Baseball
By: John E. Powers
The last week or so has been unkind to the Hopewell Valley Central High School baseball team.
First, sophomore left-hander Brett Hanson, the team’s No. 2 starter, steps off a bus and breaks his ankle, probably landing him on the shelf for the season. Then the team loses three straight a blowout and two tight setbacks, with one close loss coming in the Mercer County Tournament to McCorristin, the 14th-seeded team.
And now, with a record of 8-7, Bulldog coach Jim Reed’s team is running the risk of not qualifying for the Central Jersey Group II section of the state tournament. The Bulldogs have two games, one against West Windsor-Plainsboro North on Wednesday and the other against Allentown on Friday, before the state tournament’s cutoff date. Just a few weeks ago, the Bulldogs were 7-3 but losing five of six has put them on the brink of elimination.
"We have to win one of our two games this week," Reed said. "That’s the bottom line. We let it slip away a bit."
Last week started with a 6-2 win over Princeton Day, a game highlighted by junior shortstop Rob Salyga (2-for-2 with two RBIs), sophomore right fielder Chris Zsenak (2-for-2, two runs scored and an RBI) and senior catcher Doug Sista (two hits and three RBIs). Sophomore righty Mark Yuhas went six innings for the win, and senior righty Matt Barrett pitched an inning.
A 19-4 blowout loss to Hightstown followed. The Bulldogs beat Hightstown 8-7 early in the season, rallying from a 7-1 deficit.
"We did everything wrong, and they did everything right," Reed said. "I guess they were looking for a little revenge."
The real disappointment of the week came next when the Bulldogs, the No. 3 seed in the Mercer County Tournament, lost to 14th-seeded McCorristin 6-3.
"We should have never lost, but McCorristin played well," Reed said. "We really didn’t do much."
Senior first baseman Donnie Giovacchini went 2-for-3 with a homer. The Bulldogs trailed just 4-3 with two outs in the McCorristin seventh. But, with runners on second and third, Barrett allowed a double.
"We were in a nice bracket," Reed said. "But we made a couple of mistakes."
Giovacchini went 2-for-4 and junior designated hitter Rob Serratelli played well in the loss to North. Junior righty Chris Yanock pitched well, Reed said, but control problems hurt him. Reed was encouraged that the team rallied from a 3-0 deficit to close to within 5-4 and 7-6.
"We started to play like we did earlier in the year before we hit the wall," Reed said. "Now we have to stop the bleeding and pull one of these out."
For now, Reed is auditioning some middle relievers to take Hanson’s spot. Zsenak, the team’s closer, seems the likely candidate to step into the rotation.
"He (Zsenak) hasn’t done a bad job," Reed said. "We were just starting to get things back together with the rotation, and Brett gets hurt."

