FULL SPEED AHEAD: Hun School baseball player TJ Francis races home in 2024 action. Senior star Francis is poised to produce a big final campaign for the Raiders. Hun is opening its 2026 season by playing at Lawrenceville on March 28 and at Gloucester Catholic on March 31. (Photo by Steven Wojtowicz)
By Bill Alden
After ending last season by losing in the Prep A state semis, the Hun School baseball team is determined to make amends this spring.
The players worked hard in their off-season training and tuned up for the upcoming season with a productive spring training trip to Florida earlier this month.
“We have a lot of experience coming back,” said Monfiletto, who led the Raiders to a 15-7 record last spring. “It is a pretty hungry group. We left last year with a bad taste in our mouth. I think that has been reflected in the off-season and how we have got going here to start things off. It is a good tough group. That was fun to see.”
Monfiletto had fun watching the fruits of that labor on the Florida trip.
“I think we knew pitching was going to be strength coming into this year and that kind of proved to be true,” said Monfiletto, whose team is opening its 2026 season by playing at Lawrenceville on March 28 and at Gloucester Catholic on March 31. “We were trying some different people in some different positions and they stepped in a big way defensively. Offensively, we are still getting there.”
Hun boasts a one-two punch of lefty Division I commits at the top of pitching rotation in Kerrick Shannon (49 strikeouts, 1.65 ERA in 2025), who is heading to North Carolina, and Asher DeLue (32 strikeouts, 1.92 ERA), who will joining the Boston College program.
“Kerrick is looking great,” said Monfiletto. “This is the best offseason he has had. He looks very good, so we are excited about that. Asher threw against Avon Old Farms down in Florida in front of a ton of scouts. It was him against another big lefty who is committed to Georgia. Asher threw two innings, he was great. I think he had five strikeouts in two innings and he was up to 93 mph.”
The trio of senior Aidan Heaphy (23 strikeouts, 4.36 ERA), junior Will Sassman (28 strikeouts, 1.80 ERA), and junior Yanni Moraitis (38 strikeouts, 2.50 ERA) gives the Raiders plenty of mound depth.
“They all look good,” said Monfiletto. “Heaphy had had a really good offseason so we are looking for him to get a lot of innings this year. Yanni threw two innings against Loomis in Florida and threw very well. His stuff still looks as good as it did last year. Will has added some more pitches to his arsenal, so he is doing great. He has only gotten better.”
In addition to those three, senior Sam Amodio (2 strikeouts, .485 ERA), an Elmira College commit, sophomore Jameson Bower, junior Oliver Gelade, and post-graduate transfer Blake Echternacht, a Bates College commit, also figure to get innings this spring.
“Sam had some really good innings down in Florida — he looks very good,” said Monfiletto “We have Bower and he is going to pitch for us out of the bullpen as well. He had a great trip. Ollie threw three innings for us in our game against Loomis. Ollie will be out of the bullpen this year and has got a pretty good arsenal of pitches. He is solid, he will help us in the mound for sure. The big one who we are really excited about is Blake, the post-grad from Hopewell. He had a really great trip. We liked what we saw out of him. He will likely be a starter.”
As for the Hun batting order, senior TJ Francis (.413 batting average and 26 hits in 2025), senior John Rossman (.296, 21 hits), and junior Jackson Staples (.317, 19 hits) will be counted on to produce.
“Those three will be the core of the lineup,” said Monfiletto of the trio, who will all be playing at the next level with Francis headed to Sacred Heart University, Rossman to Tufts University, and Staples to the University of Pittsburgh.
“They have only gotten better and stronger. Their at-bats are excellent. Even if they don’t get a hit, they are providing something, whether it is a quality at-bat or getting a job done moving runners over. They are very complete hitters.”
Monfiletto is hoping to also get some quality at-bats from Heaphy, junior Zain Majeed (.189, 7 hits), senior Gaines Newsome (.273, 6 hits), senior Tyler Tejeski. (.286, 2 hits), and junior Jacob Lilienthal (.208, 10 hits).
“Some of the other supporting pieces will add some pop and some ability on the base paths,” said Monfiletto. “Aidan has mainly been pitcher for us. He is going to Babson and that is what they recruited him to do. He had three hits down in Florida, which was great. He is a good baserunner. Zane Majeed, Gaines Newsome, and Tyler Tejeski have shown a lot of improvement. Jacob had a couple of really good swings down in Florida — he will be probably be in the middle of the order.”
The Hun defense is looking good with Lilienthal starting at catcher getting backed up by sophomore Chase Kishler. Around the infield, Majeed, Newsome, and junior Jack Thielmann will be at first base with Tejeski and freshman Will Holly at second, Rossman at shortstop, and junior TJ Tift at third. In the outfield, Sassman, Heaphy, and junior Noah Kennedy will be left with Francis in center along with Heaphy, Tift, and Sassman and Staples and junior Oscar Li in right.
Based on how Hun played in Florida, fielding should be a strength for the Raiders.
“Our defense was clean enough for pitchers to be able to feel confident in challenging hitters,” said Monfiletto.
Looking ahead to the season, Monfiletto points to disciplined hitting as a key to success this spring.
“We have to score runs, we can’t put a ton of pressure on our pitching staff,” said Monfiletto. “We have to be able to put pressure on defenses, which I think we can. Whoever else winds up rounding out the order is going to have to together some good at-bats. We have been doing a lot more teaching of approach this year than we have in a while. If we can find ways to get on base, I am very confident with our speed and athleticism that we can score runs. It doesn’t have to be balls in the gap every single time and it doesn’t have to be balls over the fence. We just have to be really disciplined at the plate and get on base and go to work.”
The Hun players seem to be already be on board with that approach.
“We saw glimpses of that in Florida — we scored runs in many different ways,” said Monfiletto. “Like we scored when a catcher overthrew the pitcher back to the mound. We scored a run on a bunt. We scored on ground balls. It was different ways that we were able to put pressure on defenses.”