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MANVILLE: Baseball bats boom in home victory

DeSantis goes 4-for-4

by Rudy Brandl, Sports Editor
   Nick DeSantis knew exactly what he had to do when he stepped into the batter’s box in the bottom of the sixth inning of last Friday’s game in Manville.
   The Manville High senior wasn’t worried about extending his perfect day at the plate. Individual statistics aren’t important when a team is trying to win a ballgame. His main focus was driving in teammate Josh Michalski to clinch a rare mercy rule victory for his team.
   DeSantis, who had hits in his previous four at-bats in the game, delivered. With two strikes on him, DeSantis stroked a long sacrifice fly to center field that allowed Michalski to trot home with the game-ending run in Manville’s 14-4 victory over St. Mary’s of Elizabeth.
   ”I just wanted to put the ball in play,” said DeSantis, who smacked three singles and a long triple before the game-ending sac fly. “I just wanted to get him home.”
   The Mustangs (2-5) have shown some signs of life the past two weeks after enduring a winless campaign in 2008. Manville broke a 22-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory at Perth Amboy Tech eight days before posting its first home win since 2007 last Friday. This year’s team also has taken a few lumps, losing four games by the mercy rule, so nobody should blame the Mustangs for putting the hurt on one of their opponents.
   ”It’s something we haven’t done a lot of,” MHS second-year skipper Dan Sferrazza said afterward. “It feels good to finally do something to a team that gets done to us.”
   The Mustangs got started right away in the bottom of the first. DeSantis, the team’s leadoff man, roped a 2-0 pitch into left field for a single. Sophomore second baseman Joe Talnagi followed with a bullet single that was misplayed by the center fielder. DeSantis never stopped running and scored all the way from first, while Talnagi sprinted to third base. Brendan Nurnberger made it 2-0 with an RBI groundout to third base.
   Senior cleanup hitter Joe Burnett, the starting and winning pitcher, started a new rally with a base hit up the middle. Courtesy runner Nick Janner stole second and scored on Ryan Jankowski’s double to center. Drew Warren ripped an RBI double to the right-center field gap to make it 4-0.
   Manville added a run in the second when DeSantis singled, stole two bases and scored on an error. DeSantis enjoyed a career day going 4-for-4 with four runs scored and three RBI.
   ”The pitching was a little bit slow,” DeSantis said. “I just adjusted, moved up in the box and hit it. I like hitting leadoff. I like to get on base because I’m fast. I got to first and stole my way to third just about every time today.”
   Burnett worked out of minor jams in the first two innings but St. Mary’s pushed across three runs against him in the top of the third to make the game interesting. Two walks opened the door for the visitors, who added two timely hits to cut the deficit to 5-3.
   Manville got those runs back with one in the third and two in the fourth. Jankowski reached on an error and scored on Nick Pankowski’s single in the third. DeSantis singled and scored on a double by Talnagi, who came home on Jankowski’s single in the fourth.
   Talnagi came on in the fourth in relief of Burnett, who was sick and also hampered by a sore elbow. Talnagi was very effective in his three innings, allowing just one run and one hit with a walk and five strikeouts. Burnett picked up the win and Talnagi pitched beautifully to earn the save.
   ”Joe Talnagi did a nice job,” Sferrazza said. “He threw well. He threw strikes. That’s what you want to do against a team like that.”
   The Mustangs put the game away with five runs in the bottom of the fifth, batting around for the first time this season. Anthony Fasano joined the hit parade with a rope single to center and Michalski followed with a walk. DeSantis smoked a booming triple to deep right field for a 9-4 lead.
   ”They had a new pitcher in that inning and he jammed me with a fastball inside on the first pitch,” DeSantis said. “I knew it was coming again so I stepped my left foot out and went opposite field with it.”
   DeSantis scored on an infield single by Talnagi, who had three hits, three runs and two RBI in the victory. Talnagi stole second and third and scored when the ball got away from the catcher on a strikeout. Jankowski walked with two outs and scored on Warren’s single to right field.
   ”We’ve had men on base before but we haven’t been getting the RBI hits,” Sferrazza said. “We had some guys do that today.”
   DeSantis led the way. After struggling at the plate in recent games, DeSantis used the entire field to spray his hits.
   ”He’s always been a good opposite field hitter,” Sferrazza said. “He finally realized it today. He’s been struggling, so it was nice to see him hit the ball.”
   The Mustangs hit up and down the lineup, scoring in all six innings to hit a season-high in runs (14) and hits (13). The most impressive part of the game for the head coach, however, had nothing to do with hitting.
   ”The biggest thing is that we didn’t make any errors,” Sferrazza said. “That’s the thing I’m most proud of. They put the ball in play and we had to make plays. We made some nice plays and didn’t make any errors. You can see it in the final score.”