Peddie baseball squad moves over .500 mark (8-7)

The Falcons defeated Blair 8-0.

By: Neil Hay
   With the state tournament coming up, what better time for Peddie baseball to put together a modest little three-game winning streak?
   The Falcons made it three straight (8-7 overall) with an 8-0 win at Blair Wednesday. Kyle Damm made it back-to-back strong starts with a four-hit, complete-game win that included six strikeouts and one walk.
   Damm earned high praise from skipper Erik Treese.
   "Kyle looked very good. He has pitched well recently. He is throwing hard, has good mound composure. He kept his shutout intact."
   Damm, who was perfect over the first three innings, steadied himself in the sixth when the Bucs loaded the bases with one out. But Damm struck out the fifth and sixth batters in the Blair order to end the Bucs’ lone serious threat.
   Peddie’s hitters collected 11 hits, including four each by Erik Lohrmann (double, home run, four runs batted in) and Gavin Vetrano (triple, two RBI).
   "Vetrano is now hitting over .500. He gets a hit almost every time up. It is staggering. He is very zoned in. He is hitting the ball hard too. It is a good time for this."
   A good time for Peddie (now 9-8) to get hot, what with the state Prep A Tournament on tap Thursday, with the third-seeded Falcons at number two Hun. Lawrenceville is the first seed.
   In two regular season meetings Peddie (by a 10-3 score) and Hun (a 3-1 final in the second game of the year) each have one win. Hun, incidentally, is the defending Prep A champs.
   "We are playing well. We are feeling good about ourselves," said Treese, who takes his team to Lincroft tomorrow to play a very strong Christian Brothers Academy nine.
   The Falcons evened their record at 8-8 Tuesday with a 6-4 win over visiting Rutgers Prep. The Falcons opened a 6-0 lead after two innings, then held on as Rutgers rallied late.
   Ed Woodrow started and went the first five innings for the win, his third against four losses. After sailing along through the first four frames, the visitors caught up with Woodrow in the fifth, scoring four runs (two earned).
   "Woodrow barely got out of the (fifth) inning," said Treese. "Woodrow was pitching fine. He was cruising. I don’t know what happened in the fifth. It was not a high pitch count. Two walks, an error, we all got rattled."
   Woodrow’s line shows four hits, four walks and three strikeouts. Bill Golden came in to pitch the sixth and, other than two hits allowed, was perfect. Lohrmann worked a scoreless seventh with one hit and two strikeouts.
   Peddie’s early lead may have proven dangerous. Said Treese, "The feel of the game, there was very little intensity" once the Falcons had that quick 6-0 lead. "It’s like we’d coast to a win. Rutgers Prep got some men on and scored and we looked surprised. We staggered, like a boxer."
   Although Rutgers Prep does not play the kind of competitive schedule the Falcons do, Prep’s 14-1 record at game time must garner some respect. But the Falcons took their edge off too soon, and it almost proved fatal.
   "It was like the St. Benedict’s game (a 7-1 Peddie win the previous day). We take an early lead and the intensity drops. It is awfully hard to get it back. The last two innings (against Rutgers) we had no baserunners. That’s not good."
   But in the end, a "W" is still better than the alternative.
   "We’ll take the win," said Treese. "Not all wins need to be pretty."
   Peddie finished with eight hits, two (home run, double, five runs batted in) by Vetrano. Rob Prunetti added two doubles, and Ryan Bowes had two hits.
   Vetrano had a triple and three hits in Peddie’s win over St. Ben’s at home. Woodrow chipped in with a double and two hits, knocking in three runs. In all, the Falcons had eight hits.
   Bowes went the distance for the win to improve to 2-1. He struck out five, issued no walks, scattered eight hits, and one unearned run.
   "Eric pitched very well. He was never in real trouble. He was a little tired at the end. He was in control and had three 1-2-3 innings."
   The Falcons scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning, then kind of laid back until they added four in the sixth.
   "We didn’t do much for a couple of innings. We didn’t have very good at- bats. Four runs in the sixth put an exclamation point on it. It was a good win."
   Two big innings proved costly to Peddie’s bid to upend visiting Gloucester Catholic last Saturday. One of the best teams (now 10-4) in the state, Gloucester scored four in the third and five in the sixth to spoil the Falcons’ plans for an upset. Gloucester’s Ortiz held Peddie to six hits, including a double and single by David Wysocki, in an 11-2 win.
   Lohrmann worked the first five innings, giving up six runs (three earned) on eight hits with no walks and six strikeouts. Vetrano worked two-thirds of an inning with three runs, and Woodrow was touched for two runs in one and one-third inning.
   Lohrmann pitched great. The first two innings he shut them down with three strikeouts. He pitched real well."
   Problems developed in the third, when Peddie gave Gloucester Catholic six outs. Said Treese, "You can’t do that against such a good team."
   Peddie had its chances. Down 5-2 in the fifth the Falcons loaded the bases with one out but could not get a hit from its third and fourth hitters. Gloucester then broke it open against the Peddie bullpen.
   "It was disappointing because we got a very good pitching performance from Lohrmann against a very good team and had a chance to make a game of it.
   "We are still learning. We gave ourselves opportunities to score. There were reasons to be optimistic."
   On May 2 Peddie defeated Hun 10-3 on the road as Damm won his first game of the season. Damm worked five frames with three runs, five hits, three walks, seven strikeouts. Golden (two perfect innings) finished up. The pitchers were backed by a defense that played errorless baseball.
   Prunetti had four hits with a triple and one run batted in to lead the Falcons’ 14-hit offense. Lohrmann helped himself with a double and two hits with one ribby, Wysocki had a double and two hits, and Keith Field two hits and two runs scored.
   "We played really well. We pitched well, hit well, did everything well. It was one of our best games of the year. We put everything together. It was a good solid performance in a game we had to win. We played with a lot of confidence."