By John E. Powers, Sports Writer
The South Hunterdon Regional High baseball team won just two games in 17 last spring.
Eagles head coach Toby Jefferis has good reason to believe his team is headed for better days.
South Hunterdon’s program attracted 33 players in grades nine through 12, including senior leader Kyle Hart, who is hoping to get back to his performances of two years ago when he hit .544 with four doubles, a homer and a team-high 17 RBIs. He also led the team with 25 hits.
South Hunterdon opens the season by playing host to Bernards Tuesday at 4:15. South then plays at Bound Brook a week from Saturday at 10 a.m.
Baseball team field day will be Saturday, starting at 8 a.m. All players and parents are welcome to attend and help work on the field.
Last year, the Eagles’ two wins came against Bound Brook and Manville, two Skyland Conference Valley Division rivals.
With strong senior leadership from Hart, pitcher Anthony Danese, pitcher and outfielder Ryan Marriott and senior outfielder Robbie Williamson, the Eagles are expecting to improve. The team had scrimmages with Voorhees and Allentown.
”We did OK,” said Jefferis, who is in his second year. ““We struggled with our batting, but our pitching was OK in both scrimmages. We struggled hitting.”
Jefferis, a 1989 South graduate, said the future looks better. Of the 33 players out, only eight are seniors or juniors.
””The freshman class is a very good class,” Jefferis said.
South Hunterdon will have a junior varsity team as well, but the team will be made up mostly of freshman.
South Hunterdon did lose leading pitcher Jacob Stephens, who graduated. Others who will be starting this year are junior shortstop Dave Muscatell and sophomore third baseman Brandon Scesney. The team has a battle at catcher with Esposito and Hurley competing for the position. Marriott will play center field when he’s not on the mound.
