Venuto pumped about four-game streak
By: Rudy Brandl
The Manville High baseball team certainly has gained enough experience in close games this spring. With the state playoffs right around the corner, the Mustangs have picked the best time to start winning those tight ones.
Consider that the Mustangs entered the week riding a four-game win streak, but those four victories have come by a cumulative total of five runs. While Manville expected to knock off Dayton (7-5) and Bound Brook (2-1) more convincingly, veteran head coach Steve Venuto was thrilled with last week’s thrilling 3-2 victory at North Plainfield. The team started its streak with a dramatic 9-8 triumph over Highland Park.
"We’re getting experience in tight games winning with defense and pitching," Venuto said. "In the beginning of the year, we just couldn’t get enough runs. We starting to score runs and jumping out on teams to get the lead. We’re starting to catch up with the pitching."
Manville (9-4) improved its position in the Central Jersey Group 1 playoff bracket by winning all three games last week. Venuto couldn’t have hoped for a better week to prepare his team for the post-season. The Mustangs combined clutch hitting with great pitching and solid defense to win three tough games on the road.
Dayton and North Plainfield both left the bases loaded in their last at-bat when the Mustangs escaped with victories. Manville had scored two runs in the top of the eighth in Springfield and held on for a 7-5 victory. The Mustangs owned a 3-0 lead for most of the day in North Plainfield but had to survive another scary situation. Bound Brook didn’t pose a threat in the seventh inning but had men on base in the sixth inning after scoring to get back in that game.
"It was pretty nerve-wracking," Venuto said after the Dayton game. "Crazy things happen to me on that field. We just couldn’t get that knockout punch."
The Mustangs were rolling along but the Bulldogs tied the game with five runs in the fifth. Manville scored the eventual winning runs in the top of the eighth.
Joey Pohl singled, Robert Snyder walked and John Saladin walked to load the bases. Jimmy Thomaszfski walked to force in the go-ahead run and Chris Hardgrove bounced out to score courtesy runner Anthony Conti.
Snyder (2-0), on in relief of Justin Jurkowski, got himself into trouble in the bottom of the eighth. He walked the leadoff man and hit the second batter but got the next two guys to pop out. Then, Snyder walked the bases loaded before turning a comebacker into a force play at home plate to end the game.
Venuto handed the baseball to sophomore Eddie Gryzeski at North Plainfield and the young right-hander made a smashing varsity debut. Gryzeski went the distance to defeat a team that many Manville aces haven’t been able to beat the past few years.
"He did a great job," Venuto said. "He got ahead of the batters and had good control. He made them hit the ball and had a low pitch count. I was very impressed."
Gryzeski (1-0) threw 75 pitches and scattered seven hits and two walks while striking out five men. He worked out of a bases loaded jam to end the game.
"I was real nervous going into the game, but I felt pretty comfortable on the mound even though I hadn’t pitched in a real game since last year," Gryzeski said. "I just tried to hit my corner with my fastball. My curveball wasn’t on, so I was using my slider a lot. I got them out mostly with fastballs and sliders."
Manville took a 1-0 lead in the first inning and added two more runs in the third for a 3-0 cushion. Gryzeski opened the game with a walk and Hardgrove continued his red-hot hitting with a single. John Anderson walked with one out and Jurkowski hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score courtesy runner Conti.
Hardgrove, who has collected at least two hits during every game in the win streak, ripped a one-out single to start the surge in the third. Orlando Rodriguez belted an RBI triple to right-center and came home when Anderson stunned the Canucks with a squeeze bunt on a 1-2 pitch.
North Plainfield scored two in the bottom of the sixth and threatened to come all the way back in the seventh. A walk, an error and a stolen base put runners on second and third with Brian McFarlane at the plate. Gryzeski pitched around the No. 3 batter to load the bases for cleanup hitter Frank Veglatte, who grounded a 1-0 pitch to Jurkowski for a game-ending fielder’s choice.
"It was another barnburner but we hung tough with the defense," Venuto said. "It was a little payback. We knocked them right out of the post-season."
Venuto and the Mustangs weren’t expecting another close one at Bound Brook, especially with Anderson on the mound. The Crusaders also got a well-pitched game from Steve Lidster but Manville emerged with a 2-1 victory.
Hardgrove was the only Mustang with two hits. The senior designated hitter singled, stole second and scored on a Rodriguez base hit in the top of the first. Gryzeski singled, advanced on two errors and scored on a Rodriguez ground ball out in the third.
Lidster, the No. 9 hitter in the Crusader lineup, collected the only two hits against Anderson. The Manville senior righy struck out 10 batters and walked two while improving his personal record to 3-4. The rest of the staff, which now includes a sophomore, has combined for a 6-0 mark.
"We have confidence now that we’ve won a couple of games in a row," Gryzeski said. "We have the momentum going."