on Sunday against Milwaukee and Saint Mary's.

2. The freshmen making their mark
Andrew Cossetti of Saint Joseph's pieced together a fantastic collegiate debut and took home our Freshman of the Week honors, but he wasn't the only first-year player to make an impact. La Salle's Nick O'Day finished 3-for-12 over the weekend with a homer while scoring four runs and Quentin Brown drove in a team-high four runs. Villanova hurler Gordon Graceffo got off to a rough start in his debut on Sunday but settled down to toss four innings while surrendering two earned runs on five hits. Offensively for the Wildcats, Dylan McNary finished 5-for-6 and scored four runs.

3. Arcadia season opener
The Knights are one of the strongest D-III teams in the area and open the season as favorites to win the MAC Commonwealth pennant. Arcadia is looking to win its third straight conference title in 2019, after capturing back-to-back championships in 2017 and 2018. The Knights went 31-16 last season, earning the number two seed in the conference tournament and defeating Hood in the title game 25-12.

Head coach Bryan Torresani has made quite a name for himself in the local baseball scene and welcomes back a boatload of talent, including MAC Player of the Year Bryan Gillen.

The Knights, weather permitting, open their 2019 campaign on Saturday with a doubleheader against Elizabethtown at MSI Sports Village in Aston.
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Follow Patrick on Twitter: @PGordonPBR

BY PATRICK GORDON
Managing Editor
pgordon@philadelphiabaseballreview.com

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