Sean Moylan Sports Writer
With two outs in the bottom of the first of last Friday’s NJSIAA Group I Central Jersey Championship game versus Robbinsville, Stevie Giambrone launched a booming triple to right field and the home crowd stood up in their seats and took it as a sign the Florence High baseball team was about to embark on one of its famous offensive explosions.
It wasn’t.
Except for some great hitting by Giambrone, Robbinsville’s senior ace Brian Greubel pretty much shut down the Flashes’ high-octane offense until the fifth. But by then the Ravens’ had a 5-0 lead and they were well on their way to a 9-3 championship win over the Flashes.
Going into the fifth, Florence had manufactured just three hits (two ropes by Giambrone and a clean single to right by Clint Rockhill) off of Greubel.
Florence put in Corey Linico as a pinch-runner for Jake Dewitt, who led off the fifth with a walk. Linico moved over to third on Corey Haluska’s hard single to right and Rockhill then walked to juice the ýPage=014 Column=002 OK,0000.00þ
bases. Ian Groover then grounded out to Greubel, but on the play he drove in Linico with Florence’s first run of the game and advanced the other two runners.
Then came the turning point of the game. Leadoff hitter Quentin Loftin hit a single to center, which scored Haluska’s pinch runner Mike Boyd. But when Rockhill also tried to score he was cut down at the plate by a rocket throw by Robbinsville center fielder Mark Magariello. The play at the plate was a very close bang-
bang play. The next batter grounded out to end the inning.
“We had the momentum going I think you have to send him there. I’d do it again,” said Florence head varsity baseball coach Joe Frappollo Jr.
Giambrone reached on a smash to short to lead off the sixth. He later advanced a base on a wild pitch and eventually scored on an infield hit by Dewitt. Florence, however, ran itself out of that inning with some bad base-running. But poor baserunning, errors and walks hurt the usually fundamentally sound Flashes all game long.
Jimmy Martinson started for the Flashes and suffered the loss. He gave up five runs on ýPage=014 Column=003 OK,0000.00þ
six hits in the 3 and 2/3 innings of work. However, he was probably hurt more by the six walks he surrendered than anything else.
Martinson, a junior whose record fell to 3-2 with the loss, is actually a very good, hard-
working pitcher who was coming off a breakout sophomore season on the mound entering this season. Martinson is such a good hurler, second baseman and hitter that he was chosen with Giambrone to play on this year’s Burlington County Carpenter Cup team. However, with all the rainouts and postponements this season, Frappolli Jr. didn’t get Martinson enough work in against top-
flight teams.
“You always think it’s going to be your day, but every big game we’ve had this year Giambrone’s been on the mound,” noted Frappolli Jr.
Dewitt came in the game with two outs in the fourth and he actually pitched well until Robbinsville spoiled his outing by scoring four unearned runs to break the game open in the top of the seventh.
“They already had the lead by then and they were up 5-3 entering the seventh so we still had to come back no matter what. That gave them some inýPage=014 Column=004 OK,0000.00þ
surance runs but we’ve come back several times before. One through nine, we can hit the ball hard,” said Frappolli Jr. “You can’t say enough about Jake Dewitt (a freshman). He’s going to be one of our starting pitchers next year. And he’s sort of Stevie’s protege at shortstop.”
Florence will now have to say goodbye to a talented senior class which includes Haluska, Scott Meredith, Loftin and, of course, Giambrone.
“I’m proud of these guys. They had a great year. I feel bad for the seniors. You never like to say goodbye and this was their last game,” said Frappolli Jr.. “Stevie Giambrone is a gamer. He came to play today. And the range he’s shown at shortstop all year has been amazing.”
In his first season as the varsity head baseball coach, Frappolli Jr. led Florence to a 13-7 record and the Central Jersey Group I championship game. Not many coaches, outside of Robbinsville’s fine head coach Tom Brettell, can say the same.
“It was a beautiful day. We had a big crowd. I’d take these guys into battle any day,” said Frappolli Jr., who handled a tough loss with the same class and dignity as his famous father Joe Frappolli Sr., the head coach of the Florence varsity football team. As they say, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
