The Phillips Academy baseball team of 2018 was indeed the perfect storm. The Big Blue had it all working for them. They could pitch, hit, field and steal bases. Put all of it together, and it arguably became the the most prolific season in the school's tradition-rich history.
From start to finish, nothing stood in their way. The Big Blue were a talented and superior group, putting up video game-like numbers along the way. Phillips finished the season with a 20-2 overall mark (11-1 in CNEPSBL), highlighted with a league championship. The 20 victories remains a school record. In addition, the Big Blue finished No. 1 in the NEBJ Coaches Poll.
With the emergence of starting pitchers Anthony Redfern, Travis Lane, Jackson Emus and Jake Zanazzi, Phillips had a dominant staff. Combined, the Big Blue pitching corps maintained a school record-low 0.94 ERA, allowing just 21 earned runs, striking out 194 and limiting their opponent's batting average to .159.
"We didn't really have a number one starter because Anthony, Travis and Jackson were basically all number ones," said 12th-year Big Blue coach Kevin Graber. "We also had Zanazzi, Sam Conte, who was a Division 1 arm, LJ Keevan, who was a Division 1 arm, as was Matt Sapienza. It all started for us with pitching, but we also scored a lot of runs as well with 175. That team was so deep."
