FULL EFFORT: Princeton Day School baseball player Keegan Fullman fires a pitch in action this spring. Freshman Fullman starred with his arm and bat in his debut campaign, helping PDS go on a late run that saw it win four of its last five games, including a victory in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) South Jersey Non-Public B tournament. The Panthers ended 2024 with a 6-17 record. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

When the Princeton Day School baseball team lost 2-1 to Trenton High in mid-May to suffer its seventh defeat in its last eight games and drop to 2-16, it appeared that the Panthers were heading to a rough homestretch.

But PDS head coach Eric Schnepf saw the loss to the Tornadoes as a step forward.

“That was a really close game,” said Schnepf. “That got us going, we started to play better.”

In its next game, PDS edged Hightstown 3-2 and ended up playing very well down the stretch, winning four of its last five games to end the spring at 6-17.

The victory over Hightstown started the winning streak and proved to be a turning point.

“Sam Salguero threw a great game for us. It was nothing crazy, just throwing strikes,” said Schnepf.

“He gets it over the plate and throws two pitches effectively for strikes. He relies on the defense to make plays for him as he should. Hightstown hit some balls hard, a couple right at them balls. He gave us a chance to win and we did enough on offense to squeak out the win. We were executing and went on a little run of our own.”

The highlight of the run was a 10-4 win over St. Joseph (Hammonton) in the first round of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) South Jersey Non-Public B tournament

“That is our first state win as part of the NJSIAA, that was obviously something special,” said Schnepf, whose team fell 8-2 to eventual Non-Public B champion Gloucester Catholic in the quarterfinal round to end its season. “It was a similar situation to Hightstown. In that game Dylan Powers came out and threw an excellent game and Keegan Fullman relieved him on the back end. The kids were having really competitive at-bats. They were executing. The kids just played really well.”

Schnepf saw improvement across the board this spring. “I think our pitchers really stepped up — all of our pitchers went out and had good, competitive years,” said Schnepf. “They put us in position to win a lot of the time. They threw the ball really well. The defense also got better. We swung the bats better. Just in general, there was an uptick, not only in ability as they were a year older. They were bigger, stronger, faster, but with an uptick in execution. With that uptick in execution comes confidence, and that confidence leads to further execution. One thing feeds the other in that sense.”

The squad’s senior class of Hutch Henderson, Sam Cohen, Sam Salguero, Will Maschler, Simone Saldana, and Christian Escobar helped set the tone for that progress.

“It is their job to create and maintain the culture and the standard and bring some of our younger, newer kids along with that,” said Schnepf. “From a leadership standpoint, it was a great group of kids. They helped improve the culture of the program and show our younger kids what we want them to embody as PDS baseball players.”

With a returning group that features juniors Luke Haan, Santino Cignarella, and Dylan Powers along with sophomores Grayson McLaughlin and Connor Lemole and freshmen Keegan Fullman, Mason Roitburg, Matt Silverman, and Tyler Nevrotski, Schnepf believes the Panthers are in a good place going forward.

“We are returning a pretty big core of the team. The juniors — Luke, Santino, and Dylan — got a lot of time,” said Schnepf. “We are excited to have them continue to grow and develop. We only had two sophomores, Grayson and Connor, who also came up sporadically for some spot appearances. We have a lot of freshmen; Keegan, Mason, Matt, and Tyler played a lot. It was a really good group of young kids who stepped up and made the adjustment to a faster game. They settled in real nicely and did a good job for us.”

Junior transfer Cignarella did a great job for the Panthers, batting a team-best .421 with team highs in hits (24) and runs (18).

“Santino was a great addition for us, he helped physically on the field as our shortstop and leadoff hitter,” said Schnepf. “He played a really big role on the physical side but also culturally, just coming in putting his head down and grinding, overcoming obstacles and challenges. It was definitely great to have added him. We are looking forward to having another year with him. Now as he is a senior and has been with the program for a year, he will be taking on that leadership role and setting the example for all of our returners but also the new additions we will have next year.”

The play of catcher Haan set a good example. “Luke is so solid; he is just somebody you never have to worry about whether the stats are there or not, he always has a great attitude,” said Schnepf of Haan, who batted .328 this spring. “He commands the pitching staff and the defense really well. He is just a guy you are happy to have back there, he is always going to show up and do the job to the best of his ability.”

The late run by the Panthers shows them that they can get the job done.

“With that comes expectations that we are going to show up, compete, and play hard,” said Schnepf. “That is the main thing, we want them to play hard. Throughout the season we had our struggles, but to make that run late showed them that they could play solid baseball. It gives them the confidence that they can come out and play the game at a high level.”

Schnepf, for his part, is confident that PDS will raise its level of play going forward.

“The foundation is definitely there, we try to keep that brick-by-brick mentality,” said Schnepf. “It is day by day, game by game, and practice by practice to make the improvements. It is continuing to show up and play the right way, playing with energy and passion to compete. The more consistently we do that, the hope is you tally up some more wins and find yourself on the right side of the scoreboard more often. It was a great year. I tip my cap to our guys — they worked hard. We are excited to get into the summer and offseason and start back up.”