Hun School grad enjoyed career with Raiders
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Steve Wells was excited about the opportunity to represent Mercer County in the Carpenter Cup baseball tournament.
But an injury suffered the weekend before the opening game of the tournament will keep Wells off the baseball field for a month and relegated the Hun School graduate to a role cheering on his teammates during the event in Philadelphia.
”I won’t be able to play but I still plan to be down there with the Mercer County team,” said Wells, who is expected to miss four weeks of the summer season after injuring his ankle. “I was really looking forward to it.
Wells, who had an outstanding senior season at Hun to cap off a splendid three years with the Raiders, planned to spend the summer playing for an AAU team before heading to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in August.
”I was playing for the Philly Bandits with coach Mike Gossner,” Wells said. “We play around this area at Rider University and in Bensalem and out in Johnston and Altoona. We just started our season on Saturday and we split the series. I had a home run in the second game. We play with all wood bats and it is pretty exciting. Hopefully I will be back before we get to the playoffs.”
After a season in which he hit .500 with 29 hits in 58 at bats for Hun, He finished the season with four home runs and 27 runs batted in for the Raiders. Wells was slated to help the Mercer County team as a designated hitter in the Carpenter Cup. The team’s opener against Burlington County at Ashburn Field in FDR Park had been scheduled for Wednesday but was pushed back to today due to weather issues.
In addition to Wells, the other Packet-area players on the team are pitcher Paul Balestrieri of West Windsor-Plainsboro South, shortstop Matt McCann of WW-P South, outfielder B.J. Dudeck of Princeton Day School, and catcher Scott Feryus of West Windsor-Plainsboro North. WW-P North head coach Mike Santoro is a member of the coaching staff.
Wells used his career at Hun to establish himself as one of Mercer County’s top hitters and the team won plenty of games along the way.
”When I came to Hun as a sophomore we won states and that was huge,” said Wells, a Yardley, Pa. resident. “That set the tone for years to come. Then junior year we were not as good as we had hoped but we had a core lineup coming back for senior year. We played well this year. We had a good team and our chemistry was great. It is unfortunate that didn’t win states, but we gained a lot more with long-lasting friendships. We will all follow each other as we go to college and we’ll stay close.”
Wells hopes he is able to bounce back from his injury and be ready for the fall season at RPI.
”Things happen for a reason,” he said. “Sometimes you can’t explain it. You just have to have faith in God and know you will be OK and come back stronger.”
He will miss the opportunity to play with his Mercer teammates, who he hopes to get to know well with a successful run in the tournament. “We had one meeting a couple weeks ago at Steinert when we got our jerseys,” Wells said. “Coach (Brian) Giallella told us to be ready to make a run. The team has a lot of pitching and the hitters are good. Burlington will be tough — they won it last year — but hopefully we’ll be ready.”
With a win, Mercer would advance to the quarterfinal round on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. also at Ashburn Field. The semifinals and finals will be held at Citizens Bank Park on June 24 and June 25.