Red Raiders look to maintain focus down stretch of season

Pennington baseball

By: Mike Molaro
   The Pennington School baseball squad knew that Monday’s game at Prep A foe Peddie had no bearing on either the Patriot Division standings or the Prep B state tournament seedings.
   Still, head coach Jerry Russo wants his Red Raiders at peak performance with key games coming up this week.
   "The Peddie game didn’t mean anything, and we played like the game didn’t mean anything," Russo said after Pennington suffered a 13-3 road setback to the Falcons. "I told the guys after the game that you can’t just turn it on."
   Junior Chris Slanina and seniors Terry Wells and Joe DeFazio each drove in a run against Peddie. Pennington (8-6 overall, 2-2 in the Patriot Conference) had an opportunity to capture the Patriot Conference title by defeating Princeton Day School Wednesday in its final regular season game. If the Red Raiders lost, they probably would share the crown with Rutgers Prep and PDS.
   With senior Dylan Via Cava scheduled to take the mound against the Falcons, the Red Raiders were primed to add some hardware to their trophy case.
   "The guys know what’s at stake," Russo said. "The guys don’t want to share the title. They want to win the title outright."
   Hun ended Pennington’s four-game winning streak with a 4-3 decision last Friday. Wells allowed just five hits and also drove in a pair of runs and smacked a double. Slanina added an RBI for the visiting Red Raiders, who committed four errors.
   "We played well," Russo said of the loss to the Prep A Raiders. "Terry pitched well. We threw the ball around, and that cost us in the end.
   "They had to bring in Steve Garrison in the seventh inning to close the game. Garrison is arguably the best pitcher in Mercer County. That showed they respected us."
   The Red Raiders avenged an earlier loss to Rutgers Prep by routing the Argonauts 12-3 on April 28. They broke open a 2-2 tie with four runs in the top of the fifth inning and three more in the sixth.
   In winning its fourth straight game, Pennington on the road received a two-run homer from Slanina in the fifth, while winning pitcher Via Cava (3-1) drove in four runs, including a three-run double in the sixth. Wells had three RBIs and stroked a double.
   "It was nice to get this one back," Russo said. "Chris’s home run sent us on our way. Dylan pitched great.
   "The guys were up for this game. Rutgers Prep beat us the first time, and it was also a Patriot Conference game."
• NOTES: The Red Raiders received the seventh seed in the Mercer County Tournament and host 10th-seeded Hamilton at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. They also have a Prep B quarterfinal game next Monday against an opponent and a site to be determined by the seedings. All Prep B Tournament games — including the championship — are played at the higher-seeded team’s field.
   "My guess is that we should get a top four seed," Russo said. "I think that Montclair Kimberly and Newark Academy will be the top two seeds, but I don’t know which order. It’ll be us and Rutgers Prep for the three and four seeds, but again, I don’t know what order."