HIGHTSTOWN — Ryan Todisco may not officially have been a leadoff hitter during his time at Howell High School, but the recent graduate, who is headed to Montclair State University in the fall, definitely knows what it takes to fulfill that role for his baseball team as he showed in Mercer County American Legion League Baseball play Monday at Hightstown High.

Todisco, who is playing with the Allentown American Legion team this summer, served as manager Sahil Thakur’s cleanup hitter yesterday against Hightstown Post 148, only to end up leading off three different innings on the way to a one-hit evening in which he reached base three times, stole three bases and scored three times to lead A’town to a 6-3 win in a game that was tied at 3 heading into the last inning.

“I try to stay aggressive on the base paths,” Todisco said. “I work at doing whatever I can to get on base to help out my team.”

On a team with a number of imposing-looking hitters, this left-handed-swinging second baseman may not strike fear in the hearts of opposing pitchers, however he is proving to have a very good eye as well as impressive speed, which has helped Allentown improve to 5-2 heading into a pair of games at Mercer County Park tomorrow (the completion of a game versus Trenton Posts 93/182, then a regularly-scheduled match with Bordentown Post 26).

After Post 148 (5-3) took the lead with an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning, Todisco evened the score by drawing a leadoff walk in the second inning, then stealing two bases and scoring on a ground out by his Howell classmate Matthew Vetrano.

When Todisco came around again in the fourth inning, he ripped a leadoff double for his team’s only extra-base hit on the day. Three batters later, he once again crossed the plate with the help of Vetrano, who hit a sacrifice fly to start a two-run rally.

With only nine players available for the game, manager Doug Herrin’s home team did not want to waste a strong pitching effort from Robbinsville High graduate Josh Yoo and answered with a two-run rally of its own when Zachary Nagle doubled, Brian Drews walked and stole a base, then Devon Decker hit a hustling, two-out double to tie the game, 3-3.

“I’m trying to stay as consistent as possible this summer, and I thought I was pretty consistent today,” said Yoo, who is headed to Rutgers-Newark in the fall. “I want to work on my mentality.”

Yoo used his total allotment of pitches to get through 6⅓ innings before walking A’town’s Frank Noviello ahead of his mound exit. Reliever Anthony Benitez got Joe McGlynn out on a sacrifice bunt, but then a single by Daniel Golembiewski put the visitors ahead again before a walk to Todisco, a stolen base, an error and a wild pitch put Allentown ahead by the final margin.

Nagle (2-for-3 with a run scored) doubled again in the bottom of the seventh. However, this time he was stranded at third base.

“We have to work on attacking early,” Yoo said. “That goes for me too. When I’m on the mound, I need to be getting ahead of hitters.”

With its third win in a row, A’town, which has players from 10 different schools, appears to be becoming more accustomed with one another.

“There’s always room to jell,” Todisco said. “We’re getting there, but it may still take us another game or two.”

Allentown (5-2)                   010    200    3    —    6  4  2

Hightstown(5-3)                  100    020    0    —    3  5  2

2B: Todisco (A), Nagle 2, Decker (H); RBIs: Golembiewski, Vetrano 2 (A), Decker 2 (H).

WP — Acevedo (1-0); LP — Yoo (2-1).