Falcon baseball squad finishing with a surge

‘.500 record? I’ll take it,’ coach says

By: Neil Hay
   Here’s one: If the Peddie baseball team won the state Prep A championship yesterday, it is conceivable the Falcons did it with sub-.500 record.
   Records aside, the big news is that, as of yesterday afternoon, Peddie was still alive in the tournament. The Falcons moved into the finals of this double-elimination tournament Wednesday with a 7-5 semi-final win over Lawrenceville at Hun. In the quarters last week, Peddie ousted top-seeded Hun, 2-1.
   If Peddie won the opener yesterday against the Big Red, it would be the champion, as Lawrenceville would have two losses to none for Peddie. If Lawrenceville won the first game, it would set up a winner-take-all finale.
   Peddie Coach Erik Treese tabbed Brett Yarusi to start Wednesday against the Big Red and he was not as formidable as he was against Hun last week. In five innings, Yarusi was reached for five runs (four earned) on five hits with three walks and six strikeouts. Still, Yarusi was the winning pitcher.
   Tom Hill came on in the sixth and he earned the save. In two innings he gave up no runs, two hits, one walk, and had one strikeout.
   "Hill looked good. He got into a bit of a scrape in the sixth. He is not overpowering. He gets guys to hit the ball on the ground."
   Ahead 2-0 going into the bottom of the first inning, Yarusi was rocked for a lead-off home run. That did not alarm Treese. What ensued next did. Over the course of the inning Yarusi was wild, hitting the next batter and walking the numbers three and four hitters to load the bases with still no out. But Yarusi induced the next batter to hit into a double-play. Although a run scored on the play, "that changed the complexion of the game," Treese said.
   While Yarusi searched for and found his game, the Peddie lineup was putting some runs on the board. Peddie had nine hits. Pat Sandman had two singles and three RBI, and Mike Flacco had a triple, single and RBI. Hill added two singles. Sandman had a big two-out single in the second to knock in two runs, and Flacco followed with his triple for another run.
   As for yesterday’s pitching rotation, Hill was expected to start the first game and, if another game was necessary, Kyle McClure was ready to go.
   The win Wednesday over the Big Red improved Peddie to 9-10. If they were to have won the title yesterday in one game they would finish the year at 10-10. If not, and depending upon what happened it game two, Peddie would have finished at 10-11 or 9-12.
   ".500? I’ll take it," said Treese, knowing a 10-10 record would mean a Prep A title.
   The state tournament was not the only action on Peddie’s plate. The Falcons were also competing in another tournament. The Falcons were upended 6-5 in the opener of the Mid-Atlantic Prep League tournament Saturday at the Hun School when Lawrenceville’s Jeff Murdza jumped on Mario Fiorentini’s 2-0 pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning for a long walk-off home run.
   Fiorentini was on in relief for the sophomore Yarusi, who threw a solid seven innings to keep Peddie in the game. But when Yarusi’s pitch count reached 100, Treese felt it was time for a pitching change.
   "He’s thrown some games for us," replied Treese when asked why he called on Fiorentini when it was time to relieve Yarusi. "When he throws pitches, he throws strikes. He is a senior with experience. He won’t be worried about the situation. He has decent speed."
   But when he fell behind 2-0 on Murdza, the first batter he faced in the eight, Fiorentini was forced to come in with a pitch in order to avoid going 3-0.
   Other than the way the game ended, "It was a good game," said Treese.
   After allowing three runs to Lawrenceville in the bottom of the sixth, the Falcons scored four runs in the top of the seventh to tie the score at 5-5. Flacco’s two-run double was one of the keys to the Falcons’ rally. Yarusi then retired the Big Red’s numbers two, three, and four hitters in order in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings.
   Peddie had an opportunity to add more runs in the top of the seventh. But Peddie, with runners on the corners with one out, was unable to do more damage.
   If Yarusi was an unknown quantity early in the season, he is no more. Yarusi followed up a solid outing against Hun in the state tournament with another sparkling effort in the MAPL opener. Yarusi was reached for five runs (three earned) on nine hits with five strikeouts and one walk. Clearly much will be expected of Yarusi from here on out. And no longer will he be a surprise to the rest of the prep league.
   "I was ecstatic the way Brett pitched. We didn’t treat him too well (defensively). He left a few pitches up in the sixth. Had it been the last game of the year or the state finals, he does not come out. But knowing we still have states, he does come out. He is young and we have to watch his number of pitches. I am very happy with the way he pitched and the way he competed. I thought at the beginning of the year he could be good. I wanted to work him in slowly. Did I think he’d pitch this well? Not necessarily. He stepped up for us. To say we are enthusiastic and excited would be an understatement."