A group of New Egypt High School baseball players further developed their skills over the summer and in the process, helped the Allentown American Legion baseball team come close to reaching the field of 16 in the American Legion state tournament.
Allentown was eliminated in its fourth game in American Legion District 4 play by Haddon Heights, 7-6.
“The big part to mold a high school program is to have the summer to play higher competition,” said Jeff Pierro, a first-year varsity coach at New Egypt who was an assistant for the American Legion team.
“This was competitive, especially since our players are in a Group I [small] school and they were going against some of the top pitchers in the state. They struggled a little, but held their own. They saw what’s out there and this helped them for when they play bigger schools [in the 2013 spring high school season] and face top pitchers at the end of the season in the state tournament,” Pierro said.
Connor Lindsay, who will be a senior at New Egypt this year, notched a 4-3 record for Allentown, which finished its summer with a 17-9 record. More importantly, Lindsay had a 0.84 ERA that led the division as the No. 2 pitcher to Allentown’s Frank O’Brien. O’Brien was 8-1 with a 0.94 ERA and was named the Pitcher of the Year. O’Brien is headed for Lemoyne College this fall.
“Connor really developed into a topflight pitcher,” Pierro said. “He developed all of his pitches and was very smooth. He has a high baseball IQ.”
Meanwhile, O’Brien pitched a two-hit 7- 0 Allentown victory over perennial American Legion power Bordentown in the seventh game of the season that set the tone for the summer.
“That was a pretty big win that showed now we can play with these teams,” said O’Brien, who got away from his good fastball and used off-speed pitches to get batters out. “We had chemistry and we all picked each other up.”
“That win was huge,” Allentown American Legion coach Matt Zagari said. “That’s when we saw something in this team.”
Four other players will also return to New Egypt for the 2013 baseball season. Right fielder John Fassl has graduated Mike DeAnni, a .300 hitting left fielder, also put in a solid summer season. He is now participating in preseason practice with the New Egypt football team, where he is a quarterback.
“He got off to a very good start this summer, slumped, but finished nicely, just like Fassl,” Pierro said of DeAnni.
Second baseman Travis Ward, who will be a junior this year, also played well for the Allentown American Legion squad.
Pierro said Kevin Smith, a rising junior, did a nice job fielding at first base and also threw some innings as a lefty pitcher. Austin Lindsay, Connor Lindsay’s brother, came up to the Warriors’ varsity from the junior varsity late in the spring and had some solid moments over the summer as a third baseman and designated hitter.
“Pitching and defense carried us,” Zagari said.
“They really molded well together,” said Pierro, considering that the team’s top three pitchers came from three different school teams, including Mike Kuczinski of Notre Dame of Lawrenceville, who won three games. He is headed to Mount St. Vincent.
“We actually didn’t hit that well, but we had the two best pitchers [in the division] and we relied on that to go far,” Pierro said.
Two Allentown High School players carried a good part of the hitting — center fielder Brett Miller was second in the division with a .438 average and led the way in doubles with 11, and shortstop Brandon Ruetsch hit .340 and belted three home runs in the district playoffs.
Allentown opened American Legion District 4 play with victories over Jackson, 6-2, and Washington Township, 8-4, before falling to West Deptford, 12-3, and Haddon Heights.