Pirates’ Balestrieri realized potential
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
It didn’t take long for Don Hutchinson to realize there was something special about Paul Balestrieri.
”I could tell from beginning he was kind of special,” the West Windsor-Plainsboro High South baseball coach said. “Physically, Paul could handle it as a freshman. But what I was most impressed with was his ability to stay focused and not get rattled. You could see it with the way he pitched in our state game at Jackson that year.
”It was a difficult environment. He pitched seven shutout innings. We lost, 1-0, in the eighth but he was out of the game by then. He showed quite a bit there to be that good in that environment in a state game. I was pretty convinced then he had a unique mental makeup that is really perfect for a baseball player.”
Based on Balestrieri’s next three years with the Pirates, Hutchinson’s early assessment was spot on. While he missed his sophomore season with an injury, Balestrieri bounced back and had a standout junior season in which he was 5-2 on the mound and batted a team-high .474 at the plate.
He would go on to have an even better season as a senior this year, going 7-0 with a 1.08 earned run average on the mound, while batting a team-high .341 and helping the Pirates reach the Mercer County Tournament championship game and the second round of the Central Jersey Group IV state tournament.
Paul Balestrieri is the HiTOPS/Princeton Packet Baseball Player of the Year.
”I feel like I have been very blessed to have a great coach and four great years at South,” said Balestrieri, who allowed just 30 hits and struck out 60 in 52 innings this year. “I could not have picked a better place to be for four years. Not only was I able to develop as a player, but also as a citizen. I feel like I learned a lot of things on and off the field.”
On the field, Balestrieri helped the Pirates to an 18-10 record that included wins in 11 of their final 13 games. He was the winning pitcher in a 1-0 win over Hamilton in the MCT semifinals as well as an upset of top-seeded Montgomery in the opening round of the CJ IV tournament.
The team success helped make this year even more special for Balestrieri, who is heading to Cornell in the fall.
”That is something in my four years we lacked as far as a team, which was a really successful season,” Balestrieri said. “We’d win a big game and then lose one. This year I felt like we were able to string a lot of games together where we played well. Playing in the Mercer County final was awesome even though we lost. And against Montgomery, that game was a lot of fun and a great team effort to win and knock off the No. 1 seed.”
Balestrieri was uncharacteristically wild in the game against Montgomery, hitting three batters and allowing three runs. But he was able to pitch out of some trouble thanks to a couple of bases loaded double plays and notched his seventh win of the season.
”He didn’t have a bad outing,” Hutchinson said. “Last year he was pretty good but got hit hard by Hun in the Mercer County Tournament. This year he just continued to do all the things he started to do last year. He took care of himself physically. He was stronger and he made a little change in learning a new pitch that was suggested by his college coach. He picked up a slider and is getting the hang of it.
”He was good every time out. He made eight starts and had one no decision against Steinert where he came out trailing 2-0 and then we went ahead and eventually lost.”
While Balestrieri struck out 60 batters this season, he walked just 13.
”He had a tremendous ratio,” Hutchinson said. “You like to see a 2-1 ratio with high school kids and he was almost 6-1. A guy who strikes out as many people as he does you assume will go deep into counts so you expect some walks. But he didn’t walk many. The other night in our Legion game against Princeton he had 12 strikeouts and no walks.”
In addition to his prowess on the mound, Balestrieri was a key hitter for the Pirates. He batted third in the order and finished with two home runs, three triples and six doubles among his 28 hits. His 17 runs batted in were second on the team.
While he hopes to eventually get a chance to swing the bat, Balestrieri is set to be a pitcher at Cornell.
”I am really excited about Cornell,” Balestrieri said. “My grandfather and uncle both went to Cornell so when they were in the NCAA bracket last year my whole family was excited about it. My grandfather played baseball there. When I told him where I had decided to go he was the happiest person in the world.”
Balestrieri will play for the WW-P American Legion team this summer before heading to Ithaca, where he will continue to work as hard as he has to get to this point.
”Every offseason I’ve worked the hardest I can to get better and this last offseason was no different,” he said. “I hit it hard like I always do. I developed a slider this year and stayed away from the curve. I was more slider and I think as I keep getting better with that pitch it will help me.”
In most games this year he had everything working, including his best effort of the season in a four-hit shutout against Hamilton in the MCT semifinals.
”I think that was probably my favorite moment of the season,” Balestrieri said. “It was a clean game played by both teams and when we won it was awesome to be going to the final. Also, playing in the final even though we did lose, it was a great experience.”
Like his pitcher, Hutchinson thought the win over Hamilton showed just what Balestrieri is capable of when everything is clicking.
”That was big in a lot of ways,” Hutchinson said. “He wanted to get to the championship game and we were playing one of the best offensive teams in the league. He was totally in the zone that day.”