(Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction)
BRINGING THE HEAT: Hun School star pitcher Mike Russo uncorks a pitch in action this spring. Senior star Russo helped Hun catch fire down the stretch as the Raiders won their last five games on the way to the state Prep A title. In the title-clinching 10-1 win over Peddie on May 19, Russo pitched six innings of one-hit ball and smacked a homer. |
On one hand, Mike Russo and his teammates on the Hun School baseball team were upset when they fell to Robbinsville in the opening round of the Mercer County Tournament earlier this month.
The loss was the eighth in nine games for the Raiders and came a day after a defeat by Blair had eliminated Hun from the Mid-Atlantic Prep League (MAPL) title race.
But in another sense, the defeat to Robbinsville gave Russo and the Raiders a singular focus as they turned their attention to defending their state Prep A championship.
“We were definitely disappointed,” said Russo, recalling the Robbinsville game.
“Once we lost that, we knew we only had the states. Once we realized that the states were the only thing to play for, people practiced harder. Everyone wanted it more.”
Hun’s serious approach paid dividends as the Raiders caught fire at the right time, never losing again after the Robbinsville game.
The Raiders ran the table in the Prep A tournament, topping Blair, Lawrenceville, and Peddie on the way to earning its title repeat.
In Russo’s view, seeing Hun’s rollercoaster season end with a title helped render its midseason struggles a distant memory.
“It’s very special, to be state champs is always big,” said Russo.
“We may have only been 13-8 but winning the state championship erases all of that.”
The pivotal win for Hun in its Prep A title drive came when it rallied to beat Lawrenceville 7-6 to keep in the winner’s bracket of the double-elimination competition.
“Everybody contributed in that game,” asserted Russo. “It would have been very easy to let that one get away. We could’ve folded. We had led and then fell behind like other games this season. In our slump, we were getting good pitching; we just weren’t getting the clutch hit. We weren’t going to give in this time.”
After that win, Russo’s pitching and hitting helped Hun wrap up the championship in its title-clinching 10-1 victory over Peddie.
“We really wanted to play them,” said Russo, who pitched six innings of one-hit ball in the victory and also smacked a homer.
“We were hyped up. We jumped on top. The guys play great defense behind me and that gave me confidence. It was nice getting that homer; I didn’t have the multi-hit games like I did last year.”
As the season went on, Russo got more and more confidence on the mound. “When I am pitching, I’m more relaxed, the game is in my hands,” added Russo, who posted a 7-2 record this spring.
“I think my pitching improved this year. I battled against the batters, I hit more spots. I got weak ground balls and the strikeouts.”
Hun head coach Bill McQuade liked the way that Russo’s pitching progressed as the season went on.
“In Mike’s last four starts, each one was better than the last,” said McQuade, who has now completed 38 seasons at the helm of the Hun baseball program.
“He was back to last year. I think at the beginning of the year, he felt the pressure. He started to relax.”
In McQuade’s view, the team’s collective focus improved after the loss to Robbinsville.
“We were at a low point after that game; I think we realized that we were a better team than the way we were playing,” said McQuade, whose 2007 team had gone 20-4 in cruising to the MAPL and Prep A titles.
“We had beaten stronger teams earlier in the season; we didn’t execute offensively against Robbinsville. After we left that game, there was a huge, hollow feeling. We talked a lot about playing with pride and passion. We talked about everybody pitching in. The seniors really led the way; the practices were much more focused after that.”
Coming into the Prep A tournament, McQuade felt that his team’s focus and stellar pitching gave it a chance to beat anyone in the tourney.
“We were the No. 3 seed because of our early losses,” said McQuade. “There was not a doubt in my mind that when we played our best and we had Mike or Dave [Putman] on the mound that we could beat anyone.”
Like Russo, McQuade saw the Prep A tourney win over Lawrenceville as a sign that the Raiders were championship material.
“We got in front and then we struggled,” recalled McQuade.
“We came back, it showed that the kids have resolve. It was the best game Tesauro had pitched against us, he really pitched, he changed speeds, he wasn’t just throwing.”
With Russo on the mound against Peddie in the title-clincher, McQuade was confident that Hun would bring its A-game.
“We got runners on base but didn’t score in the first; then they got a run on an error,” said McQuade.
“I felt all we had to do was to get a few runs with the way Mike was pitching. We got a few runs on small ball; Brendan Dudeck made some nice bunts. Mike hit a home run which sealed the deal.”
McQuade was thrilled with the way his kids dealt with adversity this spring.
“I’m very proud of the kids, we started out hot and then we had a tailspin; we weren’t losing by a lot but we just weren’t hitting great and then we would make the crucial error,” explained McQuade.
“In all my years at Hun, we have never won back-to-back Prep A titles. It’s so tough, you never know what a team is going to have from year to year. This was extremely rewarding; it shows the character of the seniors. They did it, they wanted to do it. They never separated themselves from the underclassmen.”
Russo, for his part, wants to keep excelling as he looks forward to the next stop of his baseball career. While Russo has earned a baseball scholarship to N.C. State, he may forgo that opportunity if he is selected in Major League Baseball’s amateur draft this June.
“It will be a tough decision if I’m drafted,” said Russo. “Right now, I can go to a four year college with a great program. If I were to be drafted, it would be a family decision. It depends on the team and the round. The ultimate goal is to play pro ball, the earlier the better.”
But no matter where Russo ends up, he won’t forget his Hun baseball experience and the special way it ended.
“Over the years, I gained confidence hitting and pitching,” said Russo.
“I worked hard to make senior year special. It was a rollercoaster, it makes it sweeter, you always want to end up with a title. It has been a great four years, I couldn’t ask for anything more. Mr. McQuade has been a great coach; he’s made it fun. His enthusiasm helped our team come together this season.”
And it has been fun for Hun to have a star like Russo coming through when it mattered most.
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