By Andy Loigu

As of Monday morning, the Warren Hills baseball team is 4-0. They only need to win 11 more to match Hackettstown’s 15-0 start back in 2011.

Winning streaks are hard to do in baseball. After watching the Yankees launch “bombs bursting in air” to destroy the Orioles in Baltimore over the weekend (even Fort McHenry could not stop them), you can’t help but scratch your head and wonder how they could have lost two out of three to that same team a week earlier at home. That’s baseball!

Ever notice how the Mets never fall behind 12-1 when Jacob deGrom is on the mound?

Pitching is the way to consistent winning. A case in point is the two-hitter with six strikeouts the Blue Streaks got from Peter Nichols in a 7-1 win over Newton on Saturday. Jacob Smith led the offense, driving in three runs with two hits in three at bats.

A couple of days earlier, Ryan Bell rang up five strikeouts and surrendered four hits in a 4-1 Warren Hills win over Bernards, a team that has won several sectional titles in recent years. The offensive power came from Bell and Nichols, who both doubled. Garrett Koch, Kevin Laferla and Nichols drove in runs.

TIGERS ROAR IN LAX

Hackettstown is a relatively new kid on the block in lacrosse, but the Tigers are roaring this year. The boys are 3-0 and the girls are 3-1.

Ryan O’Melia scored four goals (a hat trick plus one) to lead the boys squad to a 13-1 win over North Warren on April 5. Xavier Rodriguez scored a three-goal hat trick and Lucas McCarthy and Jason Kuehner each had two-goal games.

The Hackettstown girls did not go down quietly in their first loss, an 11-9 battle in Blairstown on April 4. Daniella DeNicola produced a Hackettstown hat trick with three goals and Nicole Crowder added two scores. They also got goals from Becca Wilson, Melanie Luke, Emma Cowap, and Isabella Orama.

They had no answers for Alexis Ashton, who scored five goals for the Patriots. North Warren had two-goal games from Mia Pearson and Dani Towey. Elizabeth Young and Paige Smedira also scored. The difference was the Patriots’ goalkeeper Autumn Knerr, who made seven saves and held Hackettstown to three goals in the second half. North Warren now has a 3-2 record.

Much credit goes to the folks who started the programs five years ago and stuck with it through the inevitable growing pains. 

STREAKS TOUGH IN TENNIS

Warren Hills is 2-0 in boys tennis, after a 5-0 win over Franklin on April 4.
Jason Teets (winning a third set 10-7), Ryan Johnson and Justin Mahoney won singles matches. The Blue Streaks’ doubles tandems of Dan Khan and Adam Stanneck, plus Dan Blackwood and Taylor Cheung dominated their opponents with little trouble.

***Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.