By Bob Nuse, Packet Media Group
As debut seasons go, this one went pretty well for Eric Eden.
In his first season as the head coach of the Hillsborough High baseball team the Raiders captured the Somerset County Tournament championship and won a game in the state tournament.
“Coming into the season you expect a lot,” said Eden, a former player with the Raiders. “I expect the guys to do well and get things going in the right direction. I could not be more proud of the guys and my assistant coaches for the job they all did. I feel like you are only as good as your assistant coaches and I was really happy with the coaching staff I had.”
The Raiders’ staff included HHS grad Brandon Shamy and Erik Mathisen joining Eden at the varsity level, as well as former Raider Rob Kumbatovic at the JV level. The freshman coach was former Raider Matt Mosko.
“Shamy, Mathisen and Kumbatovic, we all played together and Mosko is a Hillsborough guy as well who graduated a few years after us,” Eden said. “It makes it fun to show up to practice every day when you are with guys you know so well. At the end of the day I feel like we challenge and push each other and that really helps. The kids always ask us questions about when we were playing and we have those conversations with the group.”
On the field the Raiders put together a solid season, finishing 12-11. They ran through the SCT as the No. 6 seed and defeated Somerville, 3-2, in the championship game. In the Central Jersey Group IV tournament, Hillsborough opened with an 8-3 win over Howell before falling to Jackson Memorial, 11-10, in extra innings.
“I’ve been part of winning the county tournament as a player and an assistant coach,” Eden said. “This is the third year I’ve been a part of it and it is a little more special being my first as a head coach. Winning a county championship is always a goal. No we have expectations set and we’ll move forward and make adjustments. Hillsborough has always been a big baseball community. We want to do well at the high school level. There is a lot of young talent that we see when we hold our clinics and camps.”
The Raiders will graduate 11 seniors from this year’s roster, leaving plenty of holes to fill on the field.
“This senior class, when they were sophomores was my first year with the JV,” Eden said. “They were my first group as a coach at the high school level and then last year as an assistant they were with the varsity. It’s tough to see those seniors move on. You see them come in, see how they mature. You see the way they play the game and go about their work. They were a group of guys who you could really rely on and were a pleasure to be around.
“I have a special bond with the group and feel like we came up together. The underclassmen have big shoes to fill.”
Eden is confident the players waiting in the wings to step into those shoes will be ready to contribute.
“There is a lot of experience with the underclassmen,” Eden said. “As sad as we are to see the seniors go, we have a lot of talent coming back. We’ll have some shoes to fill but we have a lot of unestablished talent. We knew this year we had to see who could step up and be the guy. Next year we’ll need to have new players step up and move into those roles.”
