Knights out-hit ND in loss
By: Bob Nuse
TRENTON The way the West Windsor-Plainsboro North baseball team started last Thursday’s Mercer County Tournament final against Notre Dame, head coach Bob Boyce thought the Knights were in pretty good shape.
Just three batters into the game, North already had a run after Greyson Van Dyke doubled, went to second on a ground out and scored on a sacrifice fly by Casey Warner.
And for the first three innings on the mound, Warner did not allow a run and appeared in complete control. But the Irish got a run in the fourth on a home run by Devon Quaglietta, added another in the fifth thanks to an error, then capped off the scoring with a two-run homer by Quaglietta in the sixth on the way to a 4-1 win.
The loss in the MCT final at Waterfront Park was the second in four years for the Knights, who improved to 14-8 on the season with an 8-1 win over WW-P South on Saturday night.
"We out-hit them but we only scored one run," said Boyce, whose team was scheduled to open state tournament play Monday at Northern Burlington. "Our defense let us down tonight and we had a couple of bad pitches. Casey threw a great game tonight other than a couple of pitches. He hung a curveball to (Quaglietta) twice. He threw a great game other than that. But we only scored one run. We hit him hard, we just didn’t string stuff together.
"We had a good run. It just didn’t happen. It’s nice to come here and play in this place. It’s a good night."
The Knights had several other chances to score against Notre Dame starter Mark Reilly. They put two runners on in the second and the fourth, and also had two runners on in the seventh, but Reilly halted each rally.
Overall, North was not quite as crisp as it had been in reaching the MCT final.
"We had three errors and we don’t usually have three errors in a week," Boyce said. "And they hit the two home runs, but other than that they only hit the ball out of the infield a couple times. We hit their kid and not a lot of teams hit that kid hard. We just didn’t score runs. A couple of breaks here and there and it could have been a different game."
It was a game Boyce and his team had a chance to win.
"This is the second time I’ve been to the final," said Warner, who was a freshman on the North team that lost to Steinert in 2003. "Our goal was to get back here again and we did that. Notre Dame played well and beat us, but our team has come a long way. I knew (Quaglietta) was a tough hitter and I put two pitches where he could hit them."
And those home runs were about the only difference in the game for the Knights, who are starting to make a habit of reaching the MCT final.
"This is twice in four years," Boyce said. "It’s a great place to play and a good accomplishment for the kids to get here. We had a nice run. We just came up a little bit short."

