Bottom of order leads way past Montgomery
By: Rudy Brandl
The Hillsborough High baseball team regained some of its swagger with three impressive victories last week.
Consecutive losses to Hunterdon Central and Watchung Hills in the prior week sent the defending Group 4 champs below .500 for the first time. There was a little buzz going around that perhaps the Raiders weren’t that good.
Last week’s streak was big for the Raiders (5-3), won three games in very different ways. They received a great pitching performance from Tim Fedroff in a 4-0 victory at Somerville, pounded the ball all over the yard in a 15-3 blowout of Franklin and saw the younger players in the lineup do most of the damage in Thursday’s 9-5 triumph over Montgomery.
Veteran skipper Norm Hewitt had been waiting for the bottom of his batting order to produce. Thursday afternoon in Hillsborough, he had the pleasure of watching two varsity rookies inflict some major pain on Montgomery.
Designated hitter Matt Sadin went 3-for-4 with two RBI and third baseman Ricky Schwalje went 2-for-3 with four RBI to lead the Raiders to a huge victory in their quest for the Delaware East Division title.
"It was a great team effort today," Hewitt said. "The bottom of the order won the game."
Fedroff and Corey Swickle, the two returning sluggers from last year’s championship team, had been carrying the Raiders. Hewitt kept telling his troops the two veterans couldn’t do it alone.
"We’ve made that a topic the whole season," Hewitt said. "We’ve tried to explain to the guys that they can’t rely on two guys for all the offense."
Many Raiders took those words to heart in last week’s games. Sadin and Schwalje came up big vs. Montgomery after Corey Towey and Andy Pogorzelski led the huge hit parade in the team’s 15-3 romp over Franklin.
Towey and Pogorzelski rocked home runs in the first inning when the Raiders built an 11-0 lead. Towey had a career day with home run, double, single, four runs scored and three RBI. Swickle and Fedroff rapped doubles, but so did teammates Rocky Palumbo, Marc Zamarin and Matt Zygmund. Jeremy Sporn added a triple for the Raiders, who accumulated 19 hits in four innings to help Mark Andrews (1-1) notch his first varsity mound victory.
The Raiders started fast in Thursday’s home game vs. Montgomery, scoring four times in the second inning and twice more in the third to take a 6-0 lead. Sadin singled and Zygmund walked to set the table in the second. Sporn reached on an error that allowed the first run to score. Zamarin smacked an RBI single and Schwalje followed with the first of his two-run singles.
Schwalje’s second two-run hit came in the very next inning and scored Swickle and Sadin, who had reached on a single and double, respectively. Schwalje’s hit came with two outs and the bases loaded.
Montgomery rallied and cut the lead to 6-4 but the Raiders scored three in the bottom of the sixth to make things a little easier for winning pitcher Rob Kumbatovic (3-1). Pogorzelski and Towey singled with one out and Fedroff reached on an error to load the bases. Swickle drove in a run on a ground out and Sadin drilled a two-run single to right field.
Kumbatovic struck out six and walked two while allowing seven hits in the complete game victory. He still had good pop on his fastball in the seventh inning.
"It was a really nice day and my arm felt really good, probably the best it’s felt in a while," Kumbatovic said. "I could throw all my pitches for strikes."
The week began with Fedroff (1-1) firing a five-hit shutout at Somerville. Fedroff fanned seven and issued no walks in the victory.
Zygmund went 2-for-3 with two RBI and Towey stroked an RBI single for the winners, who broke the game open with three runs in the top of the fifth.
"Tim’s outing gave us a big lift," Hewitt said. "It’s all about confidence. We really focused on self-confidence and self-esteem this week. You have to accomplish something to feel good about yourself."
The Raiders hope to continue their win streak in divisional play this week at Bridgewater-Raritan and Immaculata.
"We had a rough week the week before but we’ve been practicing really hard," Kumbatovic said. "We played well this week. A lot of people started doubting us. We just have to keep working."

