They look like Falcons, not flukes

Monroe shows it’s for real after breaking out in 2005

By: Ken Weingartner
   The Monroe High baseball team entered the season as one of the favorites to contend for the Greater Middlesex Conference White Division title, thanks in large part to a lineup loaded with potential.
   Still, some observers might have wanted to see whether the Falcons were for real after going 14-14 last season.
   It didn’t take long for Monroe to reveal the answer.
   Rich Feldhan blasted a grand slam in the Falcons’ first inning of play, powering Monroe to a 12-2 win over White Division co-champ South Plainfield last week.
   The Falcons followed that victory with an 8-3 triumph over Sayreville, the team with which South Plainfield shared last year’s title, and 14-8 win over Woodbridge for the first 3-0 start in coach Greg Beyer’s seven-year tenure.
   "Obviously, it’s a good feeling to win," Beyer said. "We got started on the right foot in the first game in the first inning. We’re riding pretty high, but we have to be careful not to get too full of ourselves. We keep reminding the guys to respect every opponent. We have to keep the focus."
   Monroe’s win over Sayreville had a little of everything – timely hitting, a rally from a 3-1 deficit in the fifth inning, and great defense. Lenny Bergen helped preserve a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth when he doubled a runner tagging up from third base after making a running catch of a drive near the left-field foul line.
   Marc Magliaro had a two-run single in the fifth to lift Monroe into a 3-3 tie and Nick Alberino added a run-scoring base hit, plating Jarred Jimenez, to make it 4-3. After the Falcons scratched out another run in the sixth, Matt Kalbach’s two-run single helped break open the game in the seventh.
   "Those were all big things," Beyer said. "Those were all momentum enhancers, or whatever you want to call them. The score doesn’t reflect how tough that game was because we pulled away late. We’ve gotten some big contributions from everybody."
   Mike Doros got the win against Sayreville while Marc Povlosky tossed three innings of scoreless relief. Povlosky got the win against South Plainfield, striking out eight over six innings.
   Against Woodbridge, the Falcons fell into an early 4-0 hole and trailed again 6-4 later in the contest. Alberino homered and singled, driving in four, while Povlosky had a solo homer. Jimenez was 3-for-3 with three runs and three stolen bases.
   Jimenez, the reigning White Division Player of the Year, was batting .750 after the three games, helping set the table for an offense that averaged 11.3 runs per contest.
   And while expectations for the Falcons were high, Beyer said with a laugh, "I don’t think I expected this."
   "If we average 11 runs a game for the season, we’re going to be pretty tough," added Beyer, whose team was scheduled to play New Brunswick yesterday, Highland Park today and Allentown Saturday.
   This season’s team has been years in the making. The Falcons were 2-19-1 in 2003, when this season’s seniors were freshmen, and went 6-17 in 2004. It seems that many of the plays that went against the Falcons over the last few years are the plays going in their favor now.
   "All of that is learning how to win, and a lot of times, learning to win is losing first," Beyer said. "When you see adversity, you can either go in the tank or rise above it. When these kids were pups, so to speak, they’d never been in situations like that. Now, they’ve been in those situations and know how to react."
   Those reactions have put the Falcons in first place in the White Division, and showed everyone they are for real.