Princeton Day’s Franzoni grabs Prep Player of the Year

Mercer County ruled prep school baseball this spring with Pennington winning the New Jersey Independent Schools Athletic Association Prep B title and Hun winning the Prep A crown.

For Pennington, it was the first time the Red Raiders had won the Prep B trophy in 33 years.

Under the leadership of senior standouts Luke Blair, Nick Psomaras and David Iorio, Pennington (12-7) regained the crown it last won in 1985 when it defeated Gill St. Bernard’s, 2-1, in eight innings.

Catcher Blair handled all the pitching and led the team in batting with a .446 average. Psomaras did triple duty as shortstop, ace pitcher and leading RBI man (23). Iorio switched from the infield to center field to help keep the Red Raiders strong up the middle for All-Prep Coach of the Year Steve Kowalski in just his second season.

Over in Prep A, Hun (16-6) continued its tradition of baseball excellence by winning its third consecutive state title. Another second-year head coach Tom Monfiletto had an equally talented lineup which took it to the Mercer County Tournament semifinals before defeating Blair Academy, 5-4, in the Prep A final.

Raiders senior pitcher Chris Murdock capped a 7-1 campaign (his only loss was to Hopewell Valley in the MCT semifinals) and was aided by classmates like .452-batting third baseman Adam Wijaya, utility man Chris Pontrella, outfielder Adam Zucatti, pitcher Tom Ramsay and postgrad Frank DelGuercio, an Allentown High product who won his second state title in as many years.

Princeton Day School’s Luke Franzoni had a senior year about which most players can only dream when the Xavier University recruit batted .538 with 28 hits, 29 runs scored, 25 runs batted in, seven doubles, four triples and 10 home runs to earn the All-Prep Player of the Year award. Franzoni also shared All-Area Player of the Year honors with Hopewell Valley High’s Andy Blake. DH DH Utility Utility Dan Melnick Hun Matt Nyce PDS Ryan Harris Pennington Luke Franzoni PDS Jr. Jr. Jr. Sr. Chris Pontrella, Adam Zucatti, Thomas Ramsay (Hun); Evan Monfre, Caspian Packard, Trey Reynolds (Lawrenceville); Erick Patterson, Dan Hennessy, Justin Moreno (Peddie); Hunter Archer, Rickey Eng, Ameer Hasan (Pennington); Tommy Sarsfield, Tommy Bocian, Brendan Bucceri (PDS).