Little Tigers miss state cutoff, fall in MCT semifinal
By: Bob Nuse
While the Princeton High baseball team fell just short of qualifying for the state tournament, this past week certainly had a state tournament feel to it.
On Thursday, the Little Tigers played perhaps their best game of the season, topping Hun, 12-3, to advance to the Mercer County Tournament semifinals. A day later, Princeton needed a win to reach .500 by the state tournament cutoff, but dropped an 11-1 decision to a Freehold Township team that also needed a win to reach the state tournament. Then on Saturday, the Little Tigers gave top-seeded Notre Dame all it could handle before falling, 3-1, in the MCT semis.
"I thought we played well the whole week," said Princeton coach John Miranda, whose team fell to 9-12 with the loss to Notre Dame. "We had a nice win over Morrisville on Tuesday. The next day we played well against Steinert and lost. The Hun game was probably the best we’ve played in terms the whole overall game. It was really an emotional roller coaster for us all week.
"We’ve been playing almost every day. Except for Sundays, the only day we’ve had off for two weeks was May 6. We played 11 games in 13 days, so I really give the kids a lot of credit. They’ve come to play every day."
The upset win over Hun in the MCT finals gave Princeton a shot at a state tournament berth. They had a game scheduled Friday against New Hope-Solebury. But when the Pennsylvania school cancelled early in the day, the Little Tigers scrambled and found a willing opponent in Freehold.
"It came down to the last day. That’s a great program they have at Freehold. We were fortunate to be able to schedule the game late in the day after New Hope had to cancel on us. Freehold was in the same boat, they needed a win to get in."
Even after just missing out on a state berth, Princeton didn’t have a letdown. The Little Tigers took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth against Notre Dame behind the strong pitching of senior Robby Begin.
"It was a great game," Miranda said. "We had a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth. They get a little flare that rolls by our outfielder for a triple and then the gates opened up a little bit after that. Robby pitched an unbelievable game. It was only his second start of the season. He had not started a game until Tuesday, when he pitched against Morrisville. In fact, he has only pitched one inning all year and that was in the first game of the season.
"He had hurt his shoulder and did not pitch at all last year. This year at the beginning of the season he was hoping to be able to pitch, but he threw that one inning and felt some pain. He’s worked all year and was able to come back and pitch this week and he was magnificent in both games."
For the most part, Princeton has been pretty remarkable this season. While 9-12 may not seem like much to get excited about to some teams, the Little Tigers have come a long way from their 2-18 mark of a year ago.
"It’s been a nice season," Miranda said. "I’ve been pleased with how much the kids have improved and how well they have played compared to last year. I did not see the team the couple of years I was away, so all I had to go on was comparisons to last year. This year we’ve improved in all areas of the game. We’ve cut down on our errors, wild pitches, passed balls, walks. We’ve thrown people out stealing. We’re just playing better all across the board.
"These seniors have never really had a chance to play for anything, so this was a great experience for them the last two weeks. We’ve been playing in one meaningful game after another. So it’s just been a great experience to play in these kinds of games against quality teams. It was an opportunity to play on a big stage and we played great."
Not only did Begin get it done on the mound over the last week of the season, but his batting average has been over .500 all year. And lefty Jake Horan’s four wins are among the leaders in the Colonial Valley Conference.
"Robby has been a dominant player this year," Miranda said. "He’s really stepped up his game and been a dominant player in the league. Jake (Horan) has done a great job for us on the mound this year. He’s had some huge wins for us.
"The whole team has really come together and played well. It’s been a good year for us."

