GETTING FOCUSED: Princeton Day School baseball player B.J. Dudeck gets set in the batter’s box in a game last spring. Last Monday, senior centerfielder and Virginia Military Institute-bound Dudeck contributed a double to help PDS defeat the Pennington School 5-0 and improve to 3-1. In upcoming action, the Panthers host Blair Academy on April 10 and Lawrenceville School on April 12 before playing at Peddie School on April 15. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

While Ray O’Brien is doing some juggling with his Princeton Day School baseball squad, he is confident things will fall in place as the spring unfolds.

“It is going to be a fun year; we have a bunch of people playing new positions,” said PDS head coach O’Brien who guided the Panthers to a 12-9 record in 2012. “We have a lot of talent but not a lot of depth.”

A lot of that talent is concentrated in the Panthers’ group of sophomores, which features J.P. Radvany, Jake Alu, Cole McManimon, and Ross Colton.

“We had that good freshman class that got a lot of experience last year, both as position players and pitchers,” said O’Brien. “We don’t have a lot of experienced upperclassmen.”

The squad did get a chance to pick up some valuable experience on its annual preseason trip.

“In Florida, we got to look at guys playing a lot of different positions, which was good,” said O’Brien, who is in his fifth year at the helm of the program. “We hit the ball well down there, that is a good sign.”

In the early going up north, there have been more good signs as the Panthers have produced a 3-1 start, edging
Hill 3-2 last Wednesday, falling 12-6 to St. Augustine on Friday, and then beating Gill St. Bernard’s 10-8 last Saturday and blanking Pennington 5-0 on Monday.

O’Brien believes he has some good arms on his pitching staff in senior Greg Auerbach, sophomores McManimon, Alu, and Radvany together with senior Ben Weiner and junior Ford Schneider.

“Greg is our most experienced pitcher; we expect him to be at the top of the rotation,” said O’Brien, who received a superb effort from McManimon in the victory over Pennington as he struck out 11 and gave up six hits.

“He is nursing a shoulder injury but should be back in early April. Cole threw the ball well in Florida, he got some innings last year. Alu and Radvany will also see some time on the mound. We also have Ben Weiner and Ford Schneider who can pitch. The pitchers are not overpowering so they will have to locate the ball well. We have to play good defense behind them.”

The team’s defensive alignment will feature senior Rob Colton at catcher, Radvany at first base, Ross Colton at second, Alu at shortstop, senior Alec Jones, Schneider or freshmen Dom Gasparro and Sam Guarino at third with senior Brad Freid in left field, senior B.J. Dudeck in center and either Jones or Gasparro in right.

PDS has the potential to win games through outslugging its foes. “B.J. has been improving; he has been a consistent hitter for us,” said O’Brien of the Virginia Military Institute-bound Dudeck.

“He and Radvany will be in the middle of the lineup. We have Ross Colton and Jake Alu at the top of the order. Rob Colton and Fried will be further down in the order. McManimon has been hitting well, he will be at DH and play some first base. We can put seven quality hitters up there; I think offense will be a strong point for us.”

In O’Brien’s view, the Panthers could produce a strong season with some patience and a little luck.

“We have so many kids in new positions that it is going to take a while for us to get settled,” said O’Brien, whose team hosts Blair Academy on April 10 and Lawrenceville School on April 12 before playing at Peddie School on April 15.

“As the season goes on, I think that we can be dangerous if we jell together. We have to stay healthy.”