BY RICHARD JEROME
Staff Writer
The 14-13 Monroe High School team is playing some of its best baseball of the season, and it couldn’t come at a more opportune time.
On Monday, head coach Greg Beyer’s Falcons won one of the few state tournament games in the school’s recent history, besting Hamilton, 4-2. Then they followed that up with a 4-1 win over Old Bridge.
“Right now we’re going on all cylinders,” said Beyer. “We’ve set a school record for home runs, the pitching staff is doing a nice job, and after being our weak point earlier in the season, the defense is coming back strong.”
Any discussion of Monroe baseball has to begin with Jarred Jiminez, the 5-10, 190-pound junior catcher who, quite simply, is playing in some higher league all his own. Jiminez has terrorized area pitching, while rewriting the school record book. He leads the conference with 12 home runs; to put that into context, the school record for a career is 8. He has 47 hits, 16 better than the Monroe record, and has 29 RBIs, another Falcon mark — this while batting out of the leadoff slot (he also has six leadoff homers).
Other records include stolen bases for a season, 25, and 41 runs scored. Going into tomorrow’s second-round state contest against Ewing, Jiminez has a .516 batting average. The present school standard is .483. Oh, and he also had a 25-game hitting streak.
“One of the best moves we’ve made was putting him at leadoff,” said Beyer. “When he was batting third or cleanup, people pitched around him. He’s just a great kid, wonderful to coach, and one of our captains.”
Another key player is senior Anthony Viani, who has played all over the infield and outfield, while batting .390. He’s also a captain and major team leader.
Junior center fielder Nick Alberino is batting .364 and providing some dazzling defense, and another junior, Marc Povlosky is acing the pitching staff, with a 6-0 mark and a 1.54 ERA. He’s also hit .325 with three homers.
The second starter, senior Scott Basarab, was All-Division last year, but has had some hard luck, with a 4-6 record.
“He’s pitched much better than his record indicates, against some tough teams,” said Beyer.
The No. 3 pitcher, junior Mike Doros, is also the third baseman. At the hot corner, he has provided solid defense, while at the plate, he has five homers and 25 ribbies.
Freshman shortstop Marc Magliaro has flashed a fine glove and surprised with a .393 average on 22 hits, all singles.
“He has played well above expectations,” Beyer said.
Rounding out the rest of the squad, soph first and third baseman Richie Feldham is hitting .290, right fielder Eddie Klecan, a junior, is at .270, senior left fielder Ronnie Chmura is playing good defense, while senior A.J. Morabito fills in at first, serves as an excellent role player and has won some games with his sharp glove work.
Junior Mike Lezzo, primarily a DH, has hit three homers, Matt Kalbach plays first and also pitches — in fact he had a complete-game triumph against Old Bridge Tuesday. As for junior Adam Liebross, “he’s an unsung hero who will do anything needed,” Beyer said.”
The coach is also extremely high on his assistants: Brian Josefiwicz, a former Division I player, Jim Griffin, volunteer Gene Sparaco, JV coach Gary Schneider, freshman coach Ron Herrick, and Vince Mazzilli, who runs the eighth-grade club.
“I’m very lucky to have them,” Beyer said.
Diamond notes … With the postseason in full swing, a number of local teams are in action this week chasing down titles.
The East Brunswick Bears fell out of the Central Jersey Group IV race with a 4-1 loss to Freehold Township on Monday. The Bears came in as the fifth seed, but could not add to a third-inning run, scored by Matt Metsch on a Billy Krapf sacrifice fly.
However, East Brunswick still has plenty to play for, namely the GMC Tournament title. The Bears advanced to the June 1 title game, where they will face top seed and defending champion St. Joseph, with a 13-7 pounding of J.F. Kennedy on Saturday.
The Bears jumped out to a 9-0 lead before the resilient Mustangs fought back to get within three. But Metsch gave EB some breathing room with a two-run triple in the fourth inning, and the Bears cruised from there. Among the heavy hitters for the Bears on Saturday were Chris Affinito, Nick Meyers, Metsch and Krapf, who combined to go 9-for-15, including a three-run home run from the Seton Hall-bound Affinito, his fourth of the year.
Meyers handled the pitching, and had his poorest outing all year, but will look to bounce back in the June 1 final at Commerce Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, where he will face Chris Parenti, who out-dueled him 1-0 earlier this year.
The Freehold Township Patriots move on to face fourth-seeded Sayreville in the 164CJ Group IV tournament. The Bombers had a bye in the first round, and will host the second-round matchup tomorrow.
The South River Rams will be in action tomorrow, facing Jonathon Dayton in the second round of the CJ Group I tournament. Head coach Mike Lepore’s squad continued its solid recent play with a 3-1 win over Roselle Park in the first round on Monday.
Frank Fiumecaldo threw a complete-game, five-hitter to get the win, while Tom Lefever and Dan Kosko delivered the big blows — back-to-back RBI singles in the top of the seventh — to lead the Rams to the upset.
The Spotswood Chargers, the second seed in the CJ Group II tourney, will see their first state tournament action tomorrow when they host Bordentown in the second round. Bordentown, the seventh seed, knocked off 10th-seeded Rahway, 5-4, on Monday to advance.
The Old Bridge Knights saw their hopes for a state title dashed on Monday with a 3-1 loss to Rancocas in their CJ Group IV opener.