By: James McKeever
Talk about a 1-2 punch.
On back-to-back days last week South Brunswick showed why it has one of the best baseball pitching staffs around, as Kyle Breese and Tyler Chromey shut down teams with dominant performances.
Last Friday, in their opening game of the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament, the Vikings defeated Metuchen, 10-0, behind a six-inning one-hitter by Breese. The next night Chromey stopped CBA, ranked No. 7 in the state at the time, 1-0, with a four-hitter.
The top-seeded Vikings (15-4) were scheduled to play No. 8 seed Piscataway on Wednesday night in the GMCT quarterfinals, with Breese expected to get the start. The winner moved on to the semifinals on Saturday at Middlesex County College in Edison.
"Breese was lights out and Chromey was terrific," said the duo’s head coach, Leo Danik.
Breese improved his record to 6-1 and shaved his ERA to 1.46. The senior southpaw struck out 14 for the second straight start while issuing three walks. He came within one out of a six-inning no-hitter (Metuchen’s Sam Shampain singled to left to break it up).
John Haas led a balanced lineup with two hits and three RBI. Breese and Dan Gurney each had two singles, Mike Mariano hit two doubles and Matt Forthun went 2-for-3. Breese, who had eight days of rest, threw 84 pitches.
On Saturday the Vikings took on CBA in the Shore Challenge at FirstEnergy Park, the Lakewood BlueClaws’ stadium. CBA brought a 19-1 record into the game and is currently ranked No. 4 in the state (South Brunswick is 15th). The Vikings were not awed by their surroundings, since they played three games in April at the Atlanta Braves’ spring training facility in Orlando.
"It was my first game pitching in a professional stadium and the game was really intense," Chromey said. "Walking down on to the field was really a great experience."
Chromey gave up a one-out double in the first inning, but caught a line drive by No. 3 hitter Vin Avella and fired to second base for an inning-ending double play.
"They hit a couple of shots in the first inning, but after Tyler got that double play he was in complete control from there," Danik said.
"I settled down after that play," Chromey said. "After that I think we showed everybody we were there to play."
The Vikings ended a scoreless game with a run in the sixth. Gurney, who played another superb game at shortstop, started the rally with a single and Mariano singled. With two outs in the inning Jake Jaskowski reached on an infield single and Gurney scored.
In the bottom of the seventh Chromey gave up a hit to the gap in left-center, but center fielder Russ Grimes cut the ball off and threw the runner out at second to end the game.
Chromey, who has pinpoint control, did not walk a batter and struck out four. In 38 innings this season he has walked five, against 37 strikeouts. The senior righty could be an ace on any team in the GMC his record is 5-2 and his ERA 2.56 but he likes teaming up with Breese to give South Brunswick a powerful 1-2 combo.
"I’m happy we have the guys we have on the staff," Chromey said. "It will help us go far."
The Vikings’ game against South Amboy on Tuesday was rained out. Today (Thursday) they are scheduled to play at Hamilton West at 4 p.m. in a regular season game.
