Baseball Team Stumbles to 3-4 Start with Pirates Relying on Seniors to Right the Ship

Trey Dolan, Staff Writer

Cinnaminson High School Boys Baseball has high hopes for this season with the return of 13 juniors and seniors expected to make an impact on the lineup this season. They may not have had much time to shake the rust off in time for their season due to all the crazy weather of March and early April, but this group of boys are mostly upperclassmen, and have played together throughout high school.
Currently, the boys sit at 3-4 through their first seven games, with some uneven performances.  The team started the season falling prey to the mercy rule to both Shawnee and Bordentown by a combine 21-1 score.  However, the Pirates fought back in their next two games, thrashing Pemberton 10-0 and snuck up on Rancocas Valley (RV) and shut them down for a 11-4 victory.  Previously, RV had defeated one of the top teams in South Jersey, Clearview, so that was good victory.
However, that momentum did not last when the division’s top team, Delran, marched into Cinnaminson and laid a 9-3 defeat on the Pirates.  The Pirates rebounded this past weekend for a 10-8 win over St. Joseph’s of Hammonton before falling to Haddon Township 13-3 in the William G. Rohrer Tournament’s championship game.
In the wins for the season, the Pirates have scored 31 runs and only given up 12 runs, while in the losses, the Pirates have yielded 43 runs while scoring just seven runs.  Quite a difference in the wins versus the losses for the Pirates.
Coming into the season, varsity coach Kevin Merrill was excited for the upcoming season and expected a lot from his team.
“We’ve got a pretty good lineup this year,” he began. “Everyone’s just gotta do their part and remember the fundamentals. If we pull that off then we will have a good season ahead of us.”
Sophomore Cameron Horsley is the lone underclassman on the roster to the 13 juniors and seniors. Senior Mike Graff has been in the varsity team since his freshman year, and currently holds a .350 average while senior Jake Perkins leads the team with a .411 average and has five runs scored through seven games.  Junior George DeMirjian has a .389 average and is tied for the team lead with seven hits thus far.
The team will return from the senior trip this week and play four games starting next week, four games the following week and five games the following week.  With 13 games upcoming in three weeks, the Pirates look to have their hands full but will count on their deep pool of upperclassmen talent to lead them.