SLIDE SHOW: Princeton Post 218 American Legion baseball player Chris Sumners, right, slides into second base in recent action. Last Thursday, recent Hun School graduate Sumners reached base three times and contributed an RBI single in a losing cause as Post 218 fell 14-2 to Lawrence Post 414. Princeton, which fell 10-2 to South Brunswick last Friday to drop to 1-6, plays at Lawrence on June 22 and has a doubleheader at Bordentown Post 26 on June 24. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Hosting Lawrence Post 414 last Thursday evening, the Princeton Post 218 American Legion baseball team dug a 5-0 hole.

Showing some fight, Princeton scored runs in the fourth and fifth innings on RBI singles by Aidan Duffy and Chris Sumners to eventually narrow the gap to 6-2.

But in the sixth inning, Lawrence exploded for eight runs to turn the contest into a rout as it prevailed 14-2.

Post 218 manager Tommy Parker acknowledged that the roof fell in on his undermanned but gritty squad.

“It got away, we are definitely playing down in numbers and that hurt,” said Parker.

“Some guys weren’t here today and we had guys playing out of position but I don’t make any excuses. We just keep coming out here and grinding.”

While it wasn’t the best offensive effort for Post 218, Parker liked the way his players kept swinging.

“We didn’t hit the ball very well but we had some decent at-bats,” said Parker.

“That’s the thing, they have no quit in them for sure; they do keep pushing back.”

With Princeton having lost 17-3 to Hightstown on June 12 and 15-1 to Ewing a day later, Parker acknowledged that his young squad is experiencing some growing pains.

“I told them literally what you have experienced this week is that is the way the ball bounces,” said Parker, whose club lost 10-2 to South Brunswick on Friday to drop to 1-6 on the season.

“It has been a tough week. We hit the ball where they are, they hit it where we ain’t.”

Parker is confident that his team will toughen up as a result of that experience.

“We are really young, our starting pitcher today was 14 but we may have discovered a pitcher with Ari Kaul,” said Parker.

“We have had kids like him over the years and we bring them along in spots. He didn’t do badly, they were trying to figure him out. We have some potential. Tommy Sarsfield is an example; I love this kid, he is going to be a ballplayer.”

Parker is depending on veteran players like Chris Sumners, John Girouard, and Zach Dudeck to set a good example as the team strives to get on the winning track.

“Chris is one of the captains,” said Parker, whose team plays at Lawrence on June 22 and has a doubleheader at Bordentown Post 26 on June 24.

“John, who played hurt tonight, is one of the captains. Zach is one of our team leaders. They come out and give a good effort and that is all you can expect.”