Staff Report
If you’re wondering how the Haddonfield High baseball team became one of the best in South Jersey this year, there are a couple things to point to. One, they are hitting .319 as a team and have 205 hits and 109 walks in 23 games. They are also pitching to a 2.74 earned run average.
A pretty good combination.
Leading the way has been a really solid group of seniors, led by catcher Griffin Clarke, outfielder Adam Ross, second baseman Leo Nelson and pitchers Martin Foust and Finn McElhiney. The Bulldawgs also have some outstanding juniors with guys such as outfielder/pitcher James Rowe and third baseman/pitcher Will Solak.
But any team that has state championship aspirations — as Haddonfield does, after winning the Colonial Conference’s Liberty Division and making a run to the Diamond Classic final — needs to have a solid mix of youth and experience.
Haddonfield has that in spades, as two of the top four hitters in the lineup are sophomores. Leadoff man Dan Keenan already is one of the top shortstops in South Jersey, and he’s proving that with every game. He’s hitting .346 and has scored 24 runs, and at one point in the season he had a 12-game hitting streak. He’s also excelled against the best competition — 1-for-2 with a double and RBI in a 2-1 win over Seneca; 2-for-4 with two runs and a stolen base in a 10-8 win over Eastern; 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI in a Diamond Classic win over St. Augustine Prep; 3-for-5 with a run scored in a 4-3 win over Audubon.
He’s also a very dynamic defender who not only makes the routine plays with consistency, but can make dazzling plays sometimes seem routine.
His classmate, Jackson Gayer, has been equally impressive this season. A first baseman and pitcher, Gayer is a slick fielder who can really pick it and move around the first-base bag. And he’s the cleanup hitter, in the middle of a really good order, as a second-year varsity player. That says a lot about what coach Justin Singleton thinks about his abilities.
Among Bulldogs players with more than 20 at-bats, Gayer is leading the team with a .431 average that includes seven doubles, a triple, a home run and 18 RBIs. He’s also been solid as a pitcher, posting a sub-4.00 ERA in 16 innings pitched with 13 strikeouts.
If the Bulldawgs make a postseason run to a sectional or even state title this season, it won’t be at all surprising if Keenan and Gayer are right in the middle of all the action.
— Dave O’Sullivan, Staff Writer
