Raiders off to good start
by John E. Powers, Sports Writer
One of the things that makes being the coach of an American Legion summer team special is watching less heralded players making their mark, improving their game.
This summer, Bob Peck Jr. is in charge of shepherding the young Raiders, who are hoping to make a name for themselves next season as varsity players for Hillsborough High.
Hillsborough is off to a 5-4 start after beating North Warren 17-7 Saturday. That game was significant because left-hander Ryan Lukach threw his first innings since the high school season. Matt Mosko started the game and went three innings which ended with the mercy rule in five innings in Blairstown.
”Our stance with the Legion team has been not to use (graduated) seniors, so our main goal is to get the kids ready for varsity baseball,” said Peck Jr., whose son, Bobby, is Hillsborough’s center fielder. “That being said, half of the team are juniors and sophomores and we have three freshmen.
”It (the record) could be better,” he added. “But the bottom line is to keep it light and try to get the kids in different spots. I just want to see if they need to try something else. We want to give them a chance to see if they can handle certain positions since we have some positions open on the varsity. Coach (Norm) Hewitt makes suggestions. He might want to see somebody pitch or play another position.”
One of the players who has made an early impression is Kevin Toro, who will be a junior in the fall. Peck Jr. has been using him at third base and in the outfield. Toro played junior varsity during the high school season.
”Kevin Toro has really stepped it up in the outfield. He’s fast as heck and can play any one of the outfield positions,” Peck said.
Toro hit a three-run homer against North Warren as Hillsborough scored 10 runs in the fifth inning to put the game away in distant Blairstown.
”We might have been less than 10 miles from the Delaware Water Gap,” said Peck, who is in his first year as head coach of the Legion team. “I think they were surprised. We only had nine kids and we beat them 17-7. We hammered them.”
The other names are familiar. Mosko, who was slowed by tendonitis during the high school season, is doing some catching along with Anthony Toresco, who was the starting backstop for the Raiders during the season. Bobby Peck is in center, while Brandon Young is at shortstop. He can also play second and third.
”Brandon’s been phenomenal,” Peck Jr. said.
Mosko tired in the North Warren game, so Peck figured it was a good chance to get Lukach some innings.
”Matt tired, but we’re building his arm up,” Peck said. “Ryan pitched two innings. We didn’t want to push him. He was a little rusty, plus the mound wasn’t in good shape up there. He’s been rehabbing his arm. He did OK.”
Mike Hansford, Peck, Patrick Piersanti, Dylan Zebro, Gary Lavoie and Justin Kessler have been playing in the outfield. Rick Devlin and Chris DelMaestro are playing second, Chris Reilly has been playing third and Kevin Curran has been playing first. Lukach is also playing first base. Ronnie Guido, another Raider varsity pitcher, will get his starts in the summer. Guido will play in the outfield and first base when he’s not pitching. Lavoie, Zebro and Young were freshmen this past season.
The Raiders were scheduled to play host to Alpha Monday, face Franklin Thursday at Rutgers Prep and then play a doubleheader in Basking Ridge against Ridge Saturday.
Hillsborough has now beaten North Warren, Immaculata, Warren Hills, Hackettstown and Skillman. Peck said the team will play a 19-game schedule.