Princeton High Baseball Eager To Improve

The Princeton High School baseball team has steadily improved each of the past two years.

Princeton is eager to continue that improvement under Coach Dave Roberts this season.

Roberts is entering his third year at Princeton. He inherited a team that had won one game in 2008. In 2009, the team was 4-18. In 2010, Princeton was 5-18.

"Every year that I'm here, the goal is to improve at least one game from the previous year," Roberts said.

If Princeton is going to make that improvement again this year, the main reason will be an improved defense. In 2010, Princeton made 100 errors.

"We're better defensively," Roberts said. "I'm also confident the pitchers will throw strikes."

An improved defense and a limited number of walks allowed will force other teams to work harder to beat Princeton this year. 

Throwing the strikes for Princeton are senior Luke Cardonnier juniors Ben Harrison and Matt Hoffman and sophomore Mike Dunlap. 

Cardonnier is the ace of the staff, according to Roberts. 

"He won a couple of games last year and he also had a good Legion season," Roberts. "It's his time."

Cardonnier pitched like an ace in the season opener, a 2-1 loss to Delran on April 3. He allowed only one earned run while striking out 10.

Hoffman homered for Princeton's lone run.

Dunlap also had a good Legion season and carried that success into this season. 

"He showed up ready to go and earned the number two spot," Roberts said.

Dunlap went six innings and only allowed one earned run in his first start, a 2-1 loss to Moorestown. That came in the consolation game of the Papa Bear Invitational on April 3. 

Hoffman had two hits and a run scored in the loss.

When they aren't on the mound, either Cardonnier or Harrison will play first. Dunlap is also a left-fielder. Hoffman plays right field.

The pitchers will be throwing to catcher Will Greenberg, a junior. He's a returning starter and, according to Roberts, a tremendous athlete. Greenberg is coming off an All-Star ice hockey season.

Nico Mercuro (a junior that plays shortstop) and Ellis Bloom (a sophomore that plays third base) will cover the left side of the infield.

The center fielder is junior Clay Alter. And because so many of the other outfielders also pitch, junior Alex Mitko is a fourth outfielder who will probably get a lot of playing time.

Second base is being handled by seniors Alex Charwin and Ian Person and sophomore Matt Farinack.

The assistant coach is Scott Goldsmith.

While Roberts is confident the defense and pitching is better, he realizes his squad is still a work in progress.

"One area where I do have concern is the offense," Roberts said. "We have to cut down on the number of strikeouts. We have to put the ball in play. We have to put more pressure on the other team and take that pressure off ourselves." 

The offense has struggled as Princeton has only scored a combined five runs in its 0-5 start. In addition to the tough-luck losses in the opening tournament, Princeton has also been defeated by Hopewell (12-2), Hightstown (8-0) and Notre Dame (7-1).

'We have a lot of guys back that got to experience five wins last year," Roberts said. "We point to those games and say, 'This is what you did right to win. Now go out and do it more often.'

"There are no easy games in the CVC (Colonial Valley Conference)," Roberts noted. "It's very competitive. Well, we're more competitive. We're more competitive now than we have been in the past."