Bordentown baseball wins Clayton Tournament

By: Sean Moylan
   With two major triumphs this past Saturday, the Bordentown High baseball team not only won the Clayton Tournament, it also turned around its season in the process. Moreover, Shawn Carter showed why his potential at the plate is unlimited with an incredible MVP performance at the tourney.
   Carter went 3-for-5 with seven RBI to lead Bordentown to a 12-4 win over Clayton in the opener.
   "In the first inning against Clayton, Shawn Carter hit a grand slam to right-center. That really woke us up," said Bordentown head coach Joe Sprague, who did an excellent job of keeping his pitching staff ready for the tourney.
   All-Star hurler Kevin Malloy was as dominating as ever. He collected 10 strikeouts while allowing just four hits and two earned runs (four overall) in six innings.
   "Kevin (Malloy) pitched the way I expected him to pitch," said Sprague. "We only gave up two walks (Chris Applegate gave up one of the walks in a scoreless seventh inning of work). When you have pitchers that throw strikes that makes a difference."
   Sprague made a lineup change and put Pete Pulhac in the leadoff spot. Pulhac scored eightruns in the two tournament games to make the Scotties’ head coach look like a genius. Bordentown’s two-hole hitter, Kenny Eckelmann also got on base the whole day.
   "The biggest difference from our first two games is we got our leadoff hitters on base and we made the plays in the field," said Sprague.
   Malloy helped his own cause by going 2-for-2 with a two-run homer. And Eric Papp smacked a double in the Clayton game.
   Bordentown, however, won the tourney by clobbering Paulsboro 16-6 in six innings. Pulhac pitched a complete game two-hitter and struck out eight batters while walking just two along the way. He was also 2-for-5 with a double and his second four-run game of the day. Malloy also scored four times and had two hits, including a triple. Eckelmann crossed the plate three times while going 2-for-2. Bordentown had 11 hits. Last Friday Cinnaminson scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to beat Bordentown 14-4 via the 10-run rule.
   "We knew we’d have a tough time beating a good team like Cinnaminson," said Sprague, whose team had not played a game for over a week going into the contest.
   While Kevin Ashe started for Bordentown, Eckelmann pitched the bulk of the game in relief and he wasn’t bad (3 1/3 innings three runs, no earned runs allowed). Both hurlers were hurt by mediocre defense. Malloy had a double in the game. That loss didn’t sting for long, because the next day the Scotties were back in business.
   "On Saturday we kept telling the kids that we want to be 2-2 at the end of the day. And the kids played (hard) every inning," said Sprague. "I told them baseball is a real simple sport. You just have to score more runs than the other team."
   Hopefully the Scotties (2-2) will continue scoring those runs than the other team in the weeks to come. Bordentown will be very busy this week.
   It was scheduled to have hosted Robbinsville yesterday (Wednesday). Today (Thursday) it is scheduled to host New Egypt. On Saturday Bordentown is scheduled to host Burlington City at Gilder Park. There is also a special Opening of Little League Ceremony scheduled for that day. Bordentown is scheduled at Maple Shade on Monday and at Trenton Catholic Academy on Tuesday.
   NBC

   If Burlington County College’s head baseball coach John Holt was trying to make a good impression on the talented Northern Burlington County Regional High boys’ varsity baseball team, he succeeded.
   Because Holt and all of BCC made last Wednesday a great and special day for the Greyhounds, even if Northern Burlington hadn’t beaten Pemberton in a 5-4 thriller played on the college’s beautiful baseball field.
   "They had a lunch (hoagies, fruit cups, chips and other goodies) for the kids on both teams after the game," said NBC head coach Rick Doppler. "That whole day was a positive. It was very nice of Burlington County College’s head coach (Holt) to allow us to play there. The players on both teams appreciated the thoughtful idea."
   The game was a bit unusual in that NBC didn’t knock the cover off the ball like it usually does. However Russ Stupienski did deliver a clutch hit to knock in the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh. Then in the bottom of the inning, Abhi Chandel worked some magnificent mound magic to escape a bases loaded one-out jam.
   "They tried to squeeze and we tug out the guy at the plate," said Doppler. But with two outs Chandel hit a batter on a Pemberton batter on a pitch that may have nicked the inside corner of the strike zone. Unflustered, Chandel (2 1/3 innings of scoreless pitching) simply struck out the next batter to end the contest and earn his first victory of the year. NBC did not hit as well as it would have liked against R. Noone, but otherwise it was a nearly perfect day.
   Then on Saturday, NBC split a pair in the Sterling Tournament. After it lost a heartbreaking 6-5 decision to Kingsway in the opener, NBC regrouped and outslugged Sterling 17-12 in the consolation game.
   Against Kingsway, NBC’s Rob VanSciver (4 K’s, 7 hits) tossed four solid frames but he still gave up all six Kingsway runs and took the loss. The game was not a lucky one for NBC. In one inning, the Greyhounds had runners on second and third withone1 out when Stupienski belted a hard smash right to a middle infielder, who got the force at second for a double play to end the threat.
   Moreover, Andy Hoyer (3-for-3, two triples and a RBI), Matt Vereb (double, triple and RBI) and Keith Miccio (3-for-4 with a double and RBI) all had monster days at the plate but NBC was only able to plate five runs.
   Frustrated, the Greyhounds beat up on Sterling with the bats in the second game, with 15 hits and 17 runs.
   Dan Agos, who is up for a scholar-athlete award, pitched a smart game while he was in there for 3 2/3 innings (four K’s and eight runs allowed but only three were earned) and traded runs for outs with his team holding a one-time 10-3 lead. He also got the win with Stupienski coming in and throwing a few solid frames of relief to close it out.
   Once again, Hoyer was one of the hitting heroes with three hits, including a majestic triple and three RBI.
   "Hoyer hit one that hasn’t landed yet. But he only got a triple out of it," joked Doppler.
   With no fence at the field, Sterling outfielders were playing Hoyer like he was Barry Bonds. Meanwhile another hitting machine named Matt Vereb, was 3-for-3 with two doubles and four RBI. Stupienski (a double, three RBI), Miccio (a double, two RBI) and Jake DCioccio (2-for-4) also enjoyed some great at-bats for the winning team.
   "We have a good team," added Doppler.
   Actually, it’s a very good team.
   This past Tuesday’s game versus Willingboro was postponed. NBC (5-2) is scheduled at Allentown today (Thursday) and at Westampton Tech tomorrow (Friday). Then NBC will have a few days off because of the Senior Class Trip.
   FLORENCE

   A great old baseball wise man by the name of Joe Garagiola once wrote a book called "Baseball is a Funny Game."
   The book was partially filled with goofy, straight-forward, funny baseball stories. But mainly Garagiola wrote about baseball being "funny" in an ironic sense.
   Over the past two weeks, the Florence Township Memorial High boys’ varsity baseball team, while still winning more games than it loses, has received a good healthy dose of why baseball is an ironic and funny game.
   "Overall, our defense is our worse aspect and I thought it would be our best," said Florence head coach Ryan Pandolfini, who actually shifted players around this season to get his best defense on the field. "Our offense has been winning us games. But pitching and defense (and timely hitting) win championships."
   Due to flooded fields and more rain, the Flashes were one of the only local teams to get in a game this past Tuesday. Based on the way it was playing, one would have expected Florence to pound TCA. However, the only reason the Flashes won Tuesday’s contest 3-1 was because of good pitching by Nick Schmidt and newcomer Craig Fanning.
   "We won but I’m not happy. We only had five hits but we only gave up three hits. Nick Schmidt (five innings, five K’s, three hits, three walks, run and win) looked great," said Pandolfini, who, in an effort not to use another varsity pitcher, brought up Fanning. All Fanning did was fan four TCA batters in two scoreless and hitless innings of work. He pitched so well that Pandolfini plans on using him again.
   Robert Hutchison, Clint Rockhill and Jimmy Martinson (RBI groundout) all had doubles.
   Meanwhile, Stevie "The Wonder" Giambrone and Schmidt each delivered a run-scoring base hit for the victors.
   Before Florence left the Hawaiian Tropic Classic in Myrtle Beach it dropped a 5-4 nail-biter to Logan (West Virginia) last Friday morning.
   "They’re (Logan) ranked number one in West Virginia and they had played 19 games already. We had them 4-2 in the last inning, but after three pitches and three errors we lost 5-4," said Pandolfini, who did not wish to dwell any further on that particular contest.
   Last Thursday Wilson Hall defeated Florence 15-8 at Myrtle Beach but Pandolfini really appreciated the way his club was able to battle back with its bats.
   "We gave up nine runs in the first two innings, but we were able to hang in there and make it 9-8," said Pandolfini (last Thursday), whose powerful offense eventually wore down in the latter stages of the game. "I’m having so much fun. We could have just rolled over but we didn’t."
   Hutchison went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles while Jeff Perro was also went 3-for-4 at the dish. Chris Foehr and Martinson each drove in a pair of runs while Giambrone had a run batted in too.
   While Martinson was saddled with the loss, Krause, Foehr, Giambrone and "Hutch" all had a go at stopping Wilson Hall’s potent attack. But Wilson Hall did have 19 games played under its belt before the contest ever started and that does make a difference as they hit everything Florence threw up there.
   Eventually, Florence’s defense will come around as the weather improves and the fields get less choppy. Baseball is a funny game, but for the rest of the season at least, the Flashes want it to be the kind of funny where the kids are just telling jokes and ribbing each other on the bench. Florence is 5-3 and 3-0 in the Freedom Division. Florence is scheduled at Pemberton today (Thursday).