Post 12 drops first three
By: Rudy Brandl
Several factors have contributed to a slow start for the Somerville-Manville American Legion baseball team.
Post 12 dropped its first three games, leaving coach Robert Snyder somewhat frustrated after the opening week of action. The team stranded 14 base runners and wasted a masterful pitching performance from Ryan Zamorsky in a 1-0 loss to Immaculata, allowed eight runs in the first inning of an 8-3 setback at Franklin and blew a 3-1 lead in the last two innings of Sunday’s 7-3 defeat vs. Flemington.
"We just have to put everything together," Snyder said. "We’re not getting timely hits. We’ve only scored six runs in three games."
The most agonizing loss came in the season opener. Post 12 stranded nine men in scoring position and left the bases loaded twice in the last three innings. One key hit would have produced a victory for Zamorsky, who struck out 15 batters and allowed only three hits in the loss. Zamorsky walked four men, including the batter who wound up scoring the game’s only run in the third inning.
"We should have won that game," Snyder said. "We had runners on with the meat of our order coming up. It was frustrating."
Post 12 spotted Franklin eight runs in the first inning and started to chip away too late in Saturday’s 8-3 loss at a very choppy Franklin High field. Somerville starter Kyle Lefkus struggled to find the plate in the first inning and the Warriors took advantage. Lefkus issued five walks and all of them came around to score. Throw in a bloop hit and two passed balls and Somerville found itself in a huge hole.
Manville sophomore Joe Burnett led Post 12 with a big offensive game. The third baseman, a two-year varsity starter at MHS, went 3-for-3 with a double and run scored. Burnett doubled to the left-center field gap and scored on a base hit by Nick McNamara in the top of the sixth.
McNamara fired five beautiful innings of two-hit relief while his teammates tried to generate enough runs to get back in the game. Post 12 scored twice in the fifth when Brian Mantie and Eric Fowler singled and came home on a fielder’s choice and error.
Sunday’s loss was tough to take after Somerville took a 3-1 lead into the sixth inning with Will Haduch cruising along on the mound. Flemington started to rally against Haduch in the sixth, so Snyder brought in Mike Kaminski, who was hurt by the umpire’s high strike zone.
Kaminski tried to preserve the team’s 3-2 lead in the seventh but Flemington took advantage of a favorable hitter’s strike zone and scored five runs for a 7-3 win.
"Kaminski keeps the ball down and the umpire didn’t have a low strike zone," Snyder said. "He had to come up in the zone, which is where hitters like the ball."
Somerville scored the first run of the night with a two-out rally in the second. Zamorsky tripled and scored on a bloop single by Chris DeMarco. With the game tied at 1-1, Somerville scored twice to take the lead in the fourth. Lenny Rutledge reached on a fielder’s choice and scored on a double by Sean Cruz, who came home on a fielder’s choice.
Post 12 was scheduled to return to action Thursday night for three games in as many nights. The team will host Bridgewater-Raritan and Ridge on Thursday and Friday at 6 p.m. at Manville High and make a short road trip to Hillsborough for a Saturday night game at 5 p.m.

