(Photo by Frank Wojciechowski) HITTING ZONE: Hun School baseball star David Dudeck gets ready to hit in a game last season. Junior centerfielder Dudeck and the Raiders have produced a solid 5-2 start this spring. In upcoming action, Hun hosts Lawrenceville on April 27 and plays at Mercersburg Academy on April 30.

Sparked by Smith’s Focus and Clutch Play, Hun Baseball Coming Together Quickly

Bill Alden

Brandon Smith doesn’t let his mind wander when he gets ready to bat for the Hun School baseball team.

“It is all about getting prepared in the on-deck circle,” said Smith a junior second baseman for the Raiders.

“I am thinking about timing the pitcher and going up there and getting some good cuts.”

Last Wednesday against visiting Princeton Day School, Smith got in some good cuts at key times, producing an RBI sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third inning and a two-run single two innings later as Hun topped the Panthers 8-5.

In reflecting on his clutch hitting, Smith said it was a matter of taking care of business.

“On the sac fly, I tried to do a job and get the runner in from third,” said Smith.

“I had two strikes on me on the single. When I get in that mode, I just focus and bear down.”

Coming into afternoon, Smith and his teammates knew they had to bear down in order to beat their crosstown rivals.

“We knew they were going to be a solid team,” said Smith in assessing the win, which was the fifth straight for Hun after an opening day loss at Lawrenceville. “We came out there and outplayed them to get the win.”

Hun head coach Bill McQuade credited Smith with making the pivotal plays in the contest.

“Brandon made the hit of the game and the play of the game,” said McQuade, referring to Smith’s run-scoring single and a superb throw he made to get the third out in the top of the third inning.

“He is such a quiet, humble kid, you look at him and you try to say what is going to ignite him. Outwardly he is calm but inside he is churning. He is clutch and that is not true of everyone. It takes a certain kind of kid to do that.”

While the Raiders didn’t get overpowering pitching from starter Gavin Stupienski and reliever Mike Manfredi in the win over PDS, the two hurlers came through in the clutch.

“Gavin struggled more than I would have thought, he lacked command and velocity,” said McQuade.

“He looked like he was out of energy. In the third and fourth, he picked it up again but he was already up to 80 pitches. Manfredi came in; he probably hasn’t thrown as much as he needs to at this point but he did the job. He got the ball over and he threw down in the zone. It is pitching by committee; that’s what it’s going to have to be this year.”

The Raider offense is also going to have be a collective effort this spring. “We have to manufacture runs; we have got to get on and steal bases,” said McQuade, whose team fell 15-11 to Pennington last Thursday to move to 5-2 and will look to get back on the winning track when it hosts Lawrenceville on April 27 and plays at Mercersburg Academy on April 30.

“That is what we preach everyday, this is not the team from back when we had Mike Russo and those guys from one to nine where we could just pound the ball.”

McQuade likes the way his players have been responding to that message.

“We are getting productivity out of some of those younger players,” asserted McQuade, citing the contributions of junior Stevie Wells and freshman Baily Hammer together with the leadership of senior catcher Chris Leach.

“I knew we would be better at the end than at the beginning. All of the guys are starting to mesh a little bit now. It is all going to depend on how we fare on the mound.”

Smith, for his part, believes the Raiders are getting better and better. “We are getting a lot of contributions,” said Smith. “We are just jelling extremely well now and I think we can take it pretty far.”

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