Young Legion wins three of siX
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Every year there has been a Princeton Post 218 baseball team, Tom Parker has been there.
As the manager of the team since its inception in 1989, Parker has seen players come and go. This year he has the youngest team the program has ever fielded. And despite a 4-15 record, Parker is feeling quite upbeat about this group.
”I’m real pleased with the way they have responded,” said Parker, whose team was 1-12 before winning three of its last six games. “This is a young group and they have been gaining experience all year. I’ve been pleased to see them play well at the end of the season.
”We’ve been playing error-free and we’ve had some good pitching performances lately. This is the youngest team we have ever had. We’ve got six or seven freshmen playing for us and they’ve really progressed.”
One of those players who just completed his freshman year at Princeton Day School is shortstop Beau Horan, who not only drove in the winning run in a 7-6 win over Hopewell Valley, he also made some outstanding plays in the field.
”It was one of the best defensive performances I’ve ever seen from us,” said Parker, whose team closes out the season with a home game tonight against Trenton and a game at Bordentown on Saturday. “In one inning he made two plays up the middle on balls and then for the third out went deep in the hole to his right to make a play. It was really a great performance by him.”
Luke Cordonnier picked up the win in the mound in that game, then came back on Tuesday to finished a shutout in the completion of a game Post 218 won over Broad Street Park, 13-0. Princeton also topped Broad Street Park, 13-9, in the regular-scheduled game.
”Luke has pitched well for us,” Parker said. “We’ve got a lot of young pitchers and they’ve had a baptism under fire. But they’re gaining experience and performing much better in the second half of the season. The whole team has responded well and we’re playing better now.”
In the sweep of BSP on Tuesday, Cordonnier drove in four runs in the 13-0 win. In the other game, Cordonnier and Horan each had two hits and drove in three runs, while Steven Fuchs had three hits and winning pitcher Max Russo had two hits and drove in two runs.
”We only have one player on the team, Dan Jeong, who is not age eligible to come back and play for us next year,” Parker said. “Fuchs is a senior but he can come back and play for us. And a lot of these kids are just 15 and 16 years old, so they’re real young.
”These guys have not griped all year, even when we were losing a lot of games early in the season. We’ve played a lot of close games against the better teams in the league that just have not gone our way. We played Hamilton 31 tough a couple of times. We had (North Trenton) 458 on the ropes. We’ve had some tough games, but I think the experience has helped these kids become better players.”
With so many young players on the team, Parker is as excited about the future as he has ever been for Post 218.
”When I look at how many 15-year-olds we have starting, we can only get better from here,” Parker said. “Beau Horan is a solid shortstop. Jimmy Bunn is a good hitter and a natural in the outfield. Phil Pecora is a kid who can hit and multi-task. He can play the outfield, first and catcher, wherever we need him.
”These guys are good athletes and they’re up to the task and getting better in the second half of the season.”
Princeton had second-place Ewing on the ropes Wednesday night, leading 7-4 before a five-run sixth inning gave Ewing the win. Cordonnier had a three-run home run in the loss, while Fuchs had a pair of hits.