Uncharacteristic year for Nutley baseball team

 

Photo by Jim Hague Nutley senior right-hander Mark Gualtieri had another solid season in 2011, winning five games, but the Maroon Raiders had a tough year, winning just nine games.

By Jim Hague

When the high school baseball season began in early April, Nutley head coach Bob Harbison truly believed that his Maroon Raiders would be as competitive as they always have been.
However, things didn’t turn out exactly as planned, as Nutley struggled through an uncharacteristic 9-15 campaign that ended with a first-round loss to West Morris in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group III state playoffs.
“Going into the season, I guess I overestimated things a little,” Harbison said. “I wasn’t prepared for anything like this. When a Nutley team goes 9-15, it’s a disappointment. Sure, the league (the Super Essex Conference) is very tough, but we have to play well to compete. We were not a very good baseball team at any point in the season. We just didn’t do things we generally do in Nutley.”

 

To read the full story, see this week’s issue of The Observer.

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