Hamilton West’s Ryan Beczo went 2-for-3 with a single, a double, and an RBI on the opening day of High school baseball. Photo by Michael A. Sabo.
Nottingham tops Robbinsville, Hamilton West and Steinert fall in close games
After 3 late-season snowstorms, Hamilton Township High Schools Baseball teams had very little outdoor practice time to prepare for Easter weekend games that each would play host for the opening of the 2018 season.
Robbinsville vs Nottingham
The Nottingham Northstars had their game pushed back 1 hour in an effort to let the field dry out after a Good Friday rain soaked the field, but proved to be “Good” luck as they edged Robbinsville in their season opener by a score of 9 to 6.
Nottingam would be the sole winner of Hamilton’s 3 high schools behind the arm of workhorse Nick Houghton on the mound, who struck out 13 Robbinsville hitters through 5.1 innings of work, but did not pick up the win.
Houghton would come out in the top of the sixth, with a 4-3 lead. But the Nottingham bullpen could not hold the lead. Robbinsville rallied from 4-3 down to take a 6-4 lead into the bottom of the inning.
Houghton would prove deadly at the plate though, smacking a two-run double in the bottom of the sixth to put the Northstars even, and then cross the plate to score on David Scott’s single two batters later, as the Northstar’s rallied for a 9-6 victory over visiting Robbinsville.
Delbarton vs Steinert
The Steinert Spartans hosted the #1 Ranked baseball team in all of NJ – The Delbarton School – an all Boys Catholic School, that comes with a price tag of nearly 40K a year to attend in their season opener.
The Spartans would fall by a score of 6 to 2 in a 7 inning battle under the guidance of newly minted head coach Rick Freeman’s debut, which showed just how good the Steinert squad could be this year.
Let us not overlook the fact that the Delbarton School recruits from all across the country, including their starting pitcher, Shawn Rapp who comes via Florida and is University of North Carolina recruit.
Steinert catcher Drayven Kowalski started his season off on a high note – 2 for 2 at the plate, going yard in the second inning, dropping a bomb over the left field fence.
Princeton vs Hamilton West
Ryan Beczo went 2-for-3 with a single, a double, and an RBI, but it wasn’t enough as Hamilton West fell to Princeton, 8-4, in Hamilton.
Princeton took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first but Hamilton West later came back to make it a 4-3 game in the fourth.
Princeton was able to re-take control of the game with a run in the fifth and three in the sixth.
Hamilton West Ace, Adam Drosos would go 3 innings allowing 6 hits and 4 earned runs.
