FULL SWING: Princeton High baseball player Paul Cooke follows through on a swing in recent action. Junior outfielder Cooke has helped spark the PHS hitting attack this spring. The Little Tigers, who tied Lawrenceville 5-5 last Monday in 11 innings to move to 3-13-1, host WW/P-South on May 10, host South Hunterdon on May 11, play at Lawrence High on May 12, and host Hightstown on May 16. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

As the Princeton High baseball team ended April, it seemed poised to get on a roll.

PHS posted an 8-6 win over Hightstown on April 24 and then lost a 5-4 nailbiter to Robbinsville four days later, falling on a walk-off hit by the Ravens.

For Little Tiger head coach Dave Roberts, that two-game stretch was encouraging.

“I felt we had turned a corner there with the Hightstown win and the Robbinsvile game, getting down in the Hightstown game and coming back pretty nicely and then sticking with a good Robbinsville team,” said Roberts.

But things have gone downhill in May as PHS lost to Hopewell Valley 7-4 on May 1 and Steinert 8-1 on May 3 before absorbing a 16-1 loss to Hopewell last Saturday in a rematch in the opening round of the Mercer County Tournament.

“We are making the same mistakes,” lamented Roberts. “We are making defensive errors. We are just leaving too many balls over the middle of the plate as a pitching staff.”

Those lapses are particularly frustrating since the Little Tigers have been generating some hitting punch this spring.

“I am happy with everybody offensively,” said Roberts, who has been getting consistent production from his top six of Jaedyn Paria, Mike Ramirez, Paul Cooke, Dan Gross, Alec Silverman, and Ted Marttila.

“It has been a nice team offensive year; we are hitting right around .300. We are getting great contributions off the bench. We were 5-for-6 last week pinch hitting; guys are coming off the bench and are getting hits and RBIs. John Girouard, Tommy Reid, and Zach Yoelson are kind of designated pinch hitters. They get their one at-bat a game in a clutch spot when we need a hit.”

With PHS tying Lawrenceville 5-5 last Monday in 11 innings to move to 3-13-1 and hosting WW/P-South on May 10, hosting South Hunterdon on May 11, playing at Lawrence High on May 12, and hosting Hightstown on May 16, Roberts is looking to see his team turn a corner down the stretch.

“The focus is cleaning up all of the mistakes from the first two-thirds of the year and building for next year,” said Roberts, noting that the squad only has two senior starters.

“In the same breath, we are trying to get the win total up to a respectable number.”