By: James McKeever
It seems that whenever the South Brunswick baseball team needs a key play from a hitter, pitcher, base runner or fielder somebody steps up and delivers.
Since suffering a one-run loss to Old Bridge on April 12, the Vikings had reeled off five consecutive victories going into Wednesday’s game with Perth Amboy.
After winning by big margins early in the season, lately the Vikings have been winning the close games.
"Timely hitting and excellent defense have been the key," said South Brunswick coach Leo Danik. "There have been some games where we were ready to break, but then somebody makes a big play defensively, makes a big pitch or gets a timely hit. We’re playing with a lot of confidence."
The Vikings entered Wednesday’s game with a 9-2 record and were in first place in the GMC Red Division with a 7-1 mark.
After defeating Piscataway 9-8 last Thursday, South Brunswick edged St. Joseph’s 2-1 on Friday as Kyle Breese won a classic pitchers’ duel, then rallied to beat Edison 6-4 on Tuesday.
The Vikings’ upcoming week is fairly busy, as they are home on Friday against East Brunswick, at St. Joseph’s on Monday, at East Brunswick on Tuesday (makeup from last weekend’s rainout) and home vs. Old Bridge on Wednesday.
South Brunswick’s first game against St. Joseph’s was a classic. Breese and Matt Owens locked horns in a battle of two-hitters. Each senior had 12 strikeouts.
After St. Joseph’s took a 1-0 lead in the fifth, the Vikings scored two in the bottom of the sixth and Breese shut the door in the seventh to improve his record to 3-1. A great play by shortstop Dan Gurney on a ground ball up the middle ended the game.
The winning rally started with a lead-off walk to John Haas and Gurney singled. After a sacrifice bunt by Breese and an infield pop out, Jake Jaskowski batted with two outs and two runners in scoring position.
Third baseman Brian Koster made a nice one-hop pick-up of Jaskowski’s ground ball, but his throw was off the mark and the tying and go-ahead runs scored.
"A great game," Danik said. "It was a pressure-packed situation and a great atmosphere with a good crowd watching the game."
On Tuesday against Edison the Vikings were in a 4-1 hole but rallied for four runs in the fifth inning to take a 5-4 lead. A two-run triple by Breese tied it and he scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch. Russ Grimes blasted a solo home run his team-leading third in the sixth for an insurance run.
Tyler Chromey settled down after a two-run first inning to earn the victory. Chromey (4-1, 2.21 ERA) worked into the seventh inning and Breese finished up for the save. Chromey scattered 10 hits, walked two and allowed two earned runs. He struck out four. Breese lowered his ERA to 2.00 with a scoreless inning.
Going into Wednesday’s game Mike Mariano led the Vikings with a .500 batting average (18-for-36) while Haas (.488), Jaskowski (.485) and Bobby Flesta (.400) were all hitting .400 or higher. Gurney (.394), Matt Forthun (.364) and Grimes (.333) were next.
Haas led the club with five doubles, Jaskowski had four, and Mariano’s 12 RBI were the team high. Grimes had 11 RBI and Brandon Martin had 10.

