BY VIN RAPOLLA
Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY JEFFGRANIT staff Above, East Brunswick’s Chris Affinito is greeted by teammates after his fourth-inning home run gave the Bears the lead during Wednesday’s GMCT final at Commerce Bank Ballpark. Below, the Bears’ MattMetsch beats the tag of St. Joseph’s Nick Ciardello during a six-run fifth-inning rally. At left, Bears’ ace Nick Meyers delivers a strike. Nobody needed to tell St. Joseph’s pitcher Chris Parenti that Chris Affinito is a dangerous hitter.
After intentionally walking the East Brunswick catcher three times during an earlier meeting of the two teams, the Falcons had established that they didn’t want the senior slugger to beat them.
But after Parenti hit the Bears’ Justin Kaplan to lead off the fourth inning of Wednesday night’s scoreless Greater Middlesex Conference Championship game at Commerce Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, he chose to go after Affinito rather than put two runners aboard, possibly setting the Bears up for a big inning.
They should have walked him.
After fouling off two pitches, Affinito turned on an inside fastball that got too much of the plate, and sent the ball over the left-field fence, his 22nd career home run, and provided the spark the Bears needed to knock off the Falcons.
The following inning, the Bears erupted for six innings, chasing Parenti (9-1), the GMC’s top pitcher this year, and giving their ace, Nick Meyers, all the offense he would need.
Meyers (7-2), who was facing the Falcons for the third time this season, was brilliant once again, striking out eight while allowing just four hits. In three outings against the heavy hitting Falcons this year, Meyers, who is signed with Monmouth University, surrendered a total of 10 hits and two earned runs in 21 innings. His only loss to St. Joseph’s was a 1-0 duel with Parenti earlier this year.
The fifth inning marked an offensive explosion for East Brunswick, as they sent 11 batters to the plate, but in the end, it was more than Meyers needed. Pitching well behind an 8-0 lead, Meyers lost his shutout bid when Harry Douglas smacked an RBI single in the sixth, ending a 14-inning scoreless stretch for the Falcons against Meyers.
While Meyers’ dominance on the hill was the ultimate difference in this one, most people were talking about Affinito’s home run when the game had ended.
It was one of those special moments when the area’s top pitcher and arguably the top hitter face off on a big stage, with each pitch adding to the drama.
It was the Seton Hall University-bound Affinito who won the battle this time around, and led his team to the conference title in doing so.
They should have walked him.