North baseball shows promise
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Bob Boyce knows he has the makings of a pretty good baseball team this season.
On Wednesday, everything he thought might happen did, and his West Windsor-Plainsboro High North team topped Robbinsville, 9-0, for its second win in three games this season.
”It’s not a bad start,” said Boyce, whose team was scheduled to take on Egg Harbor on Thursday. “It’s been what I thought it would be. We have to hit. I think we started to come around today and that makes a big difference for us. I know we can pitch and we play good defense. We just need to hit.
”We did a nice job today. Scotty Kelly hit the ball and Ryan Phelan had a couple hits. When the guys at the top hit, it spreads confidence through the whole lineup.”
The Knights didn’t need to hit much to back the pitching of senior David Bachner, who allowed just two hits and struck out 12 over six innings. Sophomore Neal DeVincenzo came on to get the last three outs.
”He was untouchable today,” Boyce said of Bachner. “He went six strong innings and it was a pretty cold day. He’s not even really warmed up yet.”
The Knights opened the season with a 7-2 win over Allentown before falling to Peddie, 1-0, in a game in which they were no-hit. In the win over Robbinsville, the bats came alive for eight hits and nine runs.
Chet Otis joined Phelan with a pair of hits, while John Sullivan homered and drove in two runs. If the offense stays hot and combines with a solid pitching staff, this could be a big season for the Knights.
”Our pitching is good,” Boyce said. “Bachner, (Eric) Wisotsky, (Kyle) Reed, those guys can all pitch. And I’ve been using a sophomore, DeVincenzo, as a closer out of the pen to get him prepared to start next year as a junior. He’s been good. The first three are our main starters.”
Bachner, who is heading to Seton Hall to pitch next year, has started two of the first three games for the Knights.
”Bachner started for me as a sophomore and he’s been in our top three ever since,” Boyce said. “He filled a big hole for us that year when (Brian) Sigle got hurt. Last year he was solid all year. He has maybe the best stuff of anyone I’ve had here. He has a nice assortment of pitches. His change up is unbelievable. He got a lot of mileage out of that today.”
The lefty didn’t get much work in during the pre-season, but has gotten off to a nice start in the regular season.
”He didn’t pitch in our scrimmages because he had a little bit of tendinitis,” Boyce said. “He pitched three innings in the game against Allentown and then he came back with six strong innings today. He went a little deeper today and he should be fine now.”
And the Knights should be fine as well. As long as the bats stay as hot as they were on Wednesday.

