Morristown 5, South Plainfield 3 (High school Baseball scores and results)
The Star Ledger, May 25, 2010 9:32 p.m.
By Bob Behre
Great state tournament games can have outstanding plays, clutch hits, gritty pitching efforts and game-ending dramatics.
Morristown and South Plainfield somehow packed all of the above into seven full innings of baseball nirvana yesterday in the NJSIAA/Star-Ledger North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 semifinals in South Plainfield.
While one big moment followed another throughout this fantastic contest, both teams will be stirred awake for years by the memory of Morristown’s Brandon Gonnella chasing down the game’s final out at the top of the center field fence as three South Plainfield base runners scampered toward home with the potential tying and winning runs.
But Gonnella caught Matt Cesare’s rocket for the third out and Morristown, No. 20 in The Star-Ledger Top 20, survived to defeat No. 1 South Plainfield, 5-3, and advance to the sectional final. Fifth-seeded Morristown (22-9) will travel to third-seeded Cranford on Friday.
Brandon Theriault had broken up a tense 1-1 game for Morristown when he blasted a two-out grand slam in the top of the seventh that staked his team to a seemingly insurmountable 5-1 lead.
But Gonnella, who had limited South Plainfield to a single, unearned, run on four hits over the first six innings, ran out of gas in the bottom of the seventh against the dangerous South Plainfield lineup.
Carlos Ruiz started South Plainfield’s rally with a leadoff single and Dan Hansen, who had surrendered the grand slam to Theriault, rocked a shot over the fence in right-center field for a two-run home run that shaved the deficit to 5-3. With that, Morristown coach Josh Ury lifted Gonnella, sending him to center field, and asked closer Mark Palumbo to get him three outs.
Mark Tomei, the No. 9 hitter, doubled with one out and Palumbo then walked leadoff batter Rob Pasternak to put the tying run on base. He then got Mark Benak on a bouncer to first base that moved the runners over and brought up Brandon Downes, who entered the game with a state-leading 15 home runs.
Ury wasn’t going to mess with Downes, intentionally walking the slugger to face Cesare. That may have been a better option for Morristown, but certainly not a comfortable one. Cesare, who had held Morristown to one run on six hits in six innings of work, had hit six home runs this season.
Cesare smacked Palumbo’s 1-1 offering deep to straightaway center field as every fan in the crowd jumped to his or her feet. Gonnella raced back and, with his back to the infield, took one last long stride to snare the ball above the fence.
“I think it may have hit the top of the fence or went over,” Gonnella said. “I thought the fence was closer than it was when I took that last step.”
Gonnella’s outstanding catch may not have been the best one in the game. Ruiz, caught a blast by Chad Fu for the last out of the second inning with a runner aboard as he crashed into and fell over the right field fence.
Gonnella (8-1) was able to navigate the minefield that is the South Plainfield lineup on three days rest. Though, he admitted, he tired at the end.
“I wasn’t hurting, but I was a little tired,” he said. “I wanted to close it out myself but I left a curveball up to (Hansen).”
South Plainfield scored an unearned run in the fifth when Ruiz walked with one out, stole second and scored on a fielding error by Theriault. But Morristown evened the score with two outs in the top of the sixth. Cleanup hitter P.J. Jennings hit an absolute missile into the trees beyond the left field fence for a solo home run.
Hansen, relieving Cesare, struck out Ray Shupe to start the top of the seventh, but then walked Alex Ramirez and surrendered a single to Fu. Andrew Bariantaris’ sacrifice bunt moved the runners over. After Hansen went to 2-0 on the leadoff hitter, Palumbo, South Plainfield coach Anthony Guida ordered him intentionally walked to load the bases and set up a force.
That set up Theriault’s heroics.
“I was just trying to stay calm and get a good swing on it,” Theriault said. Hansen then delivered an 0-1 fastball. “It was outside and a little high and I just went that way. It was a very emotional feeling.”
The loss was a tough one for a South Plainfield team that had been ranked No. 1 in the past three polls.
“I told our guys, no matter the score, we still had outs left,” said Guida about his team’s approach in its last at-bat. “It’s a team with unbelievable resilience. They are comfortable as long as they have one out left and they battle to the very end.”
BOX SCORE:
http://highschoolsports.nj.com/news/article/-1936374345374506671/morristown-5-south-plainfield-3-high-school-baseball-scores-and-results/
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North 2 Group III
MORRISTOWN 5, SOUTH PLAINFIELD 3:
Morristown scored four runs in the top of the seventh to take a 5-1 lead over South Plainfield. The Tigers scored twice in the bottom of the inning, but it was not enough.
Daniel Hansen hit a home run for South Plainfield (24-3) and Carlos Ruiz finished with a hit and two runs scored.
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