Baseball
By: Jim Green
Hopewell American Legion Post 339 baseball manager Bruce Nocar doesn’t think it makes much difference whether his team finishes in 10th or 11th place in the Mercer County American Legion League.
"Either you make the playoffs or you don’t make the playoffs," he said. "To me, the 7th through 12th places don’t really matter."
So Nocar did not try to use the specter of falling to second-to-last in the standings as a motivational tool before his 4-15 team faced 2-17 Lawrence on Monday at Eggerts Crossing. But Lawrence, which carried an 11-game losing streak into the contest, did seem motivated to move up the ladder. Lawrence cruised to a 12-1 victory that dropped Hopewell within one game of 11th place.
"Obviously, we’re disappointed," Nocar said. "I guess we’re just playing out the string."
The loss was the second in a row and the fourth in five games for Hopewell, which fell to 4-16. For the second straight game, the Post 339 lineup was shut down by a dominant pitching performance, as Lawrence right-hander Dave Waseleski pitched all five innings, surrendering one earned run on one hit while striking out nine and walking one. Waseleski picked up his first win of the season following seven consecutive losses.
"He (Waseleski) had a real nice slider that was breaking, and we were chasing it," Nocar said. "He was making us chase the ball out of the zone. You tip your hat to the kid. He did a nice job. He’s a good pitcher despite that record."
Waseleski held Hopewell scoreless through the first four innings. Meanwhile, the Lawrence lineup was benefiting from a shaky start by Hopewell left-hander Brett Hansen.
Hansen, who hurled 3 1/3 shutout innings in Hopewell’s 3-0 win over Lawrence on July 6, could not get comfortable Monday. He fell behind 4-0 in the first inning and ended up surrendering seven earned runs on five hits and five walks over two innings.
"He (Hansen) went into the game real confident," Nocar said. "He had a lot of trouble with the mound. He just wasn’t getting strike one over, and they (Lawrence hitters) were sitting on his fastball."
Third baseman Rob Brown picked up Hopewell’s only hit and scored the team’s lone run in the top of the fifth. Designated hitter Wells Winegar drove him in. Left-hander Chris Morgan pitched two shutout innings in relief.
Nocar considered starting ace Dustin Smith against Lawrence, but decided to hold him back to face Ewing Post 314 on Tuesday.
"I’m playing different people, but we’re still playing to win," Nocar said. "I’m pitching Dustin Smith tonight, because it (Ewing) is the last playoff team we’re going to play."
Smith did not pitch terribly Tuesday, but Hopewell lost to Ewing 11-1. Smith gave up all 11 runs, but only four were earned. The Hopewell (4-17) lineup, though, was again quieted by the opposing starter. Ewing right-hander P.J. Dorio gave up one unearned run on three hits over five innings.
Four players produced all the Hopewell offense against Ewing. Center fielder Chris Borkowski went 1-for-1, left fielder Andrew DiMatteo was 1-for-3 with a run scored, first baseman Chris Zsenak had a single, and Smith was 2-for-3 with a double.
Hopewell also faced a dominant pitcher Friday in Trenton’s Jose Gomez. Hopewell lost 3-0, as Gomez struck out 10 batters over seven innings. Gomez’s performance overshadowed a strong effort by Hopewell right-hander Dan Hogan, who gave up just two earned runs over five innings.
"The last two games, we’ve run up against real tough pitching," Nocar said. "Friday night was a good ball game. We got good pitching, but the kid (Gomez) struck out 10."
Hopewell was coming off a 12-8 victory over winless Mitchell Davis last Thursday. In that game, catcher Chuck Sista went 5-for-5 with two RBIs, and right fielder R.J. Ofner was 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Third baseman Chris Zsenak knocked in two runs, while Hansen and Smith each scored two runs.
"I’m pleased with the effort," Nocar said. "Everybody’s still showing up."
Nocar hopes that effort will carry his team to a win in its season finale against Princeton at 5:45 p.m. today at Hopewell Valley Central High School.
"We’ll play to win the last game," he said. "We think that’s a game we can win. Other than that, we just want everyone to get out healthy and do their best. It’s a tryout for next year, I guess you could say."