By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Kevin Kerins has been building something special with the Mercer County Community College baseball program and Sid Kumar is happy to be a part of it.
Kumar, a West Windsor-Plainsboro High North graduate, is a freshman first baseman with the Vikings. He is one of three Packet-area graduate on the MCCC roster, joining WW-P North’s Christian Waters and Montgomery’s Evan Gillespie.
While injuries have sidelined Waters and Gillespie, Kumar has become a key part of the Vikings’ lineup as they prepare for next week’s Region 19 tournament.
“This is the best team I played for,” said Kumar, who returned to the lineup for Wednesday’s season finale after missing 10 days with a shoulder injury. “We are coached well he pushes us every day to be working hard on and off the field. At first it was real tough but you realize a couple months down the road it all for the better.”
The Vikings finished the regular season with a 43-8 record and are off until next Friday when they open the Region 19 tournament at Delaware Tech. The regular season has been a success and not the Vikings are hoping for more.
“Two years ago we were 40-8 and went to College World Series,” Kerins said. “Last year we were 38-12 and lost in the regions as the one seed. I like to think we have grown as a program to the point where it matters most what you do in the postseason. We’re here to get them to the next level and while they are here we want to win.
“It’s a big adjustment from high school to college. We play a lot of games. We play 26 games in the in fall and 56 in spring. It’s an all-year round commitment and it is not for everybody. But I think it helps them develop and get to where they want to be as players and people.”
Kumar has certainly enjoyed his first season with the program. He learned early that it was going to take a lot of hard work and he’s benefited from that hard work.
“This is my first time playing so many games so I have had some little things here and there with injuries,” Kumar said. “I has been out a couple weeks but I am getting back into it now.
“It has been a good fit for me. I knew Coach Kerins for a while and felt it would be best for me. I knew Christian was there and every year you have a chance to win a national championship when you come here. There are not a lot of places where you can say that no matter what level you are playing. When you are playing with kids as good or not better than you are you want to get better yourself.”
The injuries to Waters and Gillespie put a dent in the pitching staff. But the Vikings have still been able to win games and hope to keep that winning going as the postseason begins.
Kumar will be a big part of the tournament run on the offensive end.
“He has come a long way,” Kerins said. “He is a good example of making that transition from high school to college. He had to work hard and earn the reps in the fall and get adjusted to playing at Mercer. There is a lot of pressure that comes with that.
Every year half our team is freshmen and we are trying to win a national championship. He put the time in during the offseason and has been one of our top extra base and power hitters. We need him to be a presence in the middle of the lineup.”
Kerins would have liked to have had Waters and Gillespie on the mound as the postseason begins, but the Vikings will be without the two pitchers
“Christian and Evan were huge losses,” Kerins said. “They are guys who would anchor our rotation as Division 1 caliber sophomore who pitched in the postseason last year. Evan is still going to Coastal Carolina and he has been out since the winter. And losing Chris was a tough loss. He’s a mature sophomore who eats up innings.”
