Munley happy to share in win
By: Justin Feil
The effects of strep throat slowed Sean Munley, but they couldn’t keep The Hun School senior out of Tuesday’s season-opening baseball game against the Peddie School.
"No way, especially opening day senior year," he said. "You can’t miss that for anything, especially with these guys."
Munley opened the game at designated hitter, rather than his usual first base, after showing some lingering effects of strep throat.
"I put him out there in practice and he said, ‘Coach, I’m going to pass out’" recalled Hun head coach Bill McQuade. "I said, ‘Then I can’t play you.’ He said, ‘But I can hit.’"
Munley revived just in time to start a fifth-inning rally that snapped a 4-4 tie. Munley led off the inning with a single, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. He scored when winning pitcher Mike Russo delivered a 320-foot sacrifice fly to the edge of the left-field fence.
Sean Pucciarelli relieved Russo and pitched a scoreless sixth and seventh inning, getting two of the final three outs by strikeout to preserve the 5-4 win. Russo and Pucciarelli combined on a no-hitter that was overshadowed by seven walks and sloppy play in the fourth inning that allowed Peddie back into the game.
"We always have good games with Peddie," Munley said. "We wanted to beat them, especially after last year and the year before that. They always give us a hard time. We always want to come out and give 110 percent."
Even if they weren’t feeling even close to 100 percent. It was a promising start to the year for Munley and the Raiders, who showed some resolve in battling back after losing all momentum in a one-inning swing. After taking a 4-0 lead thanks to a two-run single by Pucciarelli followed by an RBI double by Shane Davis and single from Chris Griffin in the bottom of the third inning, the Raiders gave it right back as Peddie had a four-run fourth inning.
"We have to talk about the little things, but to get a win, just after getting the air sucked out of us, that’s going to be huge," McQuade said. "It’s going to be huge in a tight situation. They came in and did their job and scored a run in a tight situation. That’s going to help us our next game and the rest of the season."
The Raiders were scheduled to face another top Mid-Atlantic Prep League and Prep A foe in Lawrenceville on Thursday. Hun went into the game with some momentum after pulling out Tuesday’s season opener.
"It’s huge," Munley said. "Especially since Lawrenceville has been talking this game up for a month now. They’ve been trying to get all their fans out to root against us. We’re really excited. It’s always the best game of the year. I always look forward to Lawrenceville."
It was Lawrenceville that ended the Raiders’ state title hopes last year. And Hun still owed a little to Peddie as well.
"Sophomore year, they beat us twice in the same day for the state," Munley said. "I still can’t forget that day. We always have a little chip on our shoulder with Peddie."
There were never any doubts among the Raiders even as Russo suffered a rare wild fourth inning. Hun fought back to pick up their ace junior in the fifth inning. Munley had all the confidence in the world once he was on base that someone would bring him home to take the lead.
"Absolutely," he said, "especially with less than two outs and we start getting something going, we feel pretty good that we’re going to get at least one out of it.
"We have a lot of confidence up and down the lineup," added Hun’s No. 3 hitter. "It’s a great team. It’s such a solid team, one through nine, everyone has a lot of confidence in the guy behind them. It really relaxes everybody."
A big win over a rival in the opener sets the tone for the Raiders. Not surprisingly, it was some of the seniors who carried the load Tuesday against Peddie.
"We have a veteran team," McQuade said. "We can build off this. You’ve got the confidence and can go on. Pucc’, coming in, you saw him all basketball season, he’s just a winner. I could put him in any position, but to come in in a one-run situation and just throw strikes and be able to change up and get a curve ball over. I tip my hat to him. He’s just a great kid.
"Most of these seniors have now been with me for three and four years," he added. "It’s one of the greatest groups of kids that I’ve had to work with because they all pull for each other, and they’re all friends. And they’re pretty good ballplayers."
They all like to play together, and it showed Tuesday. It’s just the start for Sean Munley and his seven senior teammates to a season with high aspirations.
"This is our last shot at winning something," he said. "We really want to put together something. We’ve got a great group of veteran guys to do it, so that’s definitely our goals counties and states this year."
Sean Munley doesn’t want to miss a minute of it.