GOOD RUN: Hun School baseball Adam Wijaya runs to first base in recent action. Senior third baseman Wijaya starred as Hun advanced to the Mercer County Tournament semifinals for the first time in 11 years. The fifth-seeded Raiders topped 12th-seeded Pennington 8-5 in a first-round contest on May 7 and then upended fourth-seeded Steinert 5-2 last Wednesday. Hun’s county run ended when it fell 9-0 to top-seeded Hopewell Valley in the semis last Monday evening. The Raiders, now 13-6, will be going after a third consecutive state Prep A title this week. Top-seeded Hun will host fourth-seeded Peddie School in a first round game on May 16 with the double elimination tournament to wrap up this weekend at Peddie from May 19-20. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Having experienced a number of early exits in the Mercer County Tournament in recent years, the Hun School baseball team was determined to make a deep run in the tourney this spring.

Hosting 12th-seeded Pennington in the opening round last week, fifth-seeded Hun didn’t waste any time showing that it meant business, scoring a run in the first inning and five in the second on the way to an 8-5 victory.

“We knew that Pennington was going to come out and be a much different team than we had seen the first time that we played them,” said Hun head coach Tom Monfiletto, whose squad had routed Pennington 20-2 in a regular season meeting.

“They have good players and they have a great coach. We knew that they would come out ready to compete and we were ready for them too, so it was good.”

Senior third baseman and Hamilton College-bound Adam Wijaya produced a very good performance in the win, going 3-for-3 with a triple and four RBIs.

“Adam has been incredible, and the coolest part about this story is that basically, for the second half of last year, he didn’t play too much,” said Monfiletto, noting that Wijaya fell into a batting slump midway through the 2017 campaign.

“He was a little upset with how he played and his lack of contribution towards the end of the year. He made a vow to himself and the team that he was going to be a huge contributor for us this year. He has been our best player, there is no getting around it. Defensively he has been as strong as he has been offensively. He is playing with an incredible confidence.” 

The Raiders gained a big confidence builder with a 5-2 win at perennial nemesis Steinert in a quarterfinal clash last Wednesday.

“I thought about saying it is really not that big of a deal, it is just one step to our main goal, but it was a big deal,” said Monfiletto.

“We had a lot of people there. That game meant a lot to a lot of people because it had been so long since we had beaten them, and we have such great respect for that program. It was good to finally be on the other end of a game like that. When we went down 2-1 in the first inning, in previous years we would hang our heads and let the game kind of take over and we didn’t let that happen this year.”

Senior star Jack Erbeck took over on the mound, going the distance with 10 strikeouts and one walk.

“Jack made some adjustments and he was phenomenal, I think he retired the last 11 batters in a row,” said Monfiletto.

“He gets stronger as the game goes on. He was great and then we had a big inning in there to pad our lead and make it 5-2, and from that point on, Jack just got it done.”

Junior catcher Dan Melnick helped Hun get it done with the bat, going 2-for-3 with an RBI.

“Melnick was really fired up for that game. He is friends with a lot of kids on that team,” said Monfiletto, noting that Jake Sloss and Cole Palmeri also hail from Hamilton, the home of Steinert.

“We love the Hamilton influence on our program. Melly is one of our hardest workers. He has been very consistent this year with the bat and he picked a great day to have one of his best game at the plate.”

The hard work of the team collectively resulted in a special achievement for the program.

“This is the first time we have been in the semis in 11 years. I have never gotten there as a player or a coach, ” said Monfiletto.

While Hun didn’t have a good time against top-seeded Hopewell Valley in semis falling behind 5-0 by the fourth inning on the way to a a 9-0 loss, the Raiders are fired up to go for its third straight state Prep A title later this week. Top-seeded Hun will host fourth-seeded Peddie School in a first round game on May 16 with the double elimination tournament to wrap up this weekend at Peddie from May 19-20.

“This is it, this is the week,” said Monfiletto. “We are confident. They know they can score runs, they think they can hit against anybody.”