Baseball Team Has Best Season In 12 Years

SUMMIT—The Hilltoppers baseball team had high expectations for themselves this year.  The goals that this team set, and achieved, were ones that might have been difficult to imagine just a few years ago.  In the 1990's, the Summit baseball program had a history of winning.  In 1998, the team was 22-6, won the county title and lost the state title in the finals.  However, just one year later, Summit baseball went into a slump.

"The program was very successful under coach Jim Dietz," said Summit athletic director Mike Sandor. "When he retired we had another coach take over the program for a few years before we brought Kevin Zaleski in.  But since Coach Dietz left we didn't have the relationship that we wanted with the youth program.  I think that that's changing."

When Zaleski took over in 2007, the program was struggling to remember the success they had once enjoyed.  In the eight seasons prior, the Hilltoppers had posted only three winning records, and had not won more than 15 games in a single season.

"We hoped that (Zaleski) would bring youth and enthusiasm," Sandor said. "We needed someone who was anxious and eager to get going, but who would also be patient with the program."

Zaleski's first year with the team was a tough one.  The team posted a 6-17 record and seemed to fall on the wrong side of every close game they played.  Several areas were identified as places to improve.

"Part of the problem has been that you have Summit High School but you also have three private schools just in the community," Sandor said. "We were losing kids from the youth program because they were going elsewhere.  This year the team won the close games whereas teams in the past did not believe that that could happen.  We didn't have a lot of kids who were doing things out of season.  We had a lot of seasonal baseball players."

Some of the issues had already been taken care of.  Zaleski, a middle school teacher, had coached the eighth grade baseball team before moving up to head varsity coach.  A second new member of the coaching staff, Will Hannis, coached the Summit U17 baseball team in the summer.  Adjustments were made and in 2008, the Hilltoppers improved to a 12-13 record, and qualified for the state tournament.

The improvement was nice to see, but it was far from the expectations the coaches and players had for themselves.  Then last year the team stalled a bit and ended with a 10-14-1 record.  They still qualified for the state tournament, and even won their preliminary Union County Tournament game, but everyone recognized that some changes needed to be made.

"We all did a work out program in the winter," said senior pitcher and center fielder Kenny Miller. "That helped our confidence a lot.  We all felt like we were better, like we were pitching better and hitting.  That helped a lot."

The majority of this group of young men came from a remarkably talented class of students at Summit High School and several of the team members were crossovers from other sports.  However this group was significant for a much bigger reason.  This was the core group for Zaleski and Hannis.  Many of the boys had been with Zaleski since 8th grade, and a good portion of them chose to play in the summer league.  This was the first class that the coaches had seen grow from children to young men.

"They grew a lot mentally and obviously physically too," said Zaleski. "Seeing them grow up into gentlemen, and being appreciative of the game was nice."

Hannis agreed that this was a special team for the coaches.

"A lot of our kids we had from the beginning," said Hannis.  "It was a nice culmination for them, making their way through the program and ending everything.  The feeling and the mood, besides being most successful, it was the most fun year.  The camaraderie between the coaches and the players was great.  We'll be sad to see them go but we're looking forward to next year at the same time."

The season did not get off to a particularly good start though.  The boys lost the first two games of the season to Roselle Catholic and Mountain Lakes.  The got a win against Pingry, but lost to Governor Livingston the day after in a hard fought game.  The coaches tried a new approach.

"We set our team goals a few games into the season," said Zaleski. "We had a relaxed practice day.  We watched Bad New Bears, we got them pizza and everything, and that's when we talked about becoming a team more and what we really had to do.  We talked about cutting down on errors and strike outs, because after the first few games we were kind of out there."

The lightened mood and team bonding worked.  The boys won their next two games against Hillside and Abraham Clark.  The lost a heartbreaker in extra innings to A.L. Johnson but bounced right back and won their next five games.  The boys lost to a very good Cranford team right before they played Roselle Catholic again.

"The middle of the season was when our bats really came alive," Roessle said. "We got more confident and we were able to look ahead.  The Roselle Catholic game really stands in my head as a great game that we played as a team.  We won it in walk-off fashion, and there's no better way to win a game.  That was the best game we played all year."

The boys found some redemption in their win against Roselle Catholic, but a second loss to Governor Livingston and a first-round loss in the Union County Tournament left them with only one major game to look forward: the state tournament.  The boys clinched a berth into the state tournament in the next game.  They used the momentum to beat Johnson in their second meeting, and win the next two games as well.  The boys suffered a loss to Cranford, but beat St. Mary's soundly going into the first round of the state tournament.

"The first state game against Bordentown was huge," said senior pitcher Pat Birosak. "We hadn't won a state game in such a long time and the whole team was excited that we were able to go on to the next round and make a pretty good run."

The win against Bordentown was historic.  The boys had done what no Hilltopper team had managed to do in the previous 12 years: they won a state game.  Even more impressive was the fact that they won it as a team.  Every player made plays in the field, and they did what needed to be done at bat.

The boys came back and won their final conference game, and then knocked off Matawan to advance to the state semi-final game.  The boys would be facing Governor Livingston for the third time this season.  The boys played a great game, and gave the Highlanders a scare, but ultimately lost the game.

"I remember the bus ride home," Roessle said. "No one was talking.  There were tears everywhere.  Because we wanted more, we expected more, at that point.  Both teams have a lot of respect for each other.  We should keep our heads up because we made it to the semi-finals, but at the same time you never want to lose to a team three times in one season.  Especially not a team that you truly think you can beat.  If we play our best baseball, we could beat them any day of the week.  It was upsetting because we were so close, but they were the better team that day."

The final record for the season was 17-10, easily the best season in more than a decade.  Three records were tied or broken, the team batting average was .362, and a few underclassmen are left to finish what this team started next season.

"This group set the bar for everyone else as what a team should be," said Hannis.  "To come together and pick each other up.  They really set the bar and showed the younger kids what to strive for."

In fact that may be the most important thing that this team accomplished.  While the boys walk away from the season without trophies or titles, they may have changed something bigger.

"The overall feeling has changed, the overall mentality," said Hannis.  "It's been a total switch.  People are starting to realize and take it seriously. A lot of the younger kids got excited.  They came with their teams and their parents.  It was good to see the little guys getting pumped up about it.  It was good to get the enthusiasm from the younger teams."

Zaleski agrees that something fundamental changed this season.

"We definitely had a bigger fan base than I have seen in my four years," he said. "I had other coaches coming up to me and congratulating me.  The guys got some attention, and hopefully the younger guys see that and really strive for that."

The coaches were not the only people who noticed a shift in attention.

"All our friends are lacrosse players, and even they came," Miller said.  "We had fans at our games who were high school kids.  We've never had that.  People actually talked about it in school and we got a lot of recognition, which was good."

With a season full of successes under their belt, Summit baseball is looking to continue building on its program.  The football coaches have helped put together a lifting program for the boys, Summit residents with baseball experience have offered to lend a hand, and baseball families have committed the boys to more practice year round.  As the community rallies, the program should thrive.

"Certainly lacrosse is king, but at the same time, the Summit junior baseball program has more participants than any other program, including Summit junior lacrosse," Sandor said. "So we are excited about the future of the program."

Summit may be a lacrosse town for now, but baseball is looking to make a comeback.