Lost bus contributes to frustration
by Rudy Brandl, Sports Editor
The Manville High baseball team experienced a great deal of frustration opening the 2009 season last week.
First, the team bus got lost on its way to Belvidere April 1, and it wasn’t an April Fool’s Day joke. The Mustangs ventured too far up Route 287 and wound up in New York, nowhere near their Warren County destination. They spent three hours on a bus ride to nowhere and returned home having spent three hours on the bus.
Manville found its way to Belvidere Thursday and played well for most of the game but one big inning turned a tight contest into a 10-0 blowout. Belvidere scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth to spoil an otherwise decent effort by the Mustangs and senior ace Joe Burnett.
”It was the same kind of thing that happened to us last year,” MHS second-year skipper Dan Sferrazza said. “We were playing phenomenal in the first five innings. Joe pitched great and the defense played great. Then they scored all those runs.”
Sferrazza was annoyed at the final score because it didn’t paint an accurate picture of what transpired in the game. The early innings went back-and-forth and the Mustangs were right in the game. The lopsided final result made the Mustangs look and feel worse after a frustrating first two days of the season.
”If you lose 2-0 or 3-0, it’s still positive and it gives you something to build on,” Sferrazza said. “It would have been nice to get out only down by a few runs. We beat ourselves. We had errors on routine plays. It was frustrating.”
Belvidere starter Chris Welles held the Mustangs to four hits and two walks while striking out four in the six-inning victory. Welles wasn’t overpowering but used good control to keep Manville off the board.
”He threw a lot of strikes but we were swinging and we were aggressive,” Sferrazza said. “He didn’t throw that hard. He threw slow and slower and we were off on our timing.”
The Mustangs had their chances to score. Sophomore shortstop Brendan Nurnberger roped a double and Burnett, Drew Warren and Anthony Fasano all smacked singles but were stranded on the bases.
”We had guys on base,” Sferrazza said. “We just couldn’t get the key hit. We had two guys on in the fourth and fifth.”
That’s when the game was still close. A clutch hit or two could have changed the complexion of the game. After stopping MHS threats in those two frames, the County Seaters put the game away with a big bottom of the fifth to chase Burnett, who had thrown a solid game.
The Manville senior right-hander struck out four and walked three before Nurnberger took over with two men on in the fifth. Jake Sarson greeted him with a three-run home run for the big blow of the fifth inning. Belvidere clinched the mercy rule victory with another run in the bottom of the sixth.
”I hate that 10-0 score,” Sferrazza said. “It was definitely a closer game than the score shows. About 20 minutes of that game got out of hand.”
The Mustangs weren’t at full strength in the opener, missing starting third baseman Billy Mazzucca and infielder Nick DeSantis, who will also be a big part of the pitching rotation. That just added to the frustration of the season opening loss that took two days because of the bus fiasco.
”We were on the bus for three hours,” Sferrazza said. “The kids were focused and ready to go. It was not a good way to start the season.”
The Mustangs were scheduled to host North Warren and Hackettstown this week before traveling to Perth Amboy Tech Thursday afternoon. Last Friday’s game at Rutgers Prep was postponed due to rain.

