With his first season coming in the spring of 2011, Pat Horvath turned a five-win program into a perennial contender for the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Tournament.
The 2017 season saw the Rams return to the final four of the CACC Tournament for the second straight year. The season was highlighted by having three Rams receiving 1st Team All-Conference, 2nd straight Player of the Year (Steven Wells), 2nd Straight All-East Region Player of the Year (Steven Wells), and 2nd straight All-American selection (Steven Wells). Abe Almonte become the 1st player drafted by Major League Baseball since 1999. He was drafted in the 26th round by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
In 2016, Horvath led the Rams to their best season in 21 seasons as Philadelphia racked up 23 victories and reached the championship game of the CACC Tournament for the first time since joining the conference in 2005. The 23 victories are the most for the team since a 25-win campaign in 1995. Philadelphia had one of the top offenses in the conference, leading the CACC in home runs (42) and ranking second in batting average (.283), slugging percentage (.421), hits (470), runs (303), doubles (86), total bases (700), walks (189), and runs batted in (269).
Pitcher/second baseman Fernando Garza was named the CACC Player of the Year and became the program’s first All-American since 1998 with his selection to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), and Division II Conference Commissioners Association All-America teams. First baseman Steven Wells earned a place on the All-CACC first team, and ABCA and NCBWA All-East Region teams.
The Rams had a 17-23 overall record during the 2014 campaign and went 9-11 against the conference, missing the CACC Tournament by a single game. Philadelphia had John Sczepanski and Ken McCormick named to the All-CACC first team, marking the first time since 2008 that the Rams had two all-conference first-team players. McCormick went on to receive Daktronics Division II All-East Region second team recognition. Jordan Force was tabbed for the 2014 East Region American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings Gold Glove second team.
Philadelphia took major steps in the right direction in 2013. The Rams went 19-28-1—an improvement of eight wins from the 2012 season—qualified for the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Tournament for the first time since 2008, and won the Bill Giles Invitational Tournament for the first time in 11 seasons.
The 2012 season saw the Rams post an 11-33 overall record, a six-win improvement from Horvath’s first season with the team. Center fielder Rick Reigner was tabbed All-CACC honorable mention and the team earned the conference’s Team Sportsmanship Award.
Before coming to East Falls, Horvath spent the 2010 season as an assistant coach at Division I Rider University, where he worked with the catchers and also served as the third base coach. In his one season at Rider, the Broncs won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference crown and went to the NCAA Regional Tournament in Austin, Texas. In 2009, Horvath was the head coach at Santa Fe Catholic High School in Lakeland, Fla. He spent two seasons with San Diego Christian College (SDCC) as the head coach in 2008 and an assistant in 2007. At SDCC, Horvath had two players selected in the 2008 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft and the team had a cumulative grade point average of 3.0. Horvath also has coaching experience at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Palm Beach Atlantic University, his alma mater.
Abraham Almonte joined the baseball coaching staff prior to the 2020 season.
After a three-year career with the Rams, Almonte was selected in the 26th round of the 2017 MLB Entry Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks. He appeared in 58 minor league contests and played as high as Single-A ball.
While in East Falls, Almonte appeared in 33 games and posted a 9-6 overall record and the second-best earned run average in school history of 2.41. He fanned 125 batters in 112 innings of work. Almonte threw the first no-hitter since 1999 on April 3, 2015 in a 7-0 victory over Lincoln (Pa.). He was named First Team All-CACC in 2017.
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