Rosenbaum does it all for Chestnut Hill

For a kid attending an Inter-Ac League school, especially the one with the lowest enrollment, Dan Rosenbaum is quite the aberration.

Baseball is his one and only sport.

Oh, he likes others. And considers himself a fan. In fact, he has even tried some. But things did not work out and we'll let him tell you the story.

"When I was in the eighth grade at Colonial Middle School," he said, referring to a feeder for Plymouth-Whitemarsh High, "I went out for soccer and basketball. And got cut from both.

"I can laugh about it now. Even could at the time, really. I wasn't good enough. Wasn't expecting to be. I was just hoping to make the team and have a good time. I guess basketball would have been the most fun. I wouldn't have been on the court too much, so I could have watched a good team play."

Rosenbaum, a 6-1, 205-pound junior, can now be found at Chestnut Hill Academy, and one could make a very strong argument that he qualifies as the baseball squad's franchise player.

Not only is the righthander the No. 1 starter for coach Stan Parker, he also bats cleanup and plays third base (with occasional spot duty at DH) when he's not on the mound.

Almost always, that is.

Yesterday, after going six strong innings against visiting Haverford School, but with his pitch count at exactly 100, Rosenbaum yielded the mound to sidewinder Anderson Good and completely left the field.

He could not be found on the bench, however. As the Blue Devils momentarily imploded, then regrouped in grand fashion, thus earning a 7-4 victory, Rosenbaum stood in a small gap between two fences, one step from ball's-in-play territory.

"It was tough to watch that, at first," Rosenbaum said. "But I had confidence in my guys to get the job done. I can't even remember the thoughts that were going through my mind. Once you get the win, they're all erased."

The trouble began with one away, when Good drilled Andrew Landolfi and Nick Craig. Vince Rondolone followed with a rocket to left off the next reliever, Mike Hayes. Landolfi was held by third-base coach P.J. Vanni, but rounded third a shade too much and was erased on a crafty relay sequence from leftfielder Zach Jancarski to third baseman Matt Rowland to shortstop Dan Hull. Scott Safford then tapped out to end it.

Rosenbaum, all hyped up, was the first guy in the handshake line.

"We finished up nice," he said. "That was a great play."

Of his departure, he said, "They asked me what I thought. I'd thrown a lot of pitches and my arm wasn't feeling great - not hurting, just tired - so I said I'd be better off coming out. I do like finishing games. This was my fifth start and only the second time I came out."

Rosenbaum allowed four hits and struck out six and only one of the runs he allowed was earned. At bat, he went 2-for-3 with a walk, infield single and RBI double in a four-run fourth.

"He's our horse, but he's really not a pitcher," Parker said. "He has made himself into one. He throws hard and has developed a decent breaking ball."

Mostly, Rosenbaum agreed with his coach.

"Well, I've always pitched, but . . . " he said. "Come game time, I like hitting and pitching equally. But off the field, I like working on hitting. Pitching? Not as much. It's a little boring.

"Once I'm out there, I do try my best. I work the batters and try to get as many outs as I can. I like going deep in games, and having them in my control."

Nick Boyle scored CHA's first-inning run on a wild pitch, which followed a balk. Hull laced a two-run double in the third and Matt Primavera (RBI single) joined Rosenbaum in posting a big hit in the fourth. Haverford's Eric Close, a 6-7 junior righthander, permitted four hits in four innings, but walked five and was hurt by one big error.

Vince Piccioni worked two scoreless frames and received a great defensive play - tumbling backward catch of a popup by second baseman Gus Costalas. All game, Rondolone made scintillating plays at third base.

As for Rosenbaum . . . All he did was pitch and hit.

Goals and jump shots were not required.