The Hawthorne Bears boys baseball team has been on a roll to start their season, as they have an impressive record of 6-3 throughout their first 9 games of the year. The Bears have recently won 5 games in a row before losing their last game to Hawthorne Christian, racking up wins against Butler (2-1), Manchester (12-9), Garfield (6-2), Paterson Charter (14-0), and Lodi (6-5). Hawthorne’s 6-3 record is good enough for the second best start to a boys baseball season through the first 9 games the program has seen since the 2017-2018 season.
Hawthorne’s ability to put runs up on the board hasn’t been a huge problem for them this season, as the Bears have outscored their opponents 61-57 so far this year, averaging 8.8 runs in games that they won. Hawthorne (6-3) currently stands in 3rd place in the NJIC colonial division, only behind Pompton Lakes (4-3) and Glen Rock (6-1), who they will verse later in the season.
This Hawthorne team currently ranks 8th in power points out of the 25 teams in North Jersey Section 1 Group 1. Hawthorne’s impressive win percentage of 66% is tied for the 3rd best win percentage out of all of the North Jersey Section 1 Group 1 teams. They are also one of the lone 6 teams in that group that have 6+ wins so far this season, putting them in the top 25% of teams in their group.
The Players
Hawthorne has been seeing the ball well at the plate this year, as the team has a total of 64 hits this season and 61 total runs. The teams batting average as a whole is .292, and Hawthorne’s team slugging percentage is .388, as Hawthorne has 5 players above a .300 batting average, and 6 players above a .400 slugging percentage.
Junior Anthony DeLallo leads the Bears in hits with 12, with 10 singles, 1 double, and 1 triple. DeLallo also leads his team in runs with 15, and he also racked up 6 RBI’s on the season as well. DeLallo has the best batting average on the team, with a .500 AVG, and is tied with Junior Aiden Baird for the best slugging percentage, with a .625 SLG.
The Bears have multiple players this season with 8+ hits on the year, including Caleb Zunick and Aiden Walker who are tied for the the second most hits on the team with 10, Aiden Baird with 8, and John Kenworthy with 8. Out of everyone on the Bears, one player significantly leads the rest of the team in RBI’s, with 13, as the next closest RBI leader is 6. This player is Aiden Baird, as Baird’s 13 RBI’s come from his 5 singles, 1 double, and his 2 home runs. Baird leads the team in home runs with 2, as Hawthorne only has a team total of 3, as Junior John Kenworthy has hit one out as well.
Transitioning to the defensive side, Hawthorne’s bullpen has tallied 50 total strikeouts on the mound this season. Sophomore Joey Cannone has pitched the best so far for the Bears, as his 20 K’s is good enough for 40% of the teams 50 strikeout total. It’s a tight race in the bullpen behind Cannone, with Aiden Walker at 9 K’s, Matt Naumov with 8, and Collin Ditko with 8 as well. Cannone has the best ERA on the team at 1.75, as Anthony DeLallo is in second with a 3.15 ERA, but DeLallo has 138 less pitches thrown than Cannone.
Upcoming Schedule
Hawthorne’s schedule progressively gets more difficult towards the back end of their season, as their next five games consist of Rutherford, Wood-Ridge, Glen Rock, Ridgefield, and Midland Park. If the Bears want to keep up with their successful season so far, they need to improve their pitching over their next couple of games. As much as improved pitching may help them win more games, their offense at the plate is also a big factor as well. As this team faces more challenging pitchers, they need to keep up with their hitting streaks and not plummet into any slumps.
The Bears have the ability to keep their strong start alive, and to stay over .500 in order to make a push for the playoffs. Their next matchup will be today at Rutherford against the Rutherford Bulldogs at 4:15 PM. Rutherford has had an excellent start to their season so far, as they currently have 8 wins to only 2 losses. The Bulldogs are also 4-1 in the NJIC National division, as Hawthorne is 2-2 in the NJIC Colonial division. If the Bears manage to pull out a win in this game to hand Rutherford their 3rd loss of the year, they would be an immediate force to be reckoned with for opposing teams for the remainder of the season.