NORTH BRUNSWICK — The 5-1 victory by the MIddlesex High School baseball team over South Plainfield Saturday was a testament to how complete the unbeaten Blue Jays have become.
Junior lefty Kris Fellin threw 66 pitches in a complete game to help Middlesex improve to 15-0.
Senior designated hitter Chris Petiya slugged a two-run homer and junior first baseman Dan Berardi hit a solo shot. Fellin (3-0) ended the speedy 1-hour and 46-minute game by picking off a pinch-runner at first, then getting South Plainfield standout senior center fielder Mark Tomei on a lineout to junior shortstop Tyler Heisch, who stabbed the ball trotting into shallow left to send everybody home.
The game was one of eight in the annual Autism Awareness Tournament at Community Park in North Brunswick.
Though the game wasn’t perfect for the Blue Jays – they did have some careless base running and South Plainfield (8-7) completed three double plays, two by senior second baseman Chris Kukuch – Fellin’s doggedness, fine fielding and the big bats made that facet of the game irrelevant.
Fellin said he wanted to pitch to contact. He struck out one, gave up five hits, walked two and got 14 outs in the air – junior center fielder Tommy Marcinczyk getting eight putouts.
“As long as we catch the ball he (Fellin) is always going to be good, in the last couple of years when he’s on that’s how his games have gone – 70 pitches, 80 pitches, he battled,’’ said Middlesex coach Mike O’Donnell.
Berardi’s homer in the second was certainly noteworthy. His line drive to center hit off Tomei’s glove and over the fence.
The Blue Jays scored four runs in the bottom of the third. Petiya had the big hit, a home run – his fourth in three years at the Community Park complex and second of the season here.
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