Walk-off shot defeats Immaculata
By: Rudy Brandl
Tim Fedroff has hit 32 home runs as a high school baseball player, including several tape measure shots, but none was any more dramatic than last Thursday’s game-winning, division-clinching, walk-off home run against Immaculata.
It was a classic case of redemption for the Hillsborough High senior slugger and his teammates, who had endured their share of frustration vs. Immaculata this spring. The Spartans had embarrassed the Raiders in a 10-0 mercy rule game in April and eliminated HHS in a gut-wrenching Somerset County semifinal game that went 11 innings at Commerce Bank Park the previous Friday.
Fedroff was poised to avenge those losses with the ball in his hands in the Delaware East Division finale May 18 at Hillsborough. He pitched beautifully and shut down the Spartans for five innings but struggled in the sixth and left the mound on the short end of a 3-2 score.
With the game and division title on the line in the bottom of the seventh, Fedroff came up huge. Fedroff blasted a 1-0 pitch from Chris Morrison over the right field fence for a three-run home run that produced a dramatic 6-5 victory for the Raiders.
"I was looking for an inside pitch I could turn on," Fedroff said. "I just got enough of it. When I saw it go out, I said ‘Thank God.’ It’s real nice."
Hillsborough head coach Norm Hewitt led his team out of the dugout and greeted Fedroff at home plate to start the celebration. Hewitt has won county, conference, sectional and state titles, but this victory was just as sweet as any of those.
"These kids don’t quit, they don’t give up," Hewitt said. "All we wanted was for Timmy to get a shot. Nobody deserves it more than him. He pitched a great game but he felt bad about all the walks."
Fedroff wasn’t sure he’d get a pitch to hit after Immaculata called a conference at the mound prior to his at-bat. The Spartans played it by the book and didn’t walk the bases loaded, which would have put the tying runs in scoring position. They pitched to Fedroff and paid the price.
"Coach Hewitt came up to me and said, ‘how about a walk-off home run?’" Fedroff said. "I was prepared to take a walk, but I picked a good pitch to hit. It was a little bit up and in."
The Raiders started the game-winning rally with a pair of soft singles to right field. Rob Kumbatovic, on in relief of Fedroff but on the hook for the loss after allowing two runs in the top of the seventh, started the bottom half with a single to shallow right. Kumbatovic was erased by a fielder’s choice groundout by Andy Pogorzelski, who stood on first base with two outs.
Corey Towey kept the game going with a bloop single to right-center field. Singles by Pogorzelski and Towey had produced the game’s first run in the bottom of the first before Matt Zygmund’s line drive sac fly made it 2-0 in the fifth. Pogorzelski and Towey scored in front of Fedroff on the game-winning shot.
"The key was those other guys getting on base to give us a shot," Hewitt said. "I’m so happy for these kids. They really wanted it. This is huge."
For five innings, it looked like the Raiders would prevail in a nice, tidy game. Fedroff had scattered two singles and no walks with six strikeouts. Suddenly, he lost command of the strike zone in the sixth. He hit a batter to load the bases and walked home three consecutive runs to give Immaculata the lead.
"I just lost it," Fedroff said. "I don’t even know what happened. Maybe my release point was off. I couldn’t buy a strike and it came at a bad time."
The Raiders fought right back to tie the game with a two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth. Corey Swickle walked, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on a clutch RBI single to center by Ricky Schwalje.
Kumbatovic retired the last Immaculata batter to escape the bases-loaded jam in the sixth but gave up two runs in the top of the seventh. Frank Florio and Ken Gregory picked up the RBI that put the Spartans back in the lead.
The Raiders had one final, emphatic reply. After losing the division title in disappointing fashion at Immaculata last May, Hillsborough avenged that and this year’s setbacks in a big way.
"It’s a good feeling," Fedroff said. "Last year, we didn’t win the conference. We’re in a tough conference and you have to play every game. To win it really says something about well we’ve played. It was a group effort."

