By: Justin Feil
The way John Miranda sees it, every important game that his Princeton High School baseball team gets is a boon to its experience.
The Little Tigers guaranteed themselves a winners’ bracket game in the Mercer County Tournament. The 13th-seeded Little Tigers beat No. 4 Princeton Day School, 8-3, Saturday in the MCT first round. They will play at No. 5 Notre Dame on Saturday while PDS hosts Trenton on Saturday.
Princeton’s win might be considered an upset based on the seedings, but the Little Tigers actually also defeated PDS in the regular season, 6-5.
"This game is a little different," said Miranda, the Little Tigers head coach after his team improved to 5-10. "It’s such a neighborhood rivalry. A rivalry like this, the record doesn’t mean anything. Everyone knows each other. Mark Madden (of Cranbury), he played for us and he’s at PDS now. Everyone is really close. They play on the same Legion team. They all know each other. This is for bragging rights in town."
The regular season may have been more for that honor. This game meant a bit more, given that it means the Little Tigers will advance to the MCT quarterfinals.
"It probably does mean more," Miranda said. "We have a young team. It gives our guys a chance to play another big game since they don’t have states looming ahead. It’s a chance to play in another big game. That’s always fun and exciting."
A big reason that the Little Tigers are moving on is Cranbury’s Colin Sarafin, the transfer from Peddie who continued his solid work on the mound. In the complete-game effort, he struck out four, walked no one and scattered five hits. On top of that, Sarafin went 3-for-3, stole a base scored twice and drove in a run.
"He is our best hitter and he has pitched excellent all year," Miranda said. "He’s 2-1 right now. He had a tight one against Allentown. He’s pitched consistently well all year for us. (Saturday) was his best. He transferred in from Peddie and that was his best of his high school career. It was his best game he’s had and he’s only a junior."
After helping PHS jump out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, Sarafin held PDS to a single run in each of the next three innings before putting the stops on. The Little Tigers trailed, 3-2, before erupting for five runs in the fourth inning.
"It was a tight game up until that time," Miranda said. "When you get good pitching, it keeps you in the game. He pitched well and we played good defense behind him. It takes a little pressure off the offense. You can take more chances when you’re not playing from behind.
"The other thing was we stayed away from big inning ourselves. Since we’re young, our big weakness has been the big inning. We gave up runs, but only one at a time. We kept it to a minimum. That was a key. We didn’t let things get out of hand."
The Little Tigers know that formula can’t change against Notre Dame, a team they have yet to play this season.
"They’re a good team," Miranda said. "It’s a great program. They always have excellent ballplayers. For us, to play against good players in a big game, it’s a lot of fun. I always tell them, it’s a great baseball education to play in a big game against good players."
At this point in the season, the games feel a little bigger with the MCT opening and the state tournament still to come. There will be no state berth this year for the Little Tigers so they’re trying to get as much experience as possible by advancing in the MCT. The win over PDS on Saturday is something they can use for momentum.
"We had that one big inning," Miranda said. "It was a very close game. They were winning, 3-2. We just had that one decisive inning when we broke things open."
