For Connor Willever, who has made the baseball diamond his second home since picking up a Wiffle ball bat at age 3, watching his Lawrence High baseball team play its entire regular season without him was a new experience that got old after one game.
Or possibly one inning.
“I don’t like being on the bench,” he said. “I like being on the field. It’s hard for me to just sit back and watch.”
It would have been harder if he had tried to play because of a wrist injury, but Willever finally returned for the Cardinals’ postseason and has enjoyed playing a complete American Legion campaign with Lawrence Post 414.
He has been a hitting fool the entire time.
“Honestly, it feels fantastic,” the recent LHS graduate said. “During high school, the doctor didn’t think I could come back in time for the end of the season, but he kind of rushed it. I’m still recovering a little, but other than that, everything is working out fine, and it’s great to have a full season.”
The injury was expected to heal fully by mid- to late July.
“It was definitely uncomfortable,” Willever said. “Some things were more painful than others, but you just gotta play through it.”
He had little trouble doing that.
Despite missing the Cardinals’ first 23 games, Willever returned for the Colonial Valley Conference Tournament semifinals and, in the ensuing six games, proceeded to hit .462, going 6-for-13 with six runs, three RBIs, three walks and two times hit by pitch.
In three state tournament games, he went 5-for-9 and had three hits in Lawrence’s heartbreaking Central Jersey Group III semifinal loss at Northern Burlington.
“It honestly felt great,” he said of getting back into the lineup. “I didn’t know how good my swing was gonna be, but it was pretty amazing watching myself. I wasn’t sure how good I’d actually be hitting, but I’m glad it worked out.”
Willever’s bat continued to sizzle into the summer, and he was hitting near .400 with six RBIs through Post 414’s 11-3 start.
“He’s a middle-of-the-order guy, and he steals bags. That’s a great thing about him,” manager Jason Zegarski said. “We give him the green light, and he has half a dozen stolen bases at least. He’s a gap-to-gap hitter. He can put it down the line, and if you need him to, he’ll lay down a bunt.”
Zegarski is not only happy about Willever’s contributions, but also glad that the player has been able to get back in the game.
“Your senior year is one of the most memorable years you’re gonna have, and to not be able to play in most of it, that’s rough,” the skipper said. “I know he’s definitely thankful for what we’ve got going on this summer.”
The injury occurred during the Cardinals’ second preseason scrimmage. Willever was playing first base, and as he reached for a throw that was up the line, his left arm was fully extended and the runner ran through it.
“My wrist got jammed down, so I had a misplaced fracture,” he said. “I knew it was bad. I had a gooseneck in my wrist. The bone was not in the right spot.”
Willever passed on surgery because it would have forced him to miss both the high school and Legion seasons. The doctors instead popped the bone back into place.
He then had to settle in and do what he hated most: nothing.
“It was definitely tough. Even when I had my cast on, I was still trying to swing a bat, but I got yelled at every time,” Willever said with a laugh. “I didn’t really have anything to do. I just sat there.
“I tried to help coach because I hated to see teammates make mistakes and whatnot. It was boring and definitely really tough just sitting there watching.”
Willever did not go to physical therapy. He merely rested and began lifting when he was given the green light.
Zegarski was happy to see him back with Post 414, along with Cardinals teammates Josh Vichroski, Dan Tozzi, Drew Dobkin, Tom Drzyga, Lucas McKenna and Chris Mauger. The rest of the squad consists of Notre Dame and Ewing players.
Along with his bat, Willever brings a versatile glove to the team.
“He’s just like his brother, Ryan, a jack-of-all-trades,” Zegarski said. “He’s at third, but we play him at short, first base, pitching. It’s definitely nice having him back in the lineup because if we need somebody to play somewhere, we have somebody to play that position.”
It is something that comes naturally to Willever.
“I’ve always been a decent defender, even throughout Little League,” he said. “During travel practices, I’d be the only third baseman sometimes. My coach would hit me fungoes for 30 minutes, depending on what field it was. We’d practice on the PAL field back by 7-Eleven, and that field was God-awful. I fielded too many ground balls on that field. The same with Pezzicola Field at Eggerts Crossing.”
Fielding under adverse conditions can only make things easier on a good surface, and Willever’s glovework has proved that.
Along with his defense, he brings another underrated, and sometimes painful, talent to the field. Connor also mirrors Ryan in that he gets hit by a lot of pitches. He was plunked 17 times in high school, including 11 during his junior season.
“There’s something in their blood. They must have something in their iron where the ball is attracted to them,” Zegarski said with a chuckle. “They have so many hit by pitches. He hadn’t had a few, and his dad, Sean, made a comment about it after one game. Sure enough, the next game he got hit twice. Every game from then on, he’s getting hit. It’s incredible.”
It is not surprising, considering the instructions Willever received from Ryan and Sean while growing up.
“I’m not trying to get hit, but I was always taught by my brother and my dad and coaches that if the ball is coming at you, just let it hit you,” he said. “I’ve been doing it since Little League. I always saw my brother doing it, and he taught me how to get hit by a pitch. We’d go to the cage, and he’d throw a ball at me. If I didn’t do it the right way, he’d throw it at me again until I did it the right way.”
Despite being Ryan’s human target, that did not deter Connor from looking up to him. His big brother was a 2023 Lawrence High graduate and the Mercer American Legion League’s Player of the Year in 2024.
“He was a big influence,” Connor said. “Watching him play and seeing what a great ballplayer he was, I always wanted to be like him. He was one of my inspirations to play baseball. Him and my dad were the two guys that got me into it and really got me going. Especially through high school seasons with him being my coach as a Cardinals assistant.”
“It was obviously tough to listen to him because he’s my brother,” Willever added with a laugh, “but he’s normally right, so you kind of have to.”
Zegarski said there is no difference between the two except for one thing.
“Ryan was a lefty hitter, Connor’s a righty, and that’s about it,” the manager said.
Much like Ryan in 2024, Connor is now a leader on Post 414 as he plays his fourth Legion season. He was optimistic that, if Lawrence had its full team, it could make a nice run in the state tournament, which got underway July 20.
Despite Legion enrollment dropping at a frantic pace throughout the country, Willever still enjoys it.
“I was playing travel ball, and this is more like fun, decompressing baseball,” he said. “You just go out there to have fun. Obviously, you’re out there to compete, but it’s not as serious until you get into the playoffs. You want to win, but you’re still having fun with friends from other schools.”
When that fun is over, it is on to Immaculata University in Pennsylvania.
“I reached out to them, and I saw them at a showcase,” Willever said. “I talked to their coach a little bit and got invited to a camp, and I impressed them there. Coach Jim Maher called them, and the coach called me and offered. It was either there, TCNJ or Rowan.”
What nudged him toward Immaculata?
“I really liked the coaching staff. All the coaches were very welcoming,” he said. “The school was beautiful. It’s a tiny school, but it felt like the right fit for me.”
Willever will major in sports marketing with hopes of landing a career with a brand-name sneaker company or something along those lines.
For now, his job is to observe the young customers who come to play on the trampolines at Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park. Every now and then, Willever will sneak on for a bounce or two.
Considering his up-and-down spring because of the injury, it is a pretty fitting job.
