First time in eight years
By: Kyle Moylan
Considering the Allentown High School baseball team made the state playoffs for the first time in eight years, it needed a good place to celebrate.
One day after clinching a spot in the playoffs with a 10-2 win over Robbinsville, Allentown was playing at Waterfront Park and beating Hightstown, 12-5.
Before the week ended, Allentown added an 8-4 win over Hamilton. Allentown reached the cutoff for the state playoffs with a record of 10-5.
"It’s been a while, but the kids worked hard for this and they deserve it," Allentown second-year coach Brian Nice noted. "They certainly did everything I asked of them."
Of course, Nice hasn’t been around for most of the past eight years. In fact, the last time Allentown made the playoffs he was playing for The College of New Jersey. He helped turn around the program very quickly in his two years on the job.
"The goal last year was to make the playoffs," Nice said. "The goal again this year was to make the playoffs. The difference was this year we had most of the guys back. Last year we spent a lot of time working on basics and fundamentals. This year we were able to concentrate on more advanced things that helped us win games."
Chris Kubik worked four innings in the decisive game against Robbinsville and allowed two runs. Ethan Perro (two innings) and Logan Gallagher (one inning) both worked scoreless relief.
Kubik (two hits, run and RBI), Perro (two hits and RBI) and Gallagher (two hits and run) also played a big role in the offense. Loncosky (hit and two RBI), Tom Kuzma (two hits and two RBI), Rob Guiliano (hit and two runs), Craig Bacovin (hit and two runs) and Ed Ras (two runs) also had good games on offense.
"The guys were really excited about that win," Nice said. "We were 6-5 coming into the week and needed two wins to clinch a playoff spot. It was a relief to get the two wins in the first two games (Allentown had won on Monday, May 7).
"The guys said they were going to (drop a water bucket over my head), but they never did. I got away with one."
On May 9, Allentown got to play at the home of the Trenton Thunder. Anthony Gambino worked 4 2/3 innings and didn’t allow an earned run to earn the win.
Guiliano (four runs), Vince Pugliese (two hits, run and RBI), Jeremy Valesi (hit, RBI and two runs), Gallagher (two hits, run and three RBI), Kuzma (hit, RBI and two runs), Perro (hit, run and two RBI), Bacovin (run and hit) and Kubik (hit and RBI) provided the offense.
"That was a lot of fun," Nice noted. "That’s probably the nicest field a lot of these guys will ever play on."
Perro worked the first six innings and allowed three runs to pick up the win over Hamilton. He also had a run, two RBI and two hits. Gallagher worked an inning in relief and allowed a run. At the plate, Gallagher had two hits and scored three runs.
Pugliese (three hits, two RBI and run), Bacovin (run, hit and RBI), Guiliano (run and RBI), Ras (hit and RBI) and Gambino (hit and RBI) also powered the offense.
"A 10-5 record at this spot is a really good spot to be," Nice said. "We’ll see if it gets us a home playoff game. We’ll just play the games where they schedule us."
NEHS
The New Egypt High baseball team lost two of the three games it played last week. Considering the team had already clinched a spot in the state playoffs, however, there will be times when wins will have more of a meaning.
New Egypt opened action during the week with a 4-3 win over Trenton Catholic. Dave Stinson worked the first five innings and earned the win. T.J. Smith came on to pitch the final two innings for the save.
Smith also had a good game at the plate with a RBI triple. Mike Fassl had a single and RBI. Dan Knott was 2-for-2 with a run and RBI.
Dylan Rowley (run) and Smith (two RBI) each had two hits for New Egypt in a 14-4 loss to Burlington City.
Knott and Brian Hamilton each had two hits and a RBI in a 7-3 loss to Southern Regional. Smith added a hit, run scored and RBI.