Newtown Square Friends & Neighbors’ mission is Bringing People Together, and we are pleased to introduce you this month to two hometown entrepreneurs who are hitting it out of the park on and off the baseball field.
Matt Wray and Mike Palumbo are the founders of LENZ, LLC. From events to merchandise to marketing, LENZ covers every step of the travel baseball sports experience. The company’s success, the story of how LENZ came to be, and its current position speak volumes about persistent hard
work, positive influences and the power of connections.
Matt and Mike both went to St. Anastasia for grade school. Matt played baseball for Newtown Edgmont Little League (NELL), while Mike played for Marple Township Little League (MTLL). After grade school, they continued to play ball – Matt at Malvern Prep and Mike at Archbishop Carroll. “Mike was a few years older than me, so we didn’t actually cross paths until a few years after we graduated from college,” Matt said.
Matt and Mike separately began their careers in sports over ten years ago, working up from the ground level. Starting as an amateur scout and on-field coordinator at the Baseball Factory in an internship role, Mike saw firsthand the relationship between business and amateur sports. Mike
entered the coaching world as an assistant coach for the freshman team at his alma mater, Archbishop Carroll High School.
Turning his passion into his career, Mike spent the next five years working for the then-startup Philadelphia Baseball Training (PBT). He was PBT’s first full-time employee, working in all areas of the business, which included training, teams and eventually managing tournaments. Mike was
on the front lines through PBT’s growth, which included hiring four new full-time employees and over 50 contracted employees and recognizing a sizeable increase in total business.
As the business grew, so did Mike’s coaching career. He signed on as the pitching coach at The Haverford School, where in his first year, the Fords lowered their team ERA from 5.11 to 3.50, then lowered it again to 3.21 in his 
third season and once more to 3.20 in his fourth season. In his time at Haverford, Mike had 12 of his pitchers commit to playing baseball in college, including East Carolina, Harvard, Pitt, Rider, Dickinson, Rhode Island, Army, Norwich, La Salle and Brandeis University. Mike’s success at The Haverford School led him to recently accept the Head Varsity Baseball Coach position at Devon Prep.
Matt’s career in baseball began as an Events Director at NXTLevel Events in 2014. He was exposed to every level of travel sports and managed events and teams there. For three years, Matt and his colleagues ran events with over 70 travel teams per weekend in baseball and softball tournaments, managing a team of 15 employees.
However, as much as Matt traveled for his job, he remained committed to spending his free time helping out at NELL. “One day, I was cleaning up the fields to prepare for an incoming tournament when I met Mike,” Matt recalled. “He was there with PBT to evaluate the grounds.” They both laughed when they described the interaction as a little bit of a power play to figure out if either was a threat. “That didn’t last long,” Matt said. “After a short conversation, we hit it off and have been great friends ever since.”
In 2017, Matt joined Mike at PBT, where he was hired full-time as the Director of Special Events. “I managed the events division from top to bottom,
including sales, operations and customer service, and managed a staff of over 20 employees,” he explained. “The events division grew substantially in time with the company, and I was instrumental in the formation of strategic partnerships with companies such as Dicks Sporting Goods, The Hamels Foundation and Hitrax.” Matt also created PBT’s media division, where he was the host of the podcast Beyond the Bell, interviewing professional athletes, sports media personalities and college athletes.
Matt and Mike’s combined experience on and off the field and their shared desire to become entrepreneurs led them to start on a journey to improve the travel baseball experience. They co-founded LENZ in 2021. The company began as an online platform that allowed parents to rate their experience with their travel sports teams and events they played in. LENZ grew quickly in local and regional markets, with over 4,000 site users across multiple sports. Matt and Mike were soon recognized as “Philadelphia’s Top Innovators Under 25” by the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Today, LENZ has evolved and grown to offer expert service and guidance for athletes, teams and organizations. Mike, Matt and their growing team of professionals now operate divisions for merchandising and branding, athlete sponsorship, consulting for organizations and coaches and partnering with leagues to host baseball tournaments.
Events are the cornerstone of player and fan engagement within youth travel sports. LENZ Events is at the forefront of creating unique event experiences while also keeping family convenience at the top of mind. “Our team operates tournaments focused on single-site locations, free atten-
dance and parking, clean facilities and effective communication,” Matt explained.
This summer was a busy one for these co-founders. “LENZ officially partnered with Newtown Edgmont (NE) to host tournaments this fall,” Mike said. “The partnership is especially meaningful because many of our LENZ team members have a great history and fond memories with NE.”
Matt added, “We can all agree that there are very few complexes in the country that have the environment that NE has.”
The two baseball tournaments for ages 8U to 13U offer a fun, affordable, local event, drawing teams from PA, NJ, DE and MD. The first event ran September 20th-22nd and was an incredible success, with over 45 teams participating in an impressive 160-game tournament. The next one will take place at NE from October 11th through the 13th.
Matt and Mike credit much of the success of LENZ to the community surrounding them. “Mike and I work very well together, each of us having strengths that complement each other,” Matt said. “But our company is what it is today because of the amazing people in our lives who have supported us every step of the way.” Mike said he and Matt are very grateful to the people who will go out of their way to help make connections and offer valuable advice while never expecting anything in return. “Matt and I do not have all the answers, but we have built a team around us that
is destined for success,” he said. “We are beyond grateful to have them in our corner and in our neighborhood.” For more information about LENZ, visit their website LenzSportsGroup.com.