BY MIKE McDONALD
Staff Writer
SCOTT PILLING staff JFK’s Nick Oczkowski gets a hold of a pitch during a recent road game against South River. The John F. Kennedy High School baseball team (7-7) started off the season slowly, but much like last year, the team has come on strong in the second half of the season.
“Last year’s team finished the season with a 17-13 record,” JFK coach Jerry Smith Jr. said. “However, that team started slow as well, but we came together late and started playing well, much as we have done this year.”
Smith believes that this year’s team needed to gain experience during the first half of the season and is now firing on all cylinders, and is right where Smith wants them to be with a .500 record.
Along with gaining experience, Smith has also had to make changes defensively to improve on the team’s poor performance during the first half of the season.
“We simply were not playing well enough defensively so changes needed to be made,” the coach said. “I now feel comfortable that our defense will play well.”
One of the changes was moving second baseman Mike Cabonillas, who is a junior, to the outfield.
“Mike is a great athlete, and I figured I would give him a try in the outfield where we needed help, and he has played great,” Smith said.
Smith believes another key to the team’s recent success (the Mustangs have gone 3-1 in their last four games) has been good pitching.
Smith also shook up the starting rotation, and so far, it has seemed to work.
“The pitching has definitely started to come around,” the coach said. “I moved Isaias Rodriguez back into the starting rotation. He began the season as a reliever. He has gone 3-1 since being moved. He is a lefty power pitcher, who now is pitching like the ace of the staff.”
The move of Rodriguez to the starting rotation left a void for a reliever, which Smith plugged with freshman Brian Schroeder.
“Brian is a catcher. But with senior Andrew Salas playing so well behind the plate, I wanted to get Schroeder’s bat in the lineup as well. So he is our designated hitter until he comes into the game in relief. It works out well,” Smith said.
Andrew Salas is one of two seniors in the starting lineup.
“Andrew has done a great job in making himself a better catcher,” Smith said. “He always has had a good arm behind the plate, but now he definitely has the best in the division. He has been really impressive in all our offensive categories as well.”
The other senior in the starting lineup is Mike Paluzzi.
“Mike plays outfield,” the coach said. “He is a good hitter and hits either fourth, fifth or sixth in our lineup. He stepped up defensively and is one of our better defensive outfielders.”
Rafael Cardero has made great improvements to his game as well.
“Rafael has been very impressive offensively,” Smith said. “He has taken 16 walks in 14 games, which is a great ratio. I moved him back into the second slot in our lineup, so we can take advantage of his great on-base percentage.”
The junior plays a strong shortstop as well, according to his coach.
Juniors Vinny Marciano and John Lemmongelli have contributed to the success of this year’s team as well.
“Vinny was our third baseman last year, but this year he has served as our utility man, filling in where we need him,” Smith said. “He has done a great job playing wherever we need him to. John has done a great job in the outfield.”
Mike Giorando has played first base, while Chris Gimes mans the hot corner at third.
“Mike and Chris play the corner positions of the infield extremely well,” said Smith.
Mike Kubu has been the team’s pinch hitter and No. 3 starter, while Chris Galadyk has been the team’s pinch runner all year.
“It is important to have players on your bench that can come into the game at any point and get that hit or steal that base,” Smith said.
The rejuvenated Mustangs are in the midst of a tough week. Monday, the team was home to another surging team from Middlesex High School. Tuesday the team was home to Metuchen, and today they are scheduled to take on fifth-ranked Spotswood High School.
Tomorrow JFK is at Highland Park – the fourth division game of the week.
“We are 6-2 in the Blue Division of the Greater Middlesex Conference but we trail division leader Spotswood by two games,” Smith said. “We need to win out to have a chance of winning the division. However, we must take each game this week one by one. We can’t look past any of these teams. We have to finish above .500 to make the state tournament. We just have to take it game by game and play hard.”
The cutoff for qualifying for the state tournament is Saturday.