BIG THREE: Princeton Day School senior baseball stars, from left, Cole McManimon, Jake Alu, and JP Radvany, take a break during the team’s preseason trip to Florida. The trio were the mainstays of the program over the last four years and helped PDS go 10-14 this spring and reach the state Prep B semifinals. Each will be going on to play at a Division I college program with McManimon heading to Lehigh University, Alu to Boston College, and Radvany to Villanova University.

Murphy’s Law appeared to govern the Princeton Day School baseball team much of this spring.

In posting a 10-14 record, PDS lost eight games by one run and suffered five walk-off defeats. It had a potential win over Hamilton taken away from it when a game-tying 2-run homer in the bottom of the last inning was disallowed after one of the umpires made a hotly-disputed call that the batter didn’t touch home plate.

While senior star, James “JP” Radvany could have been bitter about how things unfolded, he was able to draw positives from the experience.

“It was a crazy up and down year; we had a lot of bad luck but we were also in a lot of exciting games and that was fun,” said Radvany.

“It was great to play one last season with Jake (Alu) and Cole (McManimon). It was not the year that we wanted to have but it was the most number of wins we have had in a season while I was at PDS. With everything that happened, we were still one out from making the Prep B finals. It was tough at times to go through a season like that but it was a really close group of guys. We leaned on each other and we really enjoyed playing with each other.”

Radvany enjoyed some big games this spring, hitting two homers and getting seven RBIs in an 11-10 loss to Allentown in the opening round of the Mercer County Tournament and starring in a 12-9 win over Pennington in an MCT consolation contest.

“That was one of my better games in high school; I was seeing the ball well,” said Radvany, referring to the Allentown game.

“The game against Pennington in the MCT consolation game was a highlight; we had lost to them before. I got my 100th career hit and got the win on the mound in relief.”

Over the spring, Radvany hit .371 and tied McManimon for the team lead in RBIs with 31. Radvany ended his PDS career ranked first in program history in RBIs and third in hits.

“That is surreal,” said Radvany, who also starred for the PDS boys’ basketball team and won the school’s Gold P senior athletics award. “I should stay in the record books for a while. It is a good form of recognition.”

PDS head coach Ray O’Brien lauded what his big three of Radvany, Alu, and McManimon brought to the program, both this spring and over the last four seasons.

“It is not often that three kids come in and step right in as freshman starters and have the career that they had,” said O’Brien, whose other seniors included Sean Flahive, Cody Meagher, and Davin Bialow.

“JP ended up third in hits and first in RBIs. I have been coaching at PDS for 10 years and I have not seen anyone have the all around season that Jake had (a team-best .523 average with 45 hits, 38 runs, 10 doubles, three triples, and three homers). It was a terrific year for him from start to finish. He ended up as the all-time hit leader. Cole was healthy in Florida for our spring trip and pitched a great game against Hill with a one hitter and 15 strikeouts. Cole couldn’t pitch as much as we wanted him to because he had a stress fracture in his shin (3-3 record, 2.11 ERA and 57 strikeouts in 2015) but he had a great year batting for us (.359 with a team-high four homers to go with 31 RBIs).”

In reflecting on the season overall, O’Brien lamented the team’s run of bad fortune.

“We started off 5-1 and then had that Hamilton game and it seemed like the baseball gods were against us after that,” said O’Brien. “You can’t believe all of the things that went wrong for us, injuries, bad breaks, and bad hops.”

A heartbreaking defeat to Gil St Bernard’s in the Prep B semis exemplified the team’s star-crossed campaign as PDS brought a 7-3 lead into the bottom of the last inning only to lose 8-7 on a walk-off grand slam.

“That game was a microcosm of the season,” said O’Brien. “On two separate occasions we were one strike away from going to the prep finals. The last inning you just couldn’t believe with bad hops, bloopers, two strikes on last batter who then hits a fly ball into the wind that turns into a grand slam.”

O’Brien believes he has a good core of returners in place with sophomore catcher Paul Franzoni, junior third baseman Dom Gasparro, and junior second baseman Sam Guarino along with a group of young pitchers.

“Paul is getting bigger and stronger; Dom had a good year, he was particularly good in the field,” said O’Brien.

“Sam was really good at second, he turned 20 double plays and started hitting at the end. We have some sophomore pitchers (Ryan Sparks, Chase Fleming, Russ Kirczow) that are still developing. As they mature and get bigger, our pitching will be OK.”

The returning players, though, have quite a void to fill as they follow the likes of Radvany, Alu, and McManimon. Each of the team’s big three is going on to play at a Division I college program with Radvany heading to Villanova University, Alu to Boston College, and McManimon to Lehigh University.

“For me and the seniors, it is a tough way to go out,” said O’Brien. “We felt that we had the best team in the preps. It is rare that we have 3 D-I players at the same time; they will be sorely missed.”

Radvany will certainly miss playing with his PDS teammates. “It has meant a lot, a lot of people say that high school ball is what you will enjoy the most, because it is not the pressure of college ball,” said Radvany.

“It was great to play with two of my best friends, all three of us are going on to play D-1. We are like brothers, we had dinner on Thursday night before graduation to talk about some of the glory days.”

As he looks ahead to starting his college carer, Radvany is determined to give it his best.

“The main thing in the summer is to get bigger and stronger physically; I am going from the oldest to the youngest and will be one of the frailest physically,” said Radvany, who is playing for the Lawrence Post 414 American Legion team this summer.

“There are a lot of studs. I am also making a transition into being more of an outfielder. They have an opening in the outfield. They have a senior at first base who is one of the best players in the Big East. If I have to sit a year and learn from him that would be fine but I want to do whatever I can to get on the field. As an athlete, you are always looking for a challenge and I am ready for the challenge.”