These are heady times for the Mercer County Community College baseball program, and Hamilton Township products have played a big part in it.
To start with, there is head coach Kevin Kerins who played at Steinert under Rich Giallella in the late 1990s.
Then there is 2015 Steinert graduate Anthony Peroni, who was named the NJCAA Division II Region 19 Player of the Year, the Region 19 Most Valuable Player and a Division II All American. That was just an appetizer to the big feast, as Peroni was drafted in the 14th round by the Washington Nationals and is currently playing for their Dominican Summer League team in Class Foreign Rookie.
Also contributing were freshmen Sean McGeehan and Sean O’Boyle, with McGeehan coming in from Nottingham and O’Boyle transferring from Kutztown after playing for Steinert. Back-up catchers Kenny Zahn (freshman, Steinert) and Ross Talbot (sophomore, Hamilton) were also on the roster.
The group helped Mercer to a record-setting campaign. Mercer went 48-14, just three short of the school mark of 51 wins set in 2016. MCCC repeated as Region 19 champion and made back-to-back trips to the NJCAA World Series for the first time in school history, got to the World Series championship game for the first time and hit a team-record 80 home runs.
While getting to the title game was impressive, it was also heart-breaking after the Vikes dropped an 11-5 decision to Kankakee (Ill.) in Enid, Oklahoma.
“It’s definitely one of the worst feelings you could have as a player,” Peroni said. “You get all the way to a goal you set at the beginning of year and all you need is one more game and you fall short. It was a hellvua run. We shouldn’t be ashamed as a group. It was very devastating, but you move on eventually.”
Peroni likened it to when he played for the Nottingham 15-year-old Babe Ruth All Stars, who were one out from going to the World Series before West Windsor-Plainsboro got a two-out, two-run single for a walk-off, 3-2 victory at Demeo Field.
But he moved on from that one as well and had an incredible season for the Vikings. Peroni batted .401 with 75 hits, 15 home runs (tied for 10th nationally), 24 doubles and 57 RBI. He was also a standout defensive catcher.
“Being a former catcher myself, we run a lot of things through our catchers, we’re very demanding of the catchers,” Kerins said. “Each one kind of has a special place among the coaches, and Anthony really was a special one. He was a great player, a great leader. I can honestly say it was his team, he took control of things when they needed to be taken control of. His best performances were in the biggest games. In all honesty, it was his team.”
And being drafted was his dream, which came true on June 14 when the Nationals made him the second Viking to be drafted. Pitcher Denny Brady went in the 7th round to the Angels.
“It was always something I wanted to do,” Peroni said. “I always felt if I worked hard enough and played hard enough I would have the chance to do it. I think it’s pretty much everyone’s dream as a young player growing up. You want to get a chance to be a minor league player and maybe be a Major Leaguer if you’re lucky enough.”
Peroni did not have an agent, but Washington met his contractual requests, and Peroni was preparing for his first Nationals game on June 27. He is the second Steinert/MCCC grad now in the minor leagues along with James Pugliese, who is pitching in Double-A for the Cubs.
While Peroni embarks on a professional career, McGeehan will play summer ball for the Philadelphia Bandits to stay sharp for next year. The outfielder battled back issues most of the season but still hovered above the .300 mark before finishing at .299. He was second on the team with 20 stolen bases, scored 42 runs and had six doubles and three homers, including a two-run shot to tie up a World Series game the Vikings eventually won.
Admittedly his own worst critic, McGeehan was not thrilled with his season.
“Not really,” he said. “You always expect to do the best, but I’m not too concerned about my year personally because the year we had as a team was so great. I really loved playing for this team and all the guys that I met. So, I wasn’t too happy with my performance but the overall team performance I was thrilled about.”
Nonetheless, he did a stellar job considering his injury problems. McGeehan spent most of the regular season just trying to get healthy for the postseason, and was finally given an anti-inflammatory before the World Series that worked wonders.
“It was like a constant back pain,” he said. “I kind of felt restricted. It was weird. But as soon as I got that prescription I felt fine. It was so weird.”
Kerins assured that McGeehan was being too hard on himself.
“Sean had a great year,” the coach said. “We had to monitor his playing time. We wanted him to have a bigger role, he brings a lot of athleticism and hustle and blue collar attributes that we try to preach in our program. We’re very privileged to have him.
“He was very good defensively, he made a couple plays in the World Series cutting balls off in the gap and things like that. He’s a super athlete. It’s one thing to be fast, he plays fast and he plays hard, which is contagious. When he’s in the lineup it kind of sets the tone for how the game is gonna go and our energy level and how we’re gonna play.”
McGeehan felt that although the Vikings did not win the World Series, it was still a tremendous trip to Oklahoma.
“When we got there, we had little leaguers coming up to us as soon as we got to the hotel, asking us to sign their balls and t-shirts,” he said. “It was an unreal experience.”
It nearly become an otherworldly experience if Mercer could have won one more game. The Vikings won seven straight post-season games, including their first two in the Series, before falling to Lansing. They came back to beat Lansing before losing the final. Helping them along the way was reliever O’Boyle, who finished 2-2 with four saves and a 5.04 ERA.
“He stepped up in a big way in the World Series,” Peroni said. “We had games where we needed him to come in for long relief and he came in and did a really good job. I see him having more success next year in a bigger way. I’m really proud of what he did. He battled all year and represented well.”
“You know he’ll throw strikes, you know he’s not gonna be scared of the moment and he wants the ball,” Kerins said. “Next year we expect him to have a much bigger role. We were very sophomore heavy and front-end heavy as far as our pitching goes, but Sean was great for us. He threw strikes, he works tremendously hard for us and pitched well in the World Series. Moving forward for our program, it’s a big deal for us that he gained that experience.”
Then there is Kerins himself, who is taking Mercer to places it has never been before. The Vikings have had a player taken in the MLB draft all six years he has been head coach, and had two selected for the first time this year. MCCC has won 99 games—a phenomenal number for a Northeast team—and been ranked in the top 10 nationally both years. They have gone to the World Series three of the last four and his recruiting base continues to expand.
“All our coaches put in a lot of time,” Peroni said. “Kerins is a very devoted coach and made me grow as a player and a man. I absolutely think he could (go to a four-year school). He can turn a group of unmotivated people into some of the most motivated people. He’s one of the best supporters or motivators I ever had as a coach. He really does a good job to prepare his players to win and puts his expectations on them to win.”
But does Kerins want to go to a four-year school? He has a teaching job in Edison that, aside from the commute, he enjoys, and is the father of young children. He distributes the credit evenly among himself and assistants Fred Carella, Shawn Reindel, Matt Weckerle and Matt Zegari, who more than earn their paychecks.
He also credits his former coaches—Giallella, Rick Freeman and Dave Gallagher (all Steinert grads)—for helping to make him the coach he has become. Kerins has taken a little from each of them and mixed it with his own skills.
“I really, really like this level,” he said. “I feel we’re finally connected with recruiting ties. I’d love to be on campus (full time) one day. Other jobs have opened up but they don’t pay that well and I like it here. I like what we have built. I’d like to retain our coaching staff, I think we’re doing the right things.
“I’m happy we took the next step. We didn’t just get to the World Series, we actually did some damage there. When they come here, I want them to try to win the whole damn thing. With that will come the exposure to the schools they want and opportunities like the draft. Opportunities that weren’t there out of high school.”
Just ask Peroni and Brady about those opportunities, and how to take advantage of them.
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