Lenape Valley baseball rebuilds into NJAC Colonial champions

Any question marks that the Lenape Valley High School baseball program had going into 2026 were answered, as the team captured the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference Colonial Conference championship.

“Prior to this season there were a lot of unknowns,’’ first-year Lenape Valley coach Kyle Murphy said. “The program graduated eight out of nine starters from last year’s team and a total of 13 seniors. Nearly every player stepping onto the varsity field this season was learning how to compete at this level for the first time. Add in a brand new coaching staff to the mix.

The Patriots finished with a 16-9 overall record, the most wins since 2014, and their first winning season since then.

There was strong leadership aplenty for the Patriots this year.

“All five seniors (Liam McClung, Benjamin Sumski, Robert Kranz, Joziah Rivera and Michael Pepe) emerged as leaders for this season along with a group of younger players-junior Michael Kmec, junior Thomas Crispino, junior Jameson Kenny, sophomore Dylan Kelly and sophomore Dominic Errichetti.’’

Some of the players proved to be among the most improved on the team throughout the course of the season.

“McClung bought into the new approach and improved dramatically,’’ Murphy said. “He finished with a 9-3 record on the mound. In 61 innings pitched he struck out 94 batters and only walked 12 hitters and finished with a 1.37 ERA. Sumski finished the season with a .429 batting average and collected 30 hits with 21 RBI’s on the spring.

“Kranz caught every game for us this spring and finished with 17 RBI’s, second on the team. Errichetti finished with a .382 batting average in his first season on varsity.’’

The Patriots also advanced to the NJSIAA North 1 Group 1 Sectional Tournament as the No. 14 seed, but were defeated on the road by third seeded Park Ridge.

“From day one, we talked about rebranding Patriot baseball,’’ Murphy said. “Rebranding was never just about new gear, logos or appearances. It was about changing the identity of the program. It was about building a winning culture - one based on accountability, discipline, toughness, pride and commitment.

“We will miss our five seniors but return a large portion of our team. We were very young this year, so we look forward to building on the new foundation we built this year for the program.’’