Junior batting leadoff for Panthers
By: Bob Nuse
Andrew Davidson remembers when he was a young player on the Princeton Day School baseball team. He would watch the older, more experienced players ahead of him and learn.
Now, as a junior and one of the veteran players for the Panthers, Davidson is the one leading and doing the teaching.
"I feel like I have really improved over the last couple of years," said Davidson, the Panthers’ leadoff hitter and starting first baseman. "My freshman year, James Bird was here as the first baseman and I learned a lot from him. Just the experience of watching him in games and practices helped me so much. He was a mentor for me and made a great impression."
This year, PDS finds itself in a position where four of its starters are freshmen. And it is the experienced players like Davidson and Danny O’Brien who have to lead the way.
"It’s been a pretty good year so far," said Davidson, who is batting close to .400 this season. "We’re a young team. I guess we keep hearing that all the time because we have so many young players. But the freshmen that we have all have varsity experience from other sports, so I think that has helped all of them with the adjustment. We try not to use that as a crutch. We’re all trying to improve as players and we’ve been getting better."
PDS is 4-6 after a 9-3 win over Timothy Christian last Thursday that snapped a four-game losing streak. The Panthers have played a tough schedule thus far, one that should prepare them for the Prep B tournament down the road.
"We played Blair, Lawrenceville and Peddie back-to-back-to-back and that is not easy to do," said PDS coach Bruce Devlin, whose team plays at Allentown today at 4:15 p.m. "I don’t think any school other than the Prep A schools does that. And we were in all three of those games until late when we made a mistake. Lawrenceville was 3-2 in the fifth, Peddie was 3-2 in the sixth. It’s always one bad inning or error that seems to do us in.
"We’re such a young team. We start four freshmen. Clint is having a phenomenal year. He’s batting .543 and he’s hit five home runs. He has such a great work ethic. He’s always working on the game and trying to get better. He’s got the whole package."
Clint O’Brien is one of the promising newcomers, while Davidson is one of the solid holdovers. He has overcome some back problems that sidelined him during basketball season and is off to a hot start on the diamond.
"My back has been fine and hasn’t been a factor with baseball," said Davidson, a Princeton resident. "I try to stay strong and do my exercises and so far it has not been a problem. I have tried to stay healthy and I have been doing a lot of stretching.
"I love both, basketball and baseball. Coach Devlin and the coaching staff have really helped me a lot with my baseball."
"Andrew has done real well for us," Devlin said. "He’s batting .390 as our leadoff hitter and he plays a great first base. He’s probably the best we’ve had in my four years here and we’ve some good ones. James Bird was real good at first, but Andrew has a great glove. He’s only a junior and he’s got colleges looking at him. He’s got soft hands and he makes the plays in the field. He only has one error all year and he’s saved a few taking balls out of the dirt."
Davidson’s steady play has also helped offset some injury problems for the Panthers, who are down two starters at the moment.
"We’ve had some tough injuries," Devlin said. "We lost Bam Miller, who is our starting center fielder, to a broken ankle. And Mike Shimkin broke his nose and he is out."
But those injuries have given other players a chance to shine. And Davidson, for one, thinks the tough early schedule will make the Panthers a better team come tournament time.
"We’ve lost some tough ones with Blair, Lawrenceville and Peddie," Davidson said. "We felt like we played all of those teams tough. It was just one thing here or there in each game. We feel like we’re getting better and we feel like it is all coming together, hopefully in time for the Prep B tournament."

