By: James McKeever
The South Brunswick High baseball team opened the 2002 season on Monday against St. Joseph’s in Metuchen.
The good news: Senior Dan Rodriguez pitched a whale of a ballgame for the Vikings.
The bad news: St. Joseph’s starter Aaron Richard pitched a little bit better.
With that, the Falcons dealt South Brunswick a 2-1 loss in the Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division matchup.
For openers, new Vikings coach Leo Danik liked what he saw from his team. "Danny pitched a great game,” Danik said. "He did a super job. He had everything working. He had command of all of his pitches. I was very happy."
Rodriguez pitched a six-hitter over six innings (St. Joseph’s didn’t need to bat in the seventh), walked two, struck out six and picked off a runner with his lightning-quick move to first. Mike Cerulo of St.. Joseph’s hit a wind-aided home run in the second and the winning run scored on a double steal in the fifth.
According to Danik, Rodriguez threw 70 pitches, 54 for strikes. "Fred Brown, our catcher, did an excellent job calling pitches,” Danik said. "
"Danny had his fastball, curveball and change-up working. But give Richard credit. He got the big strikeout when he needed it. I’m only disappointed in the number of strikeouts by us.”
Richard fired a five-hitter with 11 strikeouts. Rodriguez reached base four times in as many trips with a single and three walks. He scored the Vikings’ run in the third on Joe Clemente’s single, which tied the game at 1-1.
Joe Clemente went 1-for-4 and Nick Clemente was 1-for-2 with a double and a sacrifice. Brown and Kyle Cleffi were each 1-for-3.
"It was an intense atmosphere, there were a lot of people there and it was a great game,” Danik said. "For the first game, I thought both teams really played well. Except for a couple of miscues both teams played a clean game.
"We got great pitching and defensively we played pretty tight. Bryan Sock made a nice play at shortstop. We just lacked some timely hitting. It was one game. The kids came back hard the next day and started busting their butts. They were disappointed but they won’t let that loss bother them.”
The game was supposed to take place at South Brunswick, but was switched on game day to St.Joseph’s since the Falcons’ field was in better shape. South Brunswick will have to wait until Thursday, Apr. 11 to play its first home game.
Scheduled to play at East Brunswick yesterday with Sock on the mound, the Vikings travel to Old Bridge today for what should be Rodriguez’s second start. Next week it’s off to Colonia on Monday and South Brunswick on Tuesday before coming home to meet J.P. Stevens.
