(Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) FINAL TURN: Princeton High senior second baseman Eric Hoffman makes the turn on a double play in a game earlier this spring. Hoffman had a double last Wednesday in PHS’s season-ending 11-1 loss to HoVal. The defeat left the Little Tigers with a final record of 4-18.

With Hoffman Displaying Even-Keeled Attitude, PHS Baseball Keeps Its Cool in Tough Spring

Bill Alden

Things didn’t go as Eric Hoffman hoped this spring in his senior season with the Princeton High baseball team.

Losing a number of tight games, PHS never found a winning rhythm in sputtering to a 4-18 final mark.

But senior second baseman Hoffman will take away some pleasant memories of the season notwithstanding the record.

“I definitely had fun on the field all year; it was just fun being with the guys,” said Hoffman.

“Of course I would have liked something better [in terms of the record.] I hope I taught some of the junior and sophomore class how to conduct yourself on the field and have good sportsmanship. Sometimes your emotions can run high but you have to keep your cool and have fun out there.”

Last Wednesday, Hoffman managed to have fun in PHS’s final game even though the Little Tigers fell 11-1 to visiting Hopewell Valley.

Hoffman hit a double and came on to pitch one and two-thirds innings in the loss.

“That felt really good,” said Hoffman, referring to his double. “Coming off my bat, it felt really good. I’m glad that happened. That was fun pitching.”

Things felt really good at the plate for Hoffman as he caught fire down the stretch, producing several multi-hit games.

“Everything kind of felt right at the plate,” said Hoffman, who is heading to Cornell where he plans to play club baseball.

“I worked a lot on my swing. Everything came together and I am pretty happy with that. At the beginning of the season, coach [Dave] Roberts and coach [Scott] Goldsmith worked really hard on everything with us, especially hitting. Every rain out we had, we were in the cages hitting. Coach Roberts really brings the heat and I really learned how to hit the fastball.”

Head coach Roberts, a former college pitcher at McDaniel College, appreciated how Hoffman heated up over his final high school campaign.

“Hoff had a great offensive year, he was at .390 before the day,” said Roberts.

“He was tied for the team lead in RBIs and was second on the team in hitting.”

In Roberts’ view, Hoffman brought more to the team than gaudy offensive numbers.

“He was just rock steady all year,” added Roberts. “He has an even-keeled nature that is a good one to have for this sport. You can fail 70 percent of the time and be a good hitter.”

While PHS failed to post a winning record this spring, Roberts feels the program made big progress.

“We had seven 1-run losses so I think we made huge strides,” said Roberts, who was in his first year at the helm of the program.

“Maybe next year, those seven games translate into four wins, maybe they go our way. It is a huge building block. We have won some close games. We won a 6-5 game, a 5-2 game. The foundation is there. The guys will remember that feeling, what it was and what they have to do to win.”

PHS has some good guys slated to come back next year. “Nicky Miranda had a big year,” said Roberts of his lead-off man who hit .443 to lead the Little Tigers.

“We have a lot of juniors in the program and for four of them, next year will be their third year starting or playing a lot on varsity. Nicky, Benito Gonzalez, Trevor Barsamian, and Danny Powell all played their sophomore years on varsity. Stevie Etherton played a great shortstop for us this season.”

Hoffman, for his part, believes the future is bright for the Little Tigers.

“We have become a better team overall and we became a lot more serious as well,” asserted Hoffman.

“Good luck to the kids next year, the guys are going to be in it. I am definitely predicting a big win season next year.

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