Peddie still trying to find its way.
By: Neil Hay
Score one for the Rams.
Hightstown baseball won its first game of the season Tuesday as John Marion pitched the locals past visiting Hopewell Valley, 4-3. It was the home opener for the Rams.
All home games this spring will be played at the East Windsor PAL Airport Road complex. Hightstown’s fields are undergoing renovations and will not be available.
Hightstown (now 1-5) backed Marion with solid hitting and good defense. Marion went the distance, scattering eight hits with three walks and eight strikeouts. One run was unearned.
"He looked sharp," said Hightstown Coach Jim Peto. "He was able to get it going early. We focused on first-pitch strikes."
The Bulldogs nicked Marion for solo runs in the first and third and held a 2-0 lead when the Rams batted in the bottom of the fourth. After an error Shane Smith delivered a two-out RBI double, then Nick Luberto (double) and Ryan Franzo (triple) followed with run-scoring hits to tie the score at 3-3.
Hightstown scored the go-ahead run in the sixth when Tim Egan homered over the fence in left-center field for a 4-3 lead. Hopewell Valley made a try to get the tying run in the top of the seventh, but Franzo went deep against the fence in right field and reached up and brought the ball back for a long, long out.
The Rams collected 11 hits, including two each by Marion, Mike Alter and Smith. Jeff Scott also contributed a double.
"The back of the lineup came through, That was nice," said Peto.
The win should put a charge into the Rams’ fortunes from here on out.
"Definitely a load was lifted. A lot of good things happened. The team was very excited. Last year we were winless at home. This was our home opener and we won it. The kids are really coming along. The last two days our maturity level improved by leaps and bounds."
Despite the heavy hitting of D.J. Congo and Marcus McCleod (who were stilled by Hopewell Valley) through the early days of 2006, the Hightstown baseball team was winless in its first five games. Monday Hightstown lost a tough 6-5 decision at Steinert. When you stay close to a quality team like the Spartans, especially on the road, hopes are high that a win will come your way. But what happens with young teams that struggle is that the other team finds the way to win.
Said Peto, "We felt we had a chance," going into the bottom of the sixth with the score tied 5-5. "It was tough."
Steinert punched across what proved to be the winning run on a walk, stolen base, and a double. In the top of the seventh the Rams were unable to plate the tying run and dropped its fifth game.
Hightstown battled throughout the day. Ahead 1-0, Steinert scored five times in the second for a 5-1 lead. In the top half of the fifth Hightstown tallied four runs on a double by Smith, singles by Luberto and Paul Wright (RBI), an error, Congo’s single (which delivered two runs), and a run-scoring single by Scott.
In all, the Rams had eight hits, compared to 10 for Steinert. McCleod’s two hits raised his average to .400, while Congo is batting .529 with nine runs batted in.
"We’ve got guys hitting. We are just not getting timely hits," said Peto. That changed against Hopewell Valley.
And prior to Marion’s nifty outing, pitching was a sore spot as well. At Steinert Jason Katcher started and lasted two innings, having been touched for five runs on six hits with three walks. Egan pitched the next two innings, with no runs and two hits and one walk. McCleod pitched two innings and gave up the winning run on two hits with three walks and a strikeout. Hightstown did not commit any errors.
Last Thursday Congo had two hits but Hightstown managed just three more in an 11-2 loss at West Windsor-North. Katcher pitched the Rams into the fifth before he faltered. He allowed a total of 13 hits and nine runs, with one walk and four strikeouts. Kevin Ewer and Marion went the rest of the way.
"Katcher ran out of gas and we were out of pitchers," said Peto.
PEDDIE
Growing pains.
That might be an apt way to describe the Peddie baseball team as it tries to get a handle on the new 2006 season.
After Tuesday’s 8-5 loss at Lawrenceville, which dropped the locals to 0-3, Coach Erik Treese offered these observations about his team.
"We haven’t yet learned how to win games. We don’t have a young team but we are inexperienced in the sense they are in new roles. We have a lot of guys returning but they are starting for the first time. It’s growing pains. We are learning as we go."
Hitting is one area that Peddie has come up short. In the loss to the Big Red, the Falcons had only six hits. Mike Flacco had a home run and two runs batted in, and Mario Fiorentini also homered and drove in two. But that was just about all the offense.
"We are not hitting very well. On some level we are making bad plays at the worst time. In the Notre Dame game (a 10-5 loss on April 1) we got way behind (8-1) early. That happens.
"The 7-3 loss to West Windsor-South (April 4) was similar to the Lawrenceville game. It was 3-3 in the sixth inning. In the sixth (South) scored four runs. We make a couple of errors. We are making fundamental mistakes," including throwing to a base where there is no play, or just throwing the ball away. "We have to learn (what to do) when we have an opportunity to get out of an inning.
"It will come around but we have to avoid the big innings," said Treese. "It’s basic stuff, nothing revolutionary. And we aren’t scoring runs to cover our mistakes. It magnifies every other aspect. We have to figure it out and we will. The pitching has been okay. For the most part the pitchers give us a chance to win."
Kyle McClure worked four and one-third innings before Treese replaced him with Flacco. McClure was charged with five runs on seven hits with one walk and no strikeouts. Flacco allowed three runs on three hits. Lawrenceville broke it open with five runs in the fifth.

