Sports
Princeton Baseball Rallies to Finish with Five Wins
The team matches its victory total in 2010.
Coming into the season, Princeton High baseball Coach Dave Roberts said his team's goal was to improve at least a game every season.
With wins in three of its final seven games, Princeton came close. Princeton finished 5-19.
"It was a nice finish to equal last year's win total," Roberts said.
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A late rally by Hamilton in the season finale on June 1 kept Princeton from reaching its goal. Hamilton edged Princeton, 5-4.
Nico Mercuro and Ian Persons both had two hits and two runs scored for Princeton.
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Princeton also had a tough 4-3 loss to Trenton on May 23. An 8-4 loss to West Windsor North (May 12) and a 5-0 loss to Allentown (May 12) also disrupted a strong finish for Princeton.
Roberts believes the overall record should have been a bit better.
"I think we left more than our fair share of wins on the table throughout the course of the year," he said.
Princeton was at two wins before it started its late surge. The team defeated Lawrence, 8-5, on May 11.
Ben Harrison (one run), Matt Hoffman (two runs) and Nico Mercuro (one run and three RBIs) all had two hits each for Princeton in the win. Hoffman would go on to finish the season with a .356 batting average and 14 runs scored. Mercuro batted .273 with eight RBI.
Princeton picked up its fourth and fifth wins on consecutive days, starting with a 5-4 win over Nottingham on May 24.
Mercuro had a clutch RBI double in the seventh. Luke Cordonnier had four hits and two RBI.
"Luke was the leader for the offense," Roberts said.
Cordonnier finished the season with a .426 batting average, two homers, seven doubles, 10 runs scored and 15 RBI. Cordonnier also had a 3-5 record and an ERA of 2.82.
Clay Alter picked up Princeton's other two wins. He was 2-2 with a save and an ERA of 3.14.
On May 26, Princeton defeated New Hope, 12-3.
Matt Fairnick had a hit and three runs scored. Hoffman (RBI) and Ellis Bloom both had two hits and two RBI. Cordonnier had a hit, RBI and two runs scored. Persons scored two runs. Zach DiGregorio had a double and two RBI. Will Greenberg had a hit and three RBI.
