By Andy Loigu

One of the annual signs that spring is here, is coach Gary Poyer leading the Hackettstown Tigers to a good start in baseball.

After a 1-0 win over visiting High Point the Tigers’ record stood at 6-2, with their conference record in the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference standing at 3-1.

This is the same Gary Poyer who guided Hackettstown to a 15-0 start 10 years ago (hard to believe so many years have gone by since 2011) and has the Tigers in contention for divisional and sectional titles year after year. New names replace the old on the field from season to season, but the wins just keep on coming.

It’s all about practicing the fundamentals.

Alex Freda drove in Mike D’Aconti with the winning walk-off run against the High Point Wildcats. Freda leads the team with nine runs batted in. He drove in three runs to lead the Tigers to a 12-2 win over the Kittatinny Cougars on April 28. Nick Struble drilled two of his team-leading 15 base hits. Struble also leads the Tigers in runs scored with 12.

Charlie Russell leads the hurlers with 22 strikeouts and 17 innings pitched. Nick Curcio has 11 strikeouts in his 11 innings on the bump. Also, Devin Feeney, Stan Maney, Matt Schlegel and seniors David D’Olivo and Tyler Dauchert have been pitching effectively for the Tigers as well.

Hackettstown’s next game is on May 11 in rootin tootin Newton.

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.