BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer
Steve Kochinski refused to panic when his Freehold Borough baseball team started the season 1-2.
“It was a rough start,” he said. “We just needed to focus. I told the kids to give it time. It’s a long season. Keep playing hard.”
Nine consecutive wins later and the Colonials were the Shore Conference B North Division co-champions. The Colonials earned a share of the title, the school’s first since 1989, when they beat front-running Wall, 5-3, on May 5. They shared the title with the Crimson Knights as both teams finished with identical 10-2 records in divisional play.
The win was typical of the Colonials’ run to the title, as Kochinski used his patchwork pitching staff to secure the win.
When the season started, the Colonials had a dependable one-two rotation of veterans Jason Nardi and John Marx, but Marx would soon be sidelined by bursitis in his pitching elbow, and all bets were off. Nardi (4-1) settled in as the team’s ace, eating up innings and winning games. But who else could the Colonials turn to became the pressing issue, and how it was answered would determine whether they would be contenders or not.
As it turned out, Rich Pultar, Ryan Kresky and Jeff Frost answered the call, easing the loss of Marx.
“They stepped up and took over the burden,” said Kochinski. “Rich has been the biggest surprise.”
When Marx went down, Ryan Cuneo, who hadn’t pitched since his sophomore year, knew that it was only a matter of time before he would be needed on the mound, and he began to get his arm ready in practice.
“We had talked about him [Cuneo] being used in a closer role when the games were tight,” said Kochinski.
The first opportunity came on May 1 against Monmouth Regional in a game the Colonials had to win to make the game with Wall count.
Nardi started and gave the Colonials seven solid innings against the Golden Falcons’ ace, Bobby Wyrwa, leaving the game with the score tied 3-3. Kochinski gave the ball to Cuneo for extra innings and he would get the win with two scoreless innings of work.
In the top of the ninth, Marx, whose bursitis hasn’t prevented him from contributing with his bat, smacked a two-RBI double that paved the way for the 5-3 win.
Nardi had helped his cause with a bases-clearing, three-RBI double that had staked the Colonials to a 3-0 lead.
The win got the Colonials one step closer to the Wall showdown, though they still had to beat Long Branch on May 3. The Green Wave may have been 1-12, but the Colonials had no margin of error. Frost would get his first win of the season, a one-hitter over five innings, with Freehold Borough winning 12-0.
Colton Ruggiero had the game’s only extra base hit, a double.
That set up the championship game with Wall, but having already used Nardi and Forst, Kochinski turned to Cuneo with Pultar on deck.
“I really wanted to start that game,” Cuneo said. “I wanted the ball in my hands.”
Cuneo would keep his team in the game against the Crimson Knights, giving up three runs over five innings.
In the last of the sixth, Freehold Borough, trailing 3-1, struck for four runs.
Singles by Cuneo and Nardi helped set the table for Kresky’s clutch two-RBI double that gave the Colonials a 4-3 lead. Jason Baggit extended the lead to 5-3 with his run-scoring single.
Pultar, who pitched two scoreless innings in relief, closed it out in the top of the seventh to improve to 4-0.
“Rich did a great job for us,” said Cuneo.
With the final out, the Colonials had their first baseball title in 17 years.
“It’s great achievement for us and for the school,” said Cuneo. “We have a great group of guys. We put it all together.”
There is more out there to be won, and the Colonials know it. There is the Shore Conference Tournament that begins this week and the Central Jersey playoffs that get under way the following week.”