Raiders tripped up by PDS

Pennington baseball

By: Mike Molaro
   It’s been said that it’s extremely difficult to defeat an opponent three times in a season, and that’s especially true if two of those games are within a span of five days.
   The Pennington School baseball squad found that out the hard way in Monday’s 7-6 home setback to Princeton Day School in the opening round of the Prep B state tournament.
   The fourth-seeded Red Raiders (9-8) opened a 5-1 lead, but the fifth-seeded Panthers took a 6-5 advantage before Pennington tied things with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Princeton Day pushed across the winning tally with two out in the top of the seventh.
   Pennington coach Jerry Russo didn’t have to look far to find reasons for the loss.
   "We beat ourselves, and their pitching was better," he said.
   Junior Christian Lauer’s run-scoring single with two out in the bottom of the fifth tied the score at 6-6 before PDS won the game in the seventh. After Lauer’s single, Pennington loaded the bases with two out in the fifth but couldn’t score.
   Senior Adam Spadafora, who is the new Red Raider career hit leader with 94, drove in a pair of runs, and junior Mike Millstein added an RBI.
   Did Pennington, which defeated PDS 16-2 on May 4, come into Monday’s game possibly looking past the Panthers?
   "It’s possible we were overconfident," Russo said. "I would like to think we respected them enough with their ace (Danny O’Brien) on the mound.
   "We didn’t match their intensity today. Give PDS credit. It’s a lesson we learned. You can’t take anyone lightly."
   The seventh-seeded Red Raiders fell to 10th-seeded Hamilton 16-7 last Saturday in the opening round of the Mercer County Tournament. The teams combined for 14 errors.
   Visiting Hamilton opened an 8-0 lead after two innings on eight unearned runs.
   Senior Terry Wells, who holds the Red Raider single-season record with 36 RBIs, went 4-for-4 with four RBIs — including a two-run homer in the bottom of the second — and three runs scored. Millstein drove in two runs, and Spadafora broke Tim Sliker’s team record of 91 career hits with one hit.
   "It was a pretty sloppy game," Russo said. "You can’t give Hamilton extra outs. We’ve gotten away with it against some teams but not a team like Hamilton.
   "We dug ourselves a huge hole. You can’t give Hamilton an 8-0 lead. We battled back a little but not nearly enough."
   Pennington opened its week in superb fashion by capturing the Patriot Conference championship with that 16-2 road domination of PDS on May 4.
   "We did everything right," Russo said. "We jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back. Dylan was sharp."