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New approach boosts Blake on HoVal diamond
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By Joe EmansKI
him. “He’s also one of our top rotaJason Zegarski watched Jef- tion pitchers. You know he’ll frey Blake explode for the give you five, six, seven innings Hopewell Valley Central High on the bump. It’s nice to have baseball team this spring. But a pitcher who can also play the the Lawrence Post 414 legion field. It’s nice to have someone manager wasn’t surprised, as he who can do it all.” had seen that show last summer Blake recorded a 2-1 record as well. this summer, with one save, a “We already knew he had it in 3.38 ERA and 18 strikeouts in him,” Zegarski said. 18-2/3 innings pitched. And he had it again this sum“He’s always one of those mer, as Blake was hitting .412 number one, number two with an OPS at nearly 1.100 starters,” Zegarski said. “He entering the New Jersey State competes. He’s got a fastball, Final 8 Tournament that ran change-up and slider. I like him Rob Flory and Linda Mead in the Puhwem corn field at St. Michaels Preserve. July 21-26. He had seven dou- because he’s big, he’s long, he’s bles, two triples, 15 RBI and lanky. As a hitter those were eight runs scored. always the pitchers I hated to hit “I hit pretty well last year,” the most, because it seemed like Blake said entering the states. “I the ball was right on top of you.” was a lot more of a singles hitter Blake is coming off a high last year with a lot of line drives. school season in which he was That was my mentality. This named the Bulldogs Most Valuof connections drives this story. corn on a very small scale. At year I’m trying to work the gaps, able Player and earned All-CVC I began by tracking down harvest time, Rob attended a swing a little harder. Get some honors from several outlets. He hAppY VALLeY local farmer Rob Flory, who program at Princeton University more power behind it.” hit .362 with three doubles, a trigained expertise in historic and first met Lenape Chief But Zegarski doesn’t want too ple, home run, 14 walks, 22 RBI, agricultural practices before Vincent Mann. Chief Mann much focus on power. a .538 on-base average, .462 slugThere are two themes retiring from Howell Living mentioned that he was looking “As a hitter, it’s nice to see ging percentage and 1.000 OPS. History Farm. Ever active in his for more than just packet guys that will go the other way,” That came on the heels of running through my column community, Rob is on the board quantities of this corn, known as the manager said. “Sometimes two straight high school cam- this month: Land Stewardship at FoHVOS and has supported Puhwem corn. He wanted to be he tries to hit it out a little bit, paigns in which he hit .263 both and Destiny. A strange combination at first glance, but the work at the Outdoor Equity able to plant fields of it, and Rob we have to tell him, ‘Hey, Jef- seasons. Alliance and SSAAM. offered what he had. frey, reign it in. Just try to hit it On the mound, he was 7-2 considering the history of our Welcome When Rob was at Howell The next year, they grew up the middle.’ He hasto to Capital let his with Health. a 0.89 ERA and 43 strike- Lenape predecessors, it struck See BLAKE, Page 12 See PUHWEM, Page 10 me that an overarching karma Farm, they had grown Lenape big length provide the power for When someone you care about is sick, you’ll do whatever it takes to make sure they get the best care. And so do we.
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Fields of native corn connect green spaces with Lenape legacy Lisa Wolff
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