Baseball opens 2019 with four straight victories

Sean Levonaitis and Lexi Nielsen

The HHS baseball team began their season this week with a win against the Bridgewater Raritan Panthers. With the score tied in the bottom of the sixth inning, Hillsborough ended up taking the lead and winning the game with a final score of 4-2.

Sophomore Jayden Bloch paved the way for the Raiders. Bloch generated some momentum when he hit a single. This momentum carried through to the rest of the team when senior Vincent Gambardella hit a home run that went dead left field flying over the fence like a rocket into space.

“It felt amazing to hit a home run”, Gambardella said. “Right when I hit it I knew it was over, so I watched the ball go over the fence and listened to my teammates cheer me on.”

The Raiders had a 2-0 lead until the bottom of the sixth inning when the Panthers tied up the score 2-2. Hillsborough, however, was not going down without a fight. Senior Nick Scerbo did not let these runs phase him as he spearheaded the comeback with a leadoff base hit.

Senior Andrew Lagerman also hit a single and classmate Joey Mistretta laid down a bunt to advance the runners to second and third base. With two outs with two strikes on junior Jason Wolff, Wolff hit a double to the left-center gap to bring in both runners from second and third to recapture the lead for the Raiders.

“It was an exciting and intense game all the way to the end,” Gambardella said. “It was really great to see the whole team come together.”

Starting off with a win has the whole team looking forward to more wins throughout the season. At the time of posting this article, the team currently stands unbeaten at 4-0.

“I am looking forward to winning a lot of games in my final season,” Gambardella said. “Especially counties.”

Overall with the talent and thirst for victories, the baseball team is looking at a season full of success.