By: Sean Moylan
After starting the year 0-3, the Northern Burlington County Regional High School baseball team has turned its season around by capturing three one-run games in a row.
In the past two games in particular, the Greyhounds bats have come alive as they defeated Rancocas Valley, 13-12, last Thursday and they beat Pemberton, 9-8, on Monday.
In Monday’s contest at NBC, Matt Vereb was finally healthy enough to play first base after suffering through a nagging injury. Yet it was with the bat that Vereb did the most damage as he launched a two-run homer in the third and collected three RBI overall to help his team come away with a win.
"We’re hitting the ball real well, but they’re (Pemberton) a good hitting team too," remarked Northern Burlington Coach Rick Doppler "We both had eight hits, but we had three doubles and a homer."
Jeff Van Guilder had one of those doubles, along with a pair of singles, and he drove in a run. Dustin Ghaul also doubled while going 2-for-4 with a RBI and Bryan Henry had a two-bagger and collected two RBI. Will Ethington (two RBI) and Jeff Valli (RBI) also helped the Greyhounds’ offensive attack.
The Greyhounds actually led 9-3 going into the top of the sixth when they ran into a little trouble.
"Keith Miccio started for us and he actually did a good job," said Doppler, who was impressed with the sharpness of Miccio’s slider. Understandably, Miccio, who is not used to pitching so many innings, tired after 5 1/3 innings and was lifted in favor of Jon Lathers. Although Miccio and Lathers combined to surrender five runs in the sixth, Lathers shut down the Pemberton order in the seventh to post a save in Miccio’s first win of the season.
Henry was hitting star in NBC’s 13-12 home win over Rancocas Valley as the Greyhounds’ star catcher led off the fourth with a solo homer and capped off the same frame with a three-run dinger. In all, Henry collected two homers, a double and drove in six runs. NBC out hit RV 13-7 as Ethington and Ghaul (RBI) each registered a pair of hits. Zach Traino (three RBI), Andy Hoyer (RBI) and Chuck Krichling (RBI) were productive as well. Nonetheless, Rancocas Valley was able to stay in the game because NBC hurlers had trouble throwing strikes through the heavy winds that day.
"We walked nine," said Doppler, who pitched Hoyer, Miccio, Lathers and Agos in the RV game. Hoyer earned the win with 4 2/3 innings of fine pitching. NBC was leading that contest 13-2, but RV make it close with late runs.
With Rob Van Sciver out injured, the Greyhounds don’t have any dominating starters other than Hoyer, even though Lathers Agos and Miccio all have a lot of potential. So the team will need to win some slugfests.
The bottom line is NBC is 3-3 and it is doing whatever it takes to win. The club has developed heart and it is now a proven winner. NBC was scheduled to have played at Trenton yesterday (Wednesday). NBC is scheduled to host Burlington Township on Friday and it is scheduled at Steinert on Saturday.
LCA
Despite a RBI by David Cotton, the Life Center Academy boys’ varsity baseball team lost a 15-1 decision to Mercy Tech on April 11th. LCA is scheduled to host International Christian High School tomorrow (Friday) and Akiba Hebrew Academy on Tuesday.
BRHS
Kevin Malloy is going to pitch well in most of his starts and Brandon Fraser is going to tear the cover off the ball with his bat in most games. Other than that, the Bordentown Regional High School boys’ varsity baseball team has to be one of the most unpredictable teams in Burlington County. The Scotties also happen to be one of the most interesting and potentially dangerous team’s in the County too.
Malloy was masterful in picking up a 2-1, eight-inning, complete home win over the Bears last Friday. Malloy struck out six batters and gave up four hits while surrendering just one unearned in the top of the fifth.
"Kevin (Malloy) played a great game. And he just got stronger as the game went along," said Bordentown Coach Joe Sprague. "He’s an emotional player and he was thriving on the (electric) atmosphere in the park that day."
Remarkably, Malloy even helped provide the winning run for Bordentown when he singled in Fraser (3-for-4) with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Mike Medina had previously staked Bordentown to a 1-0 lead with a third-inning RBI.
As great a win as that was, the Scotties went out and dropped a 4-3 shocker to an under-manned Trenton Catholic Academy team on Monday. Bordentown was nursing a 3-2 lead when TCA erupted for a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh to upset the Scotties.
Fraser went the distance for Bordentown and he gave up just six hits while striking out 10 batters and allowing two earned runs to score. After facing one flame-thrower after another, Bordentown had trouble hitting TCA’s crafty Nick Carlough.
"Brandon (Fraser) pitched a great game for us, but we made their kid (Carlough) look like Cy Young," said Sprague, whose team loaded the bases twice with no outs but didn’t score either time.
Carlough didn’t even surrender a hit until the fourth when Malloy knocked in a run with a single. And in the top of the sixth, Medina and Shawn Carter each provided run-scoring hits to put Bordentown temporarily ahead 3-2. Carlough was actually helped by a touch of wildness as his seven walks kept the bat on the shoulders of many of Bordentown’s best hitter.
But the Scotties were back to playing great on Tuesday as they thumped Palmyra 13-7 on the road. Peter Pulhac got the win for the Scotties with four solid frames (four strikeouts, two earned runs allowed) of work. And Dave Kowalski and Kenny Ekelmann did a good job of closing out the game in relief.
"Peter Pulhac is my number three starter right now. He does a nice job," said Sprague. "He’s been pitching all of his life and he knows what he is doing. He throws strikes."
Pulhac was aided by an incredible 4-for-5 including two doubles, a triple triple and five RBI day by Fraser. Joey Ekelmann (two hits) knocked in three runs while Medina, who had a double, and Taylor Martucci each drove in a pair of runs. Kevin Ashe had an extra-base hit and Sean Malloy was 2-for-3 and scored three runs for the winning team.
Bordentown (4-4) is scheduled to host Maple Shade today (Thursday). It is scheduled at Clayton on Saturday and at Maple Shade on Monday. On Tuesday Bordentown is scheduled to host Medford Vo-Tech.
FLORENCE
The Florence Township Memorial High School boys’ varsity baseball team is currently wrapping up a two-week stretch of games which coach Ryan Pandolfini felt could make or break his club’s season. So far, these brutal contests have only made the Flashes tougher.
One of the Flashes’ best and most entertaining games during that stretch came this past Tuesday when they defeated Delran, 9-8, in eight innings in the Bears-Flashes Cup at Florence. With the score deadlocked at 8-8 in the bottom of the eighth, Stevie ‘the Wonder" Giambrone ripped a single over the left fielder’s head to plate Chuck Taylor, who was pinch-running for Robby Hutchison, who reached on a walk. The Flashes had the bases loaded at the time with Taylor at third, Jimmy Martinson (single) at second and Joe Spahn (walk) standing on first. Earlier, in the bottom of the sixth, Spahn was able to erase a 6-5 deficit with a clutch two-out, three-run double. But Delran battled back to tie the game with two runs in the top of the seventh.
On the mound, Florence’s Anthony Krause bent but he never came close to breaking as he survived five errors by his team to pick up the complete game victory. Krause struck out eight and he didn’t issue a single walk. Of the eight runs he allowed, only four were earned. Krause was also aided by three-hit game by Martinson (RBI) and a two-hit, three RBI day by Anthony Cardone. Florence collected 11 knocks in all.
This past Saturday Giambrone pitched the Flashes to a 5-4 win over the Riverside Rams at Florence.
"That was a great game. Stevie (Giambrone) pitched great," said Pandolfini.
Nonetheless, Florence was trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth, when Chris Foehr came through with a huge two-out, two-run home run to score Giambrone, who had doubled. From there Giambrone simply shut down the Rams’ powerful lineup the rest of the way.
"That was a hitter’s day," added Pandolfini. Krause also homered for Florence while Martinson had a double and knocked in a run.
While Holy Cross defeated Florence 9-3 at Florence last Thursday, Pandolfini made no excuses for the loss. The Lancers just played a better game than the Flashes did. Nonetheless, Pandolfini did think that Martinson, his starting pitcher, pitched much better than the final score would indicate. However, his club did make three errors in the field. While Florence registered nine hits in the contest, Spahn’s two doubles were the team’s only extra base hits.
Last Wednesday, Florence dropped a 3-2 heartbreaker to Hamilton West at Florence.
"Hamilton beat us, but we should have won the game," noted Pandolfini, whose team left 11 players on base in the contest.
In the sixth Giambrone doubled and Foehr and Cory Haluska followed with short singles. Nonetheless, the Flashes still couldn’t plate a run in the frame. Hutchison (2-for-3) and Martinson (single) each had knocked in a run in the bottom of the fifth but that was as close as Florence would get. Krause had a double in the game.
Lost in the mix was some great pitching by Foehr (two innings, one hit, one run allowed and two strikeouts) and Hutchison (five innings, three hits allowed, two runs allowed, one earned and one strikeout). Florence out hit Hamilton 10-4, but it just couldn’t come up with the big hit.
Still, the team is playing very well overall. The Flashes (6-2) were scheduled to have hosted Rancocas Valley yesterday (Wednesday). Florence is scheduled to host Palmyra tomorrow (Friday). And it is scheduled at Westampton Tech on Tuesday.

