By: Rich Fisher
This past Monday will not go down as one of the more successful days in South Brunswick Post 401 baseball annals.
While South Brunswick was suffering a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Father & Son of Edison, Milltown was rolling to three victories during the day two over South River and one over Old Bridge.
The Milltown hat trick allowed it to move into first place in the Middlesex County American Legion League’s South Division. Both teams also won on Tuesday, putting Milltown at 16-2 and South Brunswick at 15-3. Each teams had four games left entering Wednesday.
Post 401 is still in the playoffs, but if it does not manage to make up two games on Milltown, it will have to win a playoff series to reach the states.
"I don’t think it’s disappointing falling into second, because the guys have played phenomenal baseball all year," assistant coach Lamonte Forthun said. "At the beginning of the season, when we were looking at the rosters, we knew Edison (Father & Son), Milltown and us would be quality teams, and a number of other teams be pretty good as well.
"Milltown is a stacked team, they have a lot of seniors and college freshman. They’re phenomenal, no question about it. But we’ve got quality baseball players, a lot of guys who are real good. We didn’t play a great game against Edison, but it’s tough without your best hitter (Jarred Jimenez) in your lineup. And (Kevin) Dalton is a phenomenal pitcher. They saved their best for us."
Which is a frequent occurrence with South Brunswick this year, since Post 401 has set the pace for most of the season.
"When everyone throws their best guys at you, it’s a good compliment to our team," Forthun said. "It’s also better for our players, because they’re seeing better pitchers and they’re getting used to it."
South Brunswick only trailed 1-0 behind Mark Povlosky, until a four-run seventh inning put it away for Father & Son. That allowed Milltown to sneak into first place.
Milltown set itself up to make a move last Thursday when it claimed a 4-3 victory over Post 401.
"That had the intensity of a playoff game," coach Tony Cosumano said. "I still think we’re as good as them. But we played our B game against a team you have to play your A game against."
It was Milltown’s second win in three tries against the locals.
Milltown took a 1-0 lead in the second before South tied it in the bottom of the third when Devin Quaglietta singled home Jimenez, who had singled and stole second. South Brunswick took the lead in the third when Nick Alberino singled, Russ Grimes sacrificed and Ryan Webb singled to put runners at first and third. Webb moved up on a passed ball, and both runners scored on Jimenez’s single.
But Milltown used a three-run rally in the sixth to win it, sending Scott Basarab to his second loss of the season. Matt Metsch’s two-run double plated the tying and winning runs.
"Basarab pitched a great game," Cosumano said. "But we made some mistakes."
South Brunswick out-hit Milltown, 11-5, but could not come up with a big hit to break it open. In the seventh, Travis Smart and Mike McCormick singled to put runners on first and third with one out. With the infield in, Kyle Breese hit one to the right side that the second baseman just got his glove on and made the play at first.
That left runners on second and third. Alberino then hit a smash up the middle that was knocked down by the pitcher, who nipped Alberino on a bang-bang play.
"We played a pretty decent game and we just had a couple minor mistakes," Forthun said. "We had our opportunities, we just didn’t get guys in when needed to."
After leading the South Division for the entire season, South Brunswick has let its stranglehold on an automatic state berth slip. Even if Post 401 and Milltown tie, Milltown earns the tie-breaker due to head-to-head competition.
The way the playoffs are set up this year, the top two first-place teams from the North, Central and South Divisions will meet in the Middlesex County Championship game. Both teams advance to the New Jersey State tournament, whether they win or lose.
The remainder of the playoffs sets up with the third best first-place team taking on the second-place team with the worst record. The final two second-place teams will meet in the other playoff.
While the championship game is one-and-done, the other two playoff rounds will be best of three, to be played Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The winners of those playoff rounds also advance to the states.
As of Tuesday, South Brunswick had the best second-place record, and would play the team with the second-best second-place record.
Sandwiched between the losses to Milltown and Father & Son were a pair of victories over Old Bridge on Sunday by scores of 7-2 and 5-4.
In the first game, Jimenez (double, two RBI), McCormick (RBI), Breese (two hits), Grimes (two hits, RBI) and Mark Povlosky (single, two-run triple) led the offense. Tyler Chromey pitched six innings for the win and Webb threw the seventh.
In the second game, Matt Forthun’s two-run single in the sixth provided the game-winning hit after Povlosky and Webb had singled. Forthun also got the win, while Basarab picked up the team’s first save of the year.
But one day later, SB slipped from its first-place perch.
"We need to win our games and we need some help," Forthun said. "If we get some help, we may end up jumping ahead."
If not, there’s always the playoffs.
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In Tuesday’s win over New Brunswick, Smart threw a four-hitter and also collected four hits, including two doubles and a triple. Smart had three RBI. Jimenez homered, Anthony Viani had four hits and Quaglietta had an RBI single.
