High school baseball team tops Hun, Trenton
By: Mike Molaro
Little by little, the pieces are starting to come together for the Lawrence High School baseball squad.
Head coach Brian Carter will be the first to admit that his guys haven’t turned the corner yet, but he’ll also tell you that the Cardinals (3-5) are playing much better than they were just two weeks ago.
Lawrence pounded out 10 hits off two Hun pitchers April 19 en route to a solid 9-2 home victory over the Raiders.
The Cardinals followed that win with a gutsy 2-1, eight-inning triumph at Colonial Valley Conference foe Trenton Saturday for their first two-game winning streak of the season.
But that streak ended abruptly Monday when CVC rival Hamilton on Monday no-hit the Cardinals to record a 3-0 victory.
Senior first baseman Dan Fa’t led the way in the offensive outburst against Hun, collecting three hits, two runs batted in and a run scored.
Senior designated hitter John Veltri also drove in a pair of runs, while senior left fielder Eric Weiner stroked two hits, scored twice, and added an RBI. Junior third baseman Kyle Anderson scored twice and drove in a run, and junior catcher Duane Davis had two hits and an RBI.
Senior Jason Smith allowed just one earned run and two hits in five innings to pick up his first win.
“We hit the ball well,” said Carter. “Defensively, we had another solid game. We put pressure on the defense and pushed some runs across and made it easy for us. We only struck out four times and put the ball in play.
“This was one of our best games of the year.”
Senior right hander Eric Brown, who was used mainly in relief early on to help him regain his confidence, struck out five Tornadoes and didn’t allow an earned run against Trenton in 7 1/3 innings.
While Brown earned the victory, Weiner came on and got the final two outs to seal the victory.
Junior right fielder C.J. Hendricks was 2-for-2, and Weiner and senior first baseman Eric Stoffa each drove in a run.
“This was a good win for us,” Carter added. “You have to win the close games. We did some really good things defensively. Twice we stopped them late in the game. Eric (Brown) pitched a great game.”
Weiner surrendered just two earned runs against the Hornets, but the Cardinal bats were silent.
“We had another solid defensive game,” said Carter. “Holding Hamilton to just three runs tells me we played well defensively. We made too many easy outs and didn’t put pressure on them. We did some positive things defensively. If we could just score some runs for our pitchers, we’ll be in good shape.
“We know what we need to work on. We need to hit the ball better. Our defense is keeping us in the games. I’m waiting for our offense to score some runs. I couldn’t dream of playing the way we are on defense. We have to get the bats going.”
NOTES: The Cardinals hosted North Hunterdon Wednesday in a non-CVC contest. They visit Ewing today (Thursday) and travel to Lawrenceville Prep Saturday.
A game scheduled for Sunday against Delran at The College of New Jersey was still undecided at press time due to a scheduling conflict with the Bears.