Lawrence baseball
By: Jim Green
The Lawrence High School baseball team simply took care of business Friday.
The Cardinals, coming off back-to-back losses to two of the better teams in the Colonial Valley Conference, hammered Trenton 14-1 in five innings at LHS. Sophomore Taylor Smith had an outstanding performance, allowing one run on one hit and striking out five to pick up the complete-game win. The Cardinal offense provided plenty of support, banging out nine hits and drawing seven walks.
Lawrence improved to 4-7 overall and 3-6 in the CVC.
"It went well," Lawrence coach Brian Carter said. "We hit a little bit and put some pressure on them. We did what we needed to do."
Senior third baseman Mike Frascella led the attack from the cleanup spot, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Sophomore center fielder Christian Cox had a triple, two runs and two RBIs, and Smith helped himself by going 2-for-3 and knocking in two runs.
Lawrence broke the game open early with 11 runs in the first inning and three in the second.
"I talked to them before the game about getting on them early and establishing some sort of early momentum, and they did exactly that," Carter said. "You get a couple guys on, and you get a couple guys to string a couple of hits together, and that’s when the floodgates open up."
Frascella is now 6-for-8 with six RBIs and four runs scored in the Cardinals’ two victories over Trenton
"He does a good job there," Carter said. "The situation comes up, and he takes advantage of it."
The most important sign, though, was the continued development of Smith on the mound. After starting the year as a relief pitcher, he has made two starts, winning both and allowing just two runs on five hits in 11 innings.
"He’s pitching really well," Carter said. "He took a ball off the knee on the only hit he gave up. It swelled up pretty good, and he battled through it. The last two games, he was very impressive. He’s really coming along well. I’m very happy with what he’s done."
Carter said Smith appeared healthy enough at practice on Monday to serve as the Cardinals’ designated hitter Wednesday against WW-P South.
"Everything seemed OK," Carter said. "He’s probably not 100 percent, but he should be ready to go."
The week doesn’t get any easier after facing South. The Cardinals play host to Nottingham at 3:45 p.m. Friday before visiting Hopewell in the preliminary round of the Mercer County Tournament at 2 p.m. Saturday. Lawrence is the 14th seed, and Hopewell is seeded third, but the game should be much more competitive than those rankings based solely on overall record would suggest.
"I think we’ve played Steinert in the first round the last two years, and I think we played Notre Dame the previous two years," Carter said. "It’s good to face someone else in the first round of the tournament."
The winner of the Lawrence-Hopewell game will move on to the quarterfinals where it will face the winner of the contest between sixth-seeded Steinert and 11th-seeded Princeton Day. That game would be held at 3:30 p.m. May 12.
"We’ve been talking about playing confident, regardless of who our opponent is," Carter said.
Confidence comes with experience, and with so many quality teams on the CVC schedule, the inexperienced Cardinal lineup is getting thrown into the fire this year.
"Our hitters are young, and they’re seeing top-notch pitching every time they go onto the field," Carter said. "Every game, they’re getting a little bit better."
And the pitchers keep getting better, too. With Smith, junior Mike Darbee and senior Mike Sheehan, Carter has three legitimate starters, and in freshman Dan Ciccone, he has a top-notch relief pitcher.
"Last year, 13 guys might have had appearances because we were trying to find people to get people out," Carter said. "This year, it’s four, and I have confidence in putting them in any situation. It’s four guys that throw strikes and can get anybody out in the CVC."
NOTES: The Cardinals lost to Steinert at 6 p.m. April 27. Cox and senior catcher Nick Scozzari were the only Cardinals to get hits off Steinert pitcher Matt Bramley.
Cox is batting .417 with 12 runs scored and nine RBIs, Frascella is hitting .343 with 11 RBIs and six runs, and Smith is at .296 with six runs and six RBIs.
Next week, the Cardinals have back-to-back road games against Notre Dame on Monday and Hightstown on Wednesday. They then finish the week with a home game against West Windsor-Plainsboro North on Friday.
If the Cardinals beat WW-P South on Wednesday, they must win four of their next five to have the necessary .500 record to qualify for the state tournament by Friday’s cutoff. If they lost to South, they must win all five.

