EARNING HIS STRIPES: Hun School baseball player Ryan Strype takes a big cut in recent action. Last Wednesday, senior catcher and team captain Strype hit a two-run homer to help Hun rally for a 10-5 win over Princeton Day School. The Raiders, who edged Pennington 3-2 last Thursday to move to 4-3, play at Lawrenceville on April 20, head to Mercersburg Academy (Pa.) for a doubleheader on April 22, and then host Trenton Catholic on April 25. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Even though Ryan Strype is the captain of the Hun School baseball team, he is not a rah-rah guy.

“I am not the loudest; I am not the type of captain to just scream out,” said senior catcher Strype.

“I try and do everything I can to lead by example and do everything I can to keep my head up and keep the guys up in the dugout.”

Last Wednesday as Hun hosted Princeton Day School, Strype displayed his leadership by example. With PDS jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, Strype got Hun on track by belting a two-run homer on the bottom of the first to narrow the gap to 3-2.

“I have been looking for the fast ball and I have just been missing them, hitting foul balls and he just left it over the plate and I got the barrel on it,” said Strype.

Strype’s blast changed the tone of the contest for the Raiders.

“I think it helped, especially Jack (Erbeck) with his pitching,” said Strype.

“It got us right back in the game and it is like a 1-0 game. It allowed him to throw more strikes and keep us in the game.”

With Styrpe taking charge behind the plate from his catcher spot, he helped Erbeck settle down on the mound as he ended up going five and two-thirds innings.

“It is just make sure he doesn’t dig himself into a hole and get down on himself,” said Strype.

“It is all about mentality. If you start getting into your own head, you are not going to pitch well so you just have to throw strikes and keep your head up.”

Hun kept hitting, scoring a run in the second inning, three in the third and then getting two in both the fifth and sixth on the way to a 10-5 triumph.

“We just had to keep putting the ball into play and we just had to take advantage after that,” said Strype, who contributed a line drive single in the third inning rally.

Strype is enjoying taking a leadership role for the Raiders. “It is a great group of guys, it is a great bond,” said Strype. “We always have fun in the dugout, in practice, and in games.”

With legendary head coach Bill McQuade retiring last spring after 46 seasons at the helm of the program, the players are continuing to have fun under new head coach Tom Monfiletto.

“McQuade brought a lot of energy but Mono also brings a lot of energy,” said Strype. “They preach the same things, they are both great coaches.”

In the view of Monfiletto, Strype’s homer against PDS gave Hun a burst of energy.

“Ryan is our captain and for him to come up in that situation and get the home run, that was huge,” said Monfiletto.

“That got us back a 3-0, three-run home run kind of takes the air out of you, especially after a couple of tough losses in a row. We are sitting here thinking, ‘oh,’ and then Strype comes up and says, ‘no we are here, we got it.’”

Hun didn’t sit back after that, pushing the action and taking advantage of several errors by the Panthers.

“Our aggressiveness at the plate led to our ability to get some runs across with some help,” said Monfiletto.

“I like how we put the ball in play and sometimes when you put the ball in play good things happen. Nothing can happen if you strike out or pop up.”

Sophomore pitcher Erbeck made good things happen on the mound as he found his command after a rocky start.

“Those middle few innings he really got comfortable and he did really well,” said Monfiletto.

“He settled down, maybe he needed to get it out of his system. He started throwing really well. He was throwing hard, he was locating. That curve ball is a very good pitch and he can throw it at any count. Having the confidence in Strype behind the plate also helped him have the confidence to throw that.”

Hun built on the victory over PDS by edging Pennington 3-2 a day later to improve to 4-3.

“It is always a good win since we have so much respect for PDS,” said Monfiletto, whose team plays at Lawrenceville on April 20, heads to Mercersburg Academy (Pa.) for a doubleheader on April 22, and then hosts Trenton Catholic on April 25.

“We don’t have have any easy games on our schedule. Going against Steinert, St. Augustine, PDS, and Pennington, that is a tough stretch there. If we can come out of this week with two wins, I would be really happy.”

Strype, for his part, believes Hun can be tough to beat if it keeps up its aggressiveness with the bat.

“We have got to keep putting the ball into play,” said Strype. “We don’t have the most hits in our past two games but if we keep hitting the ball hard, eventually hits are going to start dropping and we are going to put up more runs for our pitching so our pitchers can settle in.”