BY SHAWN LAYTON
Staff Writer
EDISON – With three more wins under its belt the Father & Son Junior Legion team improved to 8-0 on the season and will look to keep on the winning side when it welcomes St. Joe’s White and South Brunswick Gold to town this week.
Father & Son pitcher Jared Shukis will get the start in tomorrow’s 5:45 p.m. meeting with St. Joe’s, while teammate Matt Landrum gets the nod in Friday’s matchup with South Brunswick.
The team notched its sixth consecutive win of the season with a 15-4 pounding of Monroe last week. Monroe came into the contest 3-1 but failed to contain the hot sticks in the Father & Son lineup.
“We hit the ball extremely well,” Father & Son head coach Tom D’Agostino said. “Even in the early stages of the game when the score was close, we hit the ball hard but right at people.”
Monroe clung to a 4-3 lead heading into the fifth before Father & Son exploded for nine in its half of the inning. The team plated six of the nine runs in the frame with two outs and added three more in the sixth to end the abbreviated game.
Leadoff man Geoff Toro went 2-for-5 and scored three times, while right fielder Alberto Ruiz went 3-for-5.
“Alberto is starting to heat up,” D’Agostino said. “He was pushing a bit in the beginning of the season, which is uncharacteristic of him. He’s hitting the ball well and he has his confidence back.”
Shukis went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. He tied the game at 3-3 in the fourth with a solo homer over the right field wall.
In addition to his three RBIs, catcher Andrew Rivera called a solid game for pitcher Bryan Hartmann. Hartmann went six innings and allowed three earned runs off four hits to improve his mark to 2-0 on the season.
Father & Son followed the Monroe win with a sloppy 16-11 victory over South River. Leading 14-2 into the bottom of the fifth inning, Father & Son committed a handful of defensive miscues to allow South River back in the game.
“We unraveled and lost our concentration,” D’Agostino said. “We threw the ball around the infield and made some errors, but we withstood their comeback and held on for the win.”
Toro was big once again, going 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles and runs scored. Center fielder Dylan Laguna was 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs, while shortstop David Goodman went 2-for-5 with four RBIs and two runs.
Landrum got the start and was relieved with two outs in the fifth by Brian Pollex. Chris Virag came on in the seventh to record the final two outs and preserve Landrum’s win.
“Matt struggled with command, and the umpire had a tight zone,” D’Agostino said. “It wasn’t his best outing but he got the job done.”
The team closed out the week with an 8-2 win over Milltown. Shukis improved to 3-0 on the year pitching five innings while allowing three hits and fanning eight.
“He was a bulldog in that one,” D’Agostino said. “He gave us the five innings we needed, and Virag came on to close it out.”
Laguna finished with three hits and a pair of runs scored while second baseman Matt Rohal went 2-for-4 with an RBI in the cleanup spot. First baseman Dan Lungo and catcher Nick Errico both hit doubles and knocked in runs in the victory.
“We’re definitely pleased with the results thus far,” D’Agostino said. “Pitching coach Brandon Beards has got our guys pitching really well for this early in the season.”