By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
@sjglorydays on Instagram
Chemistry is a tough thing to define in high school baseball. The seasons are so short and every year the varsity roster has a different look as players graduate, new ones advance up from the junior varsity, and sometimes players even transfer in. One of the toughest things a coach is tasked with is trying to build a cohesive unit that plays more for the name on the front of the jersey than the numbers listed in the box scores every game.
Haddon Heights skipper Eric Newell hasn’t had to worry about that problem all season, as a heady group of seniors has taken the leadership role very seriously, and those players have set the tone from the start of the school year in September.
Senior catcher Kevin Clark — the established leader on this club due to his performance, toughness, preparation and any other superlative you want to attach to his name — said he and the core of this year’s team were going through early morning workouts during the first few weeks of school so that the 2026 season wouldn’t end as last year’s did, with a 16-10 record and an 11-0 loss to Collingswood in the South Jersey Group 2 semifinals.
This spring, the Garnets (20-7) ran into a tough stretch in early May when they were bounced from the Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic in the second round with a 3-2 loss to Eastern Regional, and that was the middle of a three-game losing streak. Heights lost 4-of-6 between a May 5 loss to rival Haddonfield and a 4-1 loss to West Deptford on May 15. A span of 10 days that saw the team pile up more than half of its season losses.
But a Saturday win over Timber Creek on May 16 turned the tides, and the Garnets have lost just once since. They currently are 4-0 in the state playoffs, and on Friday captured the sectional championship with a convincing 8-1 win over Haddonfield — the top seed and last year’s title winner. So far, during states, Heights is outscoring opponents 33-9.
The Garnets will travel to Governor Livingston — last year’s No. 1 team in the state — on Monday at 4 p.m. for the Group 2 state semifinals. One more win and the squad will be playing for a state championship on Sunday at Rutgers University.
“You learn leadership skills from the guys before you, you take (those skills) and pass them down (to the younger guys). It’s like a chain, you keep passing them down,” said Clark, who has put together a monster senior season with a .407 batting average that includes three home runs, 28 RBIs, 11 doubles and 31 runs scored in 91 at-bats.
A huge part of Haddon Heights’ chemistry this season has been the return of Cole Simon, a standout junior outfielder and pitcher who spent the first two years of his career at Bishop Eustace. He’s provided big-time protection behind Clark in the lineup, as he’s hitting .425 with two home runs, nine doubles, 30 RBIs and 28 runs scored, and on the mound he’s become the team’s ace with a 7-1 record in a team-high 44 innings, including 55 strikeouts and a 3.50 ERA.
“He just fit right in,” Newell said. “These are the kids he grew up with, and it’s been really cool. He had so much Little League time with them, so he fit right in. He’s not a selfish guy. He didn’t come back (from Eustace) expecting us to roll out the red carpet for him. We told him if he was interested in coming back, come compete for a spot. You’ll be in a good program, and we’ll see what you’ve got.”
Newell said that Clark appreciates just how big an impact Simon has made.
“We talk about how all individual honors are because of who’s on the team,” Newell said. “We talk about that wolfpack mentality. The strength of a pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack. Every individual stat you have is because you had a guy on base in front of you or a guy behind you protecting you. It’s a team effort all the way through.”
Did this team have something special from the start? Newell believes so.
The Garnets got great contributions from their seniors — Jaxon Motta (.400, 24 RBIs, 28 runs), Clark, Richard Farruggia (16 hits, 22 runs) and Jake Dillon (a 1.35 ERA in 20-plus innings) — and nearly all the underclassmen contributed in big ways. Junior Andrew Weag posted a 2.97 ERA in 35 innings, plus a 5-1 record, and sophomore Carter Zetusky was a reliable two-way guy. Sophomore shortstop Ryan Govito has been tearing it up with a .396 average that includes 32 runs scored, and he’s one of the best defensive players — not just shortstops — in the entire Colonial Conference.
Everything has come together in a way that Newell and his staff had hoped, and there are still a couple more hills to climb.
“All year long, we had some good wins, some rough losses, we blew some leads, but we talked about those experiences and about how they were tough (in the moment) but we’re going to learn from them and get better,” he said. “We’ll be able to finish games later on because of those experiences, and, to their credit, they don’t really get too up or too down, they just keep playing. That’s a sign of a mature team, and our seniors have been phenomenal.
“It all comes down to the seniors and their leadership. They are an extension of the coaching staff and they know what’s acceptable and what’s expected from the coaching staff,” Newell continued. “Our guys are just a really good mix of being loose, but being focused. They’re not loose to the point where they are goofing around, but they are not uptight. That’s a sign of a veteran team. I’m so blessed. We have tough demands, but at the same time these guys love each other and (working hard) doesn’t feel like a chore.”
