THE RIGHT STUFF: Hun School baseball player Alex Fabian delivers a pitch in action this spring. Senior Fabian displayed his versatility for the Raiders this season, hitting .325 and playing at catcher and outfield in addition to pitching. Hun lost 5-0 to Blair and 7-5 to Peddie last Saturday to get eliminated from the state Prep A tournament. The Raiders finished the spring with a 9-14 record. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

After his Hun School baseball team topped Lawrenceville 4-2 last Wednesday in the opening round of the state Prep A tournament, Bill McQuade sensed that his team could be primed for another late surge to a title.

“We had a great win over Lawrenceville,” said longtime Hun head coach McQuade, whose team got hot in the latter stages last spring in rolling to the Prep A crown.

“Austin Goeke threw only 71 pitches in that win. He was incredible; his fastball was really working. He was really on in his last three or four starts. Coming out of that game, we were pretty happy. We felt we were on a roll. We had five or six guys who were hitting well and we just needed some decent pitching.”

But things didn’t go well for the Raiders last weekend at Blair Academy as they were knocked out of the double-elimination tournament by virtue of losing 5-0 to Blair and 7-5 to Peddie in Saturday action.

In the loss to Blair, the Raiders’ bats went quiet in the clutch. “We ran into a tough Blair team; Alex Fabian pitched for us in that game and he did well,” said McQuade.

“They got single runs in five innings. We put men on base, we just couldn’t get them home. Stevie Wells got two doubles and I don’t think we got him to third.”

Later in the day, Hun fought hard but came up short in a back-and-forth contest against Peddie.

“We started Jason Applegate; he is a freshman but we expect so much from him,” said McQuade, whose team fell behind 3-0 in the first inning and then scored in the top of the third to take the lead only to see Peddie score two in the bottom of the frame and then add two more in the fifth to secure the win.

“He battled but he walked too many. Gavin Stupienski hit a homer and we went ahead. We got a run to make it 5-5 and then we gave up two unearned runs and couldn’t score again.”

Seeing his team finish 9-14 as it failed to defend its Prep A title left McQuade with a sour taste in his mouth.

“It is disappointing if you look at the end,” said McQuade. “There is a ‘but’ and it is a huge ‘but’ and that is we didn’t have Goeke for most of the beginning of the season and we didn’t have Gavin for much of the season.”

While the season could have been a nightmare after a 2-8 start, the emergence of junior Eddie Paparella and some defensive fine-tuning helped the Raiders remain competitive.

“Paparella developed into a star,” said McQuade. “He batted .432 and colleges are looking at him. What solidified us in the infield was moving Paparella to third base and Birch to shortstop. Birch is a natural shortstop, he is the best we have had since M.L. Williams.”

The team’s core of seniors, led by captain David Dudeck, Brandon Smith Stupienski, and Fabian, gave the Raiders a solid foundation.

“Losing Dudeck is tough; he is such a great kid and nobody works harder,” said McQuade of Dudeck, who hit .418 with three homers and 20 RBIs this season and will be playing football for Boston College this fall.

“We moved Smith to second from third; that also helped. His character and dedication to the game is special. We never got a chance to see the real Gavin; he has been injured for much of the last two years. He is going to UNC-Wilmington; he is going to be a heckuva player there if he stays healthy. Fabian really matured as a player. He volunteered to help us at catcher; he had never played there and that really helped us. We had four seniors who were heavy contributors.”

McQuade cited Thom Browne as another senior who provided a special contribution when it comes to character.

“Thom Browne had four years in the program with the first three years on JV,” added McQuade.

“He never said a word; he had a great attitude. He got a big win over Mercersburg for us.”

In McQuade’s view, the program has pieces in place to get some big wins in the future.

“If we get a whole year out of Austin [Goeke], that will be big,” said McQuade, whose other top returners include Birch (.375 average and a team-high 28 runs this spring) and Wells (.333 with two homers and 19 RBIs).

“Applegate will be a player. Mike Manfredi (.273 with 10 RBIs) grew up this year. He developed into a heavy hitter; he played third, first, and outfield. He can pitch, he could be a relief ace for us next year.”

In order to maximize their development, the Hun players will need to put in some heavy work over the offseason.

“If they want to be really successful, they have to start right now,” asserted McQuade.

“They need to work on conditioning and play a lot of baseball this summer. They need to work on all facets of the game, including the mental part of the game.”

McQuade, for his part, believes that having a hungry mentality could be the key ingredient to future success.

“Coming into this year, everyone was excited,” said McQuade. “We were coming off a Prep A title and had almost everyone back. I told them what you did last year means nothing. We will be reminding them of that next year.”