Raiders win MCT baseball opener, eye busy week of tourneys
By: Bob Nuse
Bill McQuade knows how important pitching is to the fortunes of a baseball team.
This week, the veteran Hun School head coach will find out just how important pitching depth is to the fortunes of a baseball team.
Hun began a stretch of play in three tournaments on Saturday with a 7-3 win over Hightstown in the opening round of the Mercer County Tournament. With the win, the Raiders advanced to the quarterfinals against Princeton at 3 p.m. Thursday at Mercer County ComMunity College.
But the Mercer County Tournament isn’t the only one Hun will be playing in this week. On Monday, they were scheduled to open play in the state Prep A tournament with a game against Lawrenceville. With a win on Thursday, the MCT would continue Saturday and possibly Monday, while the Raiders also play in the Mid-Atlantic Prep League tournament on Saturday and Sunday.
"We’re going to have to juggle it and figure out what we’re going to do," said McQuade, whose team improved to 13-4 with an 11-10 win over Mercersburg on Sunday. "It’s tough with three major tournaments going on at basically the same time. You have to prioritize and figure out what to do.
"The Mercer County Tournament has always been special to me having grown up here and played in it. Plus, most of our kids are from Mercer County, so it is special for them. And the state tournament is also big."
The Raiders know they have as good a pitcher at the top of the rotation as anyone in senior Steve Garrison, who took a 6-0 record into Monday’s game against Lawrenceville. They’ve also gotten a huge lift from freshman Mike Russo, who improved to 4-1 on the season when he pitched two-hit ball over five innings in Saturday’s win over Hightstown.
"Mike did a real nice job," McQuade said. "He’s been a big key for us this year. He comes in and he throws strikes. And he’s got a great temperament for a pitcher. He is able to shrug things off and go to the next batter, which is what you need to do in baseball.
"He’s similar to where Steve was four years ago when he came in as a freshman. He’s got good location on his pitches and he does a real nice job."
Russo only struck out one batter in the win over Hightstown, but the Raiders made the plays in the field behind him as he allowed just one run in his five innings.
"We played our best defensive game of the year," McQuade said. "We played Sean Pucciarelli at short in place of our PG (Dan Grieco) and he did an outstanding job. It was just a real good defensive game for us all around."
And when the Raiders get pitching and defense, they’re tough to beat. Garrison led the offense with three hits, including a home run, while Jon D’Angelo also homered for the Raiders.
The big key for Hun now is to get enough pitching to play in three tournaments at once. The Raiders could face a scenario where they play Thursday, twice on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
"There is not a team in the county that has enough pitching for that," McQuade said. "We’ll spot Steve and hopefully Russo will come back and pitch well again. And Gene Pavitt has been solid. And we’ve got a couple of lefties with Kevin Tylus and Sean Munley that should get a chance. We’ll see what happens.
"It will certainly be interesting. If we’re fortunate enough to get past Princeton, which won’t be easy because they’re playing well right now, we’ll get either Notre Dame or (West Windsor-Plainsboro) North. At this point, they’re all going to be tough games."
And they’ll all be games where the Raiders will be counting on whoever winds up on the mound, and that could be just about anybody.

