RAIDER ROUNDUP
By: Rudy Brandl
Norm Hewitt won his 500th career game as a head baseball coach last week when Hillsborough High exploded for a 20-9 victory at Montgomery. The Raiders completed a season sweep of their border rivals and remained in contention for the Delaware East Division title.
Hewitt, who has been coaching for 32 years, is in the seventh season of his second stint with the Raiders. He has also coached for 12 years at Bridgewater-Raritan and at Drew University in between his two tenures at HHS.
The Raiders erupted for nine runs in the second inning and seven more in the third in a real slugfest. Tim Fedroff belted a three-run homer and a double in his monster 3-for-4 performance. Ricky Schwalje and Corey Towey also went 3-for-4. Schwalje had two RBI and three runs scored, while Towey drove in four runs and scored twice.
Andy Pogorzelski started the game with a home run on the very first pitch, which should have been a signal of things to come. The Raiders finished the game with 19 hits in five innings, which was more than enough support for winning pitcher Corey Swickle (2-0).
Hewitt defeated his old team in a tough Thursday afternoon tilt. The Raiders fell behind early but rallied for a 9-5 victory.
Rocky Palumbo was the hitting star with a home run, two singles, two RBI and three runs scored. Fedroff and Swickle launched back-to-back homers in the first inning to give Hillsborough a 2-1 lead, but B-R came back with three in the top of the third.
The Raiders got the bats going late and scored seven runs in the last three innings to win it. Matt Zygmund went 2-for-3 with a run and RBI and Schwalje had two singles, two runs and one RBI for the winners.
Fedroff came on and pitched four solid innings of relief, allowing one earned run while striking out three to pick up the victory.
Softballers avenge
divisional loss
The HHS softball team avenged its first Delaware East Division loss and stayed in the hunt for the title with a 3-0 road victory at Bridgewater-Raritan.
Megan McInaw blanked the Panthers on just three hits to pick up the victory. The sophomore right-hander struck out 13 batters to register her second shutout in less than 24 hours.
Katie Yard and Vanessa Tumminia provided offensive support with two hits apiece. Yard scored once and had two RBI, while Tumminia went 2-for-3. McInaw helped her cause with a double.
The Raiders were scheduled to take on Immaculata Tuesday with sole possession of the division title at stake. A loss could force HHS to share the league crown with Montgomery.
Laxmen prevail
in road thriller
The HHS boys played two tight lacrosse games within less than 24 hours and came away with a split, defeating West Windsor Plainsboro South on the road by a 9-7 score Saturday afternoon after losing at home to Voorhees by an 11-8 margin Friday night.
Goaltender Brendan White was the hero of the road victory. White made 21 saves to help his team stay ahead and he limited WWPS to just one goal in the fourth quarter.
Ryan Kloss and Brandon Wilk led the scoring with two goals apiece. Brian Yepez added a goal and two assists for the winners.
Friday night’s game was competitive from start to finish. HHS managed only one goal in the fourth quarter and Voorhees pulled away late.
Wilk led the Raiders with three goals. Kloss and Luke Dawson each connected twice and Chris Livelli scored the other goal. Yepez and Livelli shared the lead in assists with two apiece. White made 11 stops in the loss.
Hillsborough (6-9) was scheduled to host West Windsor Plainsboro North and Hopewell Valley this week.
Netmen slump to
three losses in row
The HHS boys’ tennis team dropped matches to Somerset County rivals Pingry, Bridgewater-Raritan and Montgomery on consecutive days last week and fell to 12-6 on the season.
B-R and Montgomery knocked the Raiders out of contention for the division title by completing season sweeps. B-R won another 5-0 decision, while Montgomery had to fight hard for a 3-2 victory in last Thursday’s rematch.
Hillsborough played Thursday’s match without first singles player John Wu, who injured his wrist the previous day vs. Bridgewater. That forced many lineup changes and the Raiders almost pulled it out anyway.
Chris Plaskon moved up to first singles and gave Jeremy Eckhardt all he could handle in a 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 loss. The Cougars completed a singles sweep with wins over Mark Apostolos and Stefan Apostolos, who played his first singles match of the season. Montgomery’s Dan D’Agostino needed three sets to beat Stefan Apostolos by a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 score.
Hillsborough swept the doubles matches with a pair of grueling victories. Ross Friedman and Tom Gross fought hard for a 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-2 triumph at first doubles, while the second team of Chris Chung and Tim Le posted a 7-5, 6-2 win.
Plaskon was the team’s only winner in a 4-1 setback to Pingry. The junior second singles player defeated Austin Conti by a 7-5, 6-2 score.
The Raiders were seeded second in the Central Jersey Group 4 playoff bracket and were scheduled to begin post-season play vs. Lawrence this week.
Unbeaten streak
over for golfers
The Raider golf team saw its undefeated season end by the slimmest of margins in last week’s tri-meet vs. Ridge and Pingry at New Jersey National Golf Club.
Hillsborough shot a team score of 195, while Ridge and Pingry shared the lead with 194. That works out to two one-stroke losses for the Raiders.
Five HHS players shot between 38 and 40, but that balance and solid play wasn’t enough to keep the team perfect on the season. Steve Cannon and Nick Grappone shared the team lead with rounds of 38, while Aaron Schiffman (39), Andrew Borsuk (40) and Craig Durrant (40) also counted scores.
The Raiders fired an impressive 184 to beat Montgomery by 19 strokes earlier in the week at Hillsborough Country Club.
Grappone and Durrant were under par and tied for medal honors with impressive 35s. Borsuk fired an even-par 36 and Logan Cecchine (38) and Cannon (40) rounded out the victory.