HOPEWELL VALLEY BASEBALL
By: Tim Falls
Saying the Hopewell Valley Central High School baseball team had a rough start is an understatement.
Coach Kenny Harrison said the team has been unable to make plays on offense and on defense. Fielding errors and strikeouts have put Hopewell Valley behind in each of its three games so far this season.
The Bulldogs lost their season opener to Lenape, and fell to West Windsor-Plainsboro North and Allentown in the Colonial Valley Conference. Hopewell Valley can get its first win today (Thursday) against Steinert.
Hopewell Valley started its season with an 11-6 loss to Lenape in eight innings Saturday. The trouble began early for Hopewell Valley, when starting pitcher Tim Parker took a ball to his left eye just two batters into the game.
"He needed eight stitches," said Hopewell Valley coach Kenny Harrison. Parker missed the rest of the opener and the two CVC games, but he is now ready to re-enter the lineup. "He’s all stitched up and he’s ready to go," Harrison said.
Hopewell let Lenape get ahead early by making mistakes.
"The first couple of innings we gave up too many unearned runs," said Harrison. "That’s basically what hurt us."
It was a problem that plagued the Bulldogs in the following two games as well.
"We have to make the routine plays," said Harrison. "We can’t give teams extra outs."
Harrison explained how errors helped the other team keep innings alive and run up the score, instead of ending an inning and bringing Hopewell Valley up to bat. It is not just the tough plays the Bulldogs need to work on; Harrison said his team wasn’t connecting on the routine plays, the almost automatic outs.
Hopewell Valley managed to tie the score against Lenape and forced an extra inning with five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Lenape got an early start with four runs in the top of the first.
The bottom of the seventh brought Hopewell Valley back in the game, but at the end, in the extra innings, the Bulldogs didn’t have the offense and Lenape did.
"In the eighth inning, they hit the ball and scored the runs," said Harrison. "It was the only time we didn’t give them their runs."
Matt Lanouette led Hopewell Valley with four hits, including a three-run home run in the opener.
The offensive problems continued for the Bulldogs in a 7-3 loss to West Windsor-Plainsboro North on Monday.
WW-P North’s Brian Sigle and Brian Smith combined for 10 strikeouts in the game
"We didn’t put the ball in play," said Harrison. "When you put the ball in play, you put the pressure on their defense and force them to make the plays. When you strike out, there are no plays to make. We struck out way too much."
Carl Sorg went 3-for-3 for Hopewell Valley against the Knights and had two doubles, while Frank Lovero had a triple and a single.
WW-P North struck in the bottom of the second and took a one-run lead that Hopewell managed to match in the top of the third, but the Knights gained control by scoring two runs in the bottom of the inning and adding two runs each in the fifth and sixth innings.
Hopewell Valley found even less offense against Allentown.
The Red Birds defeated Hopewell Valley, 11-1, on Tuesday for the Bulldogs’ third straight loss.
Sorg scored the lone run for Hopewell Valley after pounding out a triple. Ralph Rich drove Sorg home with a single as Hopewell Valley went ahead 1-0 in the top of the first.
The Bulldogs held the lead until the bottom of the third, when Allentown scored four runs. The Red Birds extended their lead with six runs in the fifth inning and managed to end the game early with the 10-run mercy rule by scoring in the sixth inning.
"We’re not playing good baseball," said Harrison. "It’s the first week, we’re 0-3, but we have time to turn things around. We just need to keep playing and find the right lineup. We need kids with the right attitude."

