WILL POWER: Princeton High baseball star Will Greenberg surveys the scene in action last spring. Senior catcher Greenberg has been swinging a hot bat for the Little Tigers, producing eight RBIs in four games last week as PHS went 2-2. The Little Tigers, now 2-6 on the season, are playing at Allentown on April 19, hosting Steinert on April 20, competing in the Papa Bear Invitational at Delran High on April 21, and then playing at Ewing on April 23. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

After knocking in a total of four runs in two wins earlier last week, Will Greenberg kept up his hot hitting as the Princeton High baseball team hosted Trenton High last Wednesday.

The senior catcher smacked a two-run triple in the first inning to help PHS jump out to a 4-0 lead over the Tornadoes.

“It was an outside fastball and I just went the other way,” said Greenberg, reflecting on the triple.

“Luckily it went right down the line. It actually bounced on the line and bounced by the rightfielder. I was happy with it.”

By the end of the afternoon, though, Greenberg wasn’t too happy as the Little Tigers squandered their early lead and went down to a 6-5 defeat,

“We got a lot of runs in the first inning; we just weren’t able to keep going after that,” lamented Greenberg. “We thought it would hold up but it clearly wasn’t enough.”

After the Tornadoes tied the score at 4-4 in the top of the sixth, PHS got it going in the bottom of the frame as Matt Hoffman stroked an RBI single to put the Little Tigers back in front. But Trenton rallied for two runs in the top of the seventh to pull ahead.

Greenberg liked the way the Little Tigers battled after losing their lead. “We definitely didn’t want to lose this game,” said Greenberg. “We did show a little bit of fight to get that run in the sixth.”

In assessing the show he has been putting on offensively so far this season, Greenberg pointed to patience as a key factor.

“I think I am swinging at the right pitches and that is the difference right now,” said Greenberg. “Last year I might have swung at the 1-1 curveball and this year, I am taking it and hitting the next pitch.”

PHS’s large group of seniors has been making a difference in the early going as the Little Tigers topped Hightstown 3-1 on April 9 before routing crosstown rival Princeton Day School 13-3 a day later.

“We think with the group of seniors that we have this year, that we can win more games than we used to,” said Greenberg, whose classmates on the team include Hoffman, Nico Mercuro, Ben Harrison, Clay Alter, Alex Mitko, Mike Dunlap, and Nick Bowlin.

“We have been winning; the Hightstown and PDS games were pretty big for us. The win over PDS was amazing; it was the first time in a long time.”

PHS head coach Dave Roberts was concerned that his club could experience a letdown after the high of the victory over the Panthers.

“Yesterday was obviously a huge emotional game for us; now the one thing I made sure to remind them immediately after that game yesterday was that Trenton beat us last year,” said Roberts.

“We are not surprised at the fact that they are good and competitive. I was definitely concerned about this game.”

Those concerns proved valid as PHS appeared to lose intensity after grabbing the early lead against the Tornadoes, showing lapses in the field and on the basepaths.

“I thought we shut it down mentally after that and it really came back to haunt us,” said Roberts, whose team had another down day as it fell 6-2 to Hamilton last Monday in dropping to 2-6.

“We picked a bad time to play our worst defensive game. Our baserunning was pretty bad today. We got picked off at first; we got thrown out stealing. Things we hadn’t been doing this season.”

Roberts is depending on his crew of seniors to pick things up in the wake of the disappointing defeat.

“The seniors are carrying the load; they are doing a good job,” asserted Roberts, whose team is playing at Allentown on April 19, hosting Steinert on April 20, playing in the Papa Bear Invitational at Delran High on April 21, and then playing at Ewing on April 23.

“They are doing everything they are supposed to be doing, you can’t ask for much more. I just hope it continues going in the right direction and hopefully they guide these guys into realizing that today was just a bad day and that we can move forward.”

Greenberg, for his part, believes that PHS can use the lessons learned from the loss to keep going in the right direction.

“We had a lot of confidence going into this game,” said Greenberg, who knocked in two more runs in an 18-8 loss to Robbinsville last Friday.

“This game killed us and it can go either way after this. We can take it as something to make us play better or it can devastate us. Hopefully, it is not the second, You can’t stop playing; you can’t get four runs and think it is over and expect them to lay down.”