Post 339
By: Steve Feitl
The Hopewell Post 339 baseball team had some close games and some blowouts this past week. Unfortunately for the Hopewell boys, most of them ended in losses.
All except for the game against Trenton on Monday.
The 6-1 Hopewell win broke the mold, as the team struck for three runs in the fourth and three in the seventh to secure the victory.
Bob Piantoni raised his personal record to 3-1 with 6Ð strong innings of pitching. He allowed six hits, but only one Trenton run. He walked two while striking out six Post 93 batters.
Chris Borkowski picked up his first save of the season in relief, getting out the final two Trenton batters. He also had a hit and scored a run at the plate.
Rob Salyga, Chris Zsenak, R.J. Offner and Brett Hansen all had two hits for Hopewell. Zsenak and Offner also drove in two, while Jake Urbanski scored twice.
The win raised Hopewell’s record to 3-10.
The rest of the week was not as successful for the Hopewell boys.
Hopewell suffered a 5-3 loss to Ewing on June 27.
Mike Ryan took the loss, pitching six innings with nine hits, five runs allowed (three of them earned), one walk and six strikeouts.
Chris Morgan came on for the final inning, allowing one hit.
Chuck Sista was strong at the plate, going 2-for-3. He scored a run on his own home run and had all three Post 339 RBIs.
Dustin Smith had a triple and Rob Serratelli had a double. Borkowski, Urbanski, Salyga, Chris Slanina all had hits for Hopewell.
The next day, Hopewell’s record dropped to 2-8 with another close loss this time 5-4 to Broad Street Park.
Post 339 scored in three consecutive innings in the second, third and fourth. First, Salyga, who had two hits and a RBI on the day, singled. He scored on a triple by Piantoni, who also had two hits and a RBI.
In the third, Slanina got on base through an error and moved into scoring position with a stolen base. From there, Borkowski drove him in with a single.
Finally in the fourth, Sista doubled and was driven in by Salyga’s second single. Salyga then scored on Zsenak’s groundout.
That was all the scoring for Hopewell that day. Meanwhile, on the mound, Smith gave up four hits, four runs and four walks in his four innings of work. Borkowski came on in relief and took the loss, allowing three hits, a walk and the winning run in his 2Ò innings.
The hits became hard to come by over the next two days for Post 339.
On Saturday, Hopewell lost, 11-0, to Hightstown in a game shortened by the 10-run rule.
Salyga supplied the lone Hopewell offense with a double in the fourth.
Pat Vaccarino took the loss. He gave up 12 hits and seven earned runs in two innings. He struck out three Hightstown batters.
Zsenak pitched the next two innings and gave up and hit, while striking out four.
The next day was not much better. Piantoni hit a solo home run to give Hopewell a run, but that was all Post 339 would get. Hopewell lost, 11-1, to Hamilton in six innings.
Serratelli supplied the only other Hopewell hit.
Morgan was on the mound for five innings, giving up seven hits, six runs and four walks. He struck out four Hamilton batters.
Ryan came on in relief and gave up five hits, five runs and one walk in his two innings.