Hun wraps up third straight Prep A crown
SOUTH BRUNSWICK » Frank Del Guercio had the distinct pleasure of winning back-to-back baseball state championships with different high school teams.
Del Guercio was part of Allentown High’s 26-2 squad which won the 2017 NJSIAA Group III title. Del Guercio then took a postgraduate year at the Hun School, where he and his new team won the NJISAA Prep A state crown Sunday by defeating Blair Academy, 5-4, at Rowland Park.
The Prep A crown was the Raiders’ third in a row.
“I can’t say enough about Frank,” Hun second-year head coach Tom Monfiletto said. “When I watched him last year in the state tournament with Allentown, I could tell he was an energy guy. He brought that to our team this season. He’s one of the best teammates you could ask for.”
Del Guercio helped put his team in position to win by starting on the mound against the Bucs, then, after moving over to first base, he came around to score the winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“It’s pretty crazy!” Del Guercio said with a big “ME-OW!” in honor of his former Allentown teammates, who made such cat noises part of their postgame lingo. “I haven’t been able to pitch for two weeks (because postgraduates cannot play in the Mercer County Tournament), so I really wanted to help out my team today.”
Del Guercio, who was not known as a pitcher during his time with the Redbirds, proved an impressive southpaw starter after working with former Yankee Steve Garrison, the Raiders’ pitching coach.
He gave Hun 4 2/3 good innings, although he ran into trouble when Bryson Garriques hit a two-run double off him which tied the game at 3 in the fourth. Del Guercio got two outs in the fifth, then was lifted by Monfiletto after walking Luke Corrado.
“I didn’t want to come out, but (his replacement) Chris (Murdock) has been our best pitcher all year,” Del Guercio said. “How can you argue with that?”
Murdock struggled at first, throwing a wild pitch and walking the first two batters he faced before Matt Tung got an infield hit to give Blair a 4-3 lead. It could have been more, but Hun second baseman Ben Petrone gunned down Bryce Kopcak when he also tried to score on Tung’s slow roller.
The Raiders (16-6) did not fret despite having seen a 3-0 lead evaporate. Instead, they manufactured runs as they’d done all afternoon against Bucs pitcher Alex Gieson, who limited them to three hits.
McGwire Tuffy was hit by a pitch to lead of the bottom of the fifth and stole second base (his fourth steal in the game). Tuffy moved up on a ground out by senior third baseman Adam Wijaya before crossing the plate on a sacrifice fly by senior right fielder Chris Pontrella.
Pontrella, who will head to Boston College in the fall, had quite the final game with a sacrifice that drove in a run in all three of his visits to the plate, including a squeeze bunt in the third inning.
Like Del Guercio, Hamilton College-bound Wijaya won two state titles in the last two years after winning one with Hopewell American Legion Post 339 last summer.
After Murdock, who plays Legion ball with another state power Flemington Post 159, settled down and retired Blair in order in the top of the sixth, Del Guercio led off the bottom of the frame by getting hit by a pitch.
Murdock followed him to the plate and moved the runner into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt before Del Guercio advanced to third base on an errant pickoff attempt by Gieson. Blaney Soper came through with a sacrifice fly to right field, which allowed Del Guercio to cross with the go-ahead run.
“It was really a blessing for me coming here,” Del Guercio said after Murdock stranded Cameron Grant (double, stolen base) at third base in the seventh to secure another state title. “I came here because I wanted to get bigger, stronger and faster as far as baseball was concerned, but also to get my academics in line so I could get the colleges I wanted to look at me. It was a great opportunity.”