The HMHS freshman baseball team returned to their Conference schedule last week, as the Haddons hosted Haddon Heights. The Dawgs played nearly an entire season of outstanding baseball but inevitably, there is a game every season, that just gets away from a ball club and this was the one that got away from the Haddons. The typically dependable pitching and defense had an uncharacteristic off day and Heights split the season series with a 13–5 victory. Offensively, the Dawgs collected nine hits. Tom Gosse and Nick Rollo both had two for two days, Alex Caruso, Charlie Clarke, Matt Gilbert, Owen McGovern and Matt Smart all collected a base hit each. The offense tried to keep the game in sight but too many walks and too many errors allowed Heights to secure the win. This team is way too good to allow an off day distract them as they looked to return to their quality play and finish the season strong.
The Haddons continued with one of the most demanding non-Conference schedules in years as they hosted Lenape High School, Mark Walker got the start against the powerful Group IV school. Entering the sixth inning, the Dawgs were holding on to a slim 3–1 lead. Walker was spectacular; he threw a complete game, striking out five, allowing only four hits and a single unearned run. The defense behind him was just as spectacular, Walker enticed double digit groundballs and the Haddons converted every one with precise execution, including a fabulous 4–6–3 double play perfectly turned by Jack Spinelli to Charlie Clarke to Alex Caruso. Offensively, all three early inning runs were set-up by the Dawgs aggressive running game, each run was preceded by a stolen base to put the runner in scoring position, Spinelli had a first inning RBI single, Clarke added a second inning RBI double to the fence to make the score 2–0 and Troy Crompton made the score 3–0 with a perfectly executed squeeze bunt. After Lenape scored their only run in the fifth inning to close the gap at 3–1, the Haddons offense exploded with a five hit, six run sixth inning to put the game away. Crompton went two for two on the day, Spinelli had a two hit day, Caruso and Clarke each added a huge double, and Tom Gosse, Sean Noone and Walker all collected a base hit. The final score was 10–1 but this was a much closer game than the score would indicate and it took a superior team effort; pitching, defense, offense and running the bases to ultimately secure the win.
