Junior is among Cougars’ top hitters
By: Bob Nuse
Even last year, Peter Mueller knew James Boyer could hit.
He just didn’t have a spot for him in the Montgomery High lineup.
This year, Boyer has become a fixture in the lineup for the Cougars. On Tuesday, he hit his team-leading second home run of the season as the Cougars dropped a 9-2 decision to Hillsborough. Even with the loss to the Raiders, Montgomery is off to a quick start with a 7-2 record.
Boyer is also off to a quick Start. The junior outfielder has nine hits in 24 at bats for a .375 average. He has those two home runs and has driven in six.
"He has a boatload of talent," said Mueller, the Cougars’ head coach. "He just needs to play and hone his skills. He played on the JV last year and you could see that he had a lot of talent. We just didn’t have a spot for him last year.
"We had a big senior group last year. This year, he was ready. We lost some good players from that team last year and James was one of the guys that was ready to step in and take one of the spots."
Boyer was more than ready to step into an open spot in the Montgomery lineup. He was a year ago, but needed to wait until the opportunity to play presented itself.
"I think I have done my job well," Boyer said. "I felt like I was ready last year, but I didn’t get the call up. When I got the chance to move up this year, I felt like I could step up and do well."
Boyer’s play has solidified an already talented outfield for the Cougars, who opened the season with six straight wins before a loss to St. Joseph’s of Metuchen.
"He has good speed and he can hit the ball," Mueller said. "He’s been playing in the outfield for us and sometimes he DH’s. He’s a tall and skinny kid and he’s real strong. It seems like every ball that he hits is with a lot of authority."
As a team, Montgomery in general has been hitting the ball with authority. The Cougars took a .331 team batting average into Thursday’s schedule game with Immaculata.
"I think we can play a lot better than we are playing right now," Boyer said. "We did not play well against Hillsborough, that was a bad game for us. We made too many errors, which we usually don’t do. I think we might have been a little intimidated because it was not one of our better games."
The Cougars are heading into a tough stretch as far as their schedule is concerned. After facing Hillsborough and Immaculata, there is a test against Edison on Saturday before a Monday game in Cooperstown, N.Y., against Southern Regional at 1:30 p.m.
"I like playing against the better competition," Boyer said. "It’s easier to go into a game knowing that you’re going to be playing a good team. (The game in Cooperstown) should be fun. I’ve never been there. We have some tough games before then and we have a tough game there against Southern Regional."
Mueller is looking at the week ahead as a good test for his team, which started strong with the six wins, but has lost two of three since.
"We’re off to a good start," Mueller said. "The Hillsborough game was certainly disappointing. But in baseball, you have days like that where things just don’t go your way.
"We have some tough games coming up. Edison is always strong. And Southern plays down in the league with the Toms River schools, which is real good competition. So even though they’re around .500, they’re a real good team. This is our fourth year going to Cooperstown. We go every other year. We take all the juniors and seniors, regardless of level. We treat it like a field trip. You want to win the game, but it is also a great experience for the kids."
One of those kids is Boyer, who is putting all of his baseball experience to good use and producing for the Cougars. For Boyer, baseball is a year-round sport, one he has shown he is quite good at.
"In play in a winter league, a summer league and a fall league," Boyer said. "I’ve only been playing baseball since about sixth or seventh grade. I’ve played some other sports, but only in rec leagues. I guess I wasn’t good at anything else."
He’s been good for the Cougars this year. The latest in a line of strong players who just needed their time to come.

