SOUTH PLAINFIELD TIGERS
STATE GROUP 3 CHAMPIONS FOR 2015!!!
WE NEVER LOSE ON D-DAY, JUNE 6th
(Courtesy of Dan Hansen)
(Courtesy of Nick McKee)
(Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
(Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
(Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
(Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
(Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
(Courtesy of Nick McKee)
(Courtesy of Nick McKee)
(Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
(Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
South Plainfield outslugs No. 7 Northern Burlington to win Group 3 title
By Joe Zedalis | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on June 06, 2015 1:41 PM, updated June 06, 2015 2:12 PM
TOMS RIVER -- It was a season to remember for 10, history-making, South Plainfield seniors.
Opportunistic South Plainfield tacked on runs in the fifth and sixth innings and Jake Alba threw four innings of one-run relief and the Tigers won the first state championship in school history with an 8-4 victory over Northern Burlington on Saturday at Toms River North.
"It's everything, being a senior, you want to come out here, get a victory for your last game, and for us 10 seniors, it just means everything," said senior third baseman Chris Graves. "It sums up our entire baseball career to end up with a state championship."
South Plainfield received two hits and two RBI from Graves, two hits and two runs scored from leadoff hitter Kyle Dickerson and two hits from No. 9 hitter Chris Marrero. Five of the South Plainfield hits were of the infield variety.
"I felt like the bunting, we bunt in practice," Graves said. "We bunted today. (There was) slippery ground. They couldn't really field it. They made some errors and we capitalized with four hits."
Meanwhile Alba (7-2) was nearly lights out. He entered the game with two on and no outs in the bottom of the third. Using a mix of two and four seam fastballs and an off-speed breaking pitch, Alba confounded the Northern Burlington hitters.
Alba allowed one run -- in the sixth -- he struck out five, walked two and allowed three hits.
"Honestly, everything was working today," Alba said. "Every inning we talked int he dugout with the pitching coaches about who was coming up and how to pitch them. We really didn't scout them that much, but we knew from their stances how we wanted to pitch them."
South Plainfield (24-8) scratched for a run in the first. Ryan Shinn ticked a pitch off the shoe of leadoff hitter Kyle Dickerson on the game's third pitch. Dickerson was sacrificed to second. After Bryan Gillen sent a ball to the warning track in left that was caught by Paul Woodley, Graves dunked a single to left center plating Dickerson and giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
Northern Burlington (27-5) responded with a run of its own in the last of the first. With one out Zack Wright reached on an infield single. With two strikes, Shinn followed with a booming double down the left field line scoring Wright from first. But with a runner of second and one out, South Plainfield starter Vincent Pellegrino retired the side with a pair of grounders, but the scored was tied, 1-1.
In the top of third, South Plainfield took advantage of a Shinn error and a bout with wildness. Dickerson reached on a a swinging roller up the third base line. Then with L.J. Scarpitto bunting, Shinn misplayed the sacrifice for an error. Gillen walked to load the bases.
An infield grounder scored Dickerson then, with two strikes, Nick Polizzano slashed a single to right center for an RBI then a successful squeeze by Tommy Gunn made it 4-1. The final run of the inning scored on a wild pitch.
Northern Burlington responded with two runs in the last of the third. Shinn's second hit -- a drifting triple to right -- and a massive, two-run homer by Bret Parlante cut the South Plainfieldlead to 5-3.
South Plainfield added two runs in the fifth on an RBI single by pinch-hitter Wilfredo Rivera and the second wild pitch by Shinn.
The run in the sixth scored on a sacrifice fly to Gillen.
Northern Burlington had eight hits but had trouble scoring for one of the few times all season.
"We had eight hit, but they outplayed us," said Northern Burlington head coach Rick Doppler.
http://highschoolsports.nj.com/news/article/-2444193407908872805/baseball/
Alba leads South Plainfield baseball to Group III title
Matt Silva, @mattysilv
3:14 p.m. EDT June 6, 2015
TOMS RIVER – South Plainfield High School’s Jake Alba came on for starter Vincent Pellegrino in a tough spot in the fourth inning. With two on and no outs, Alba put together two straight strikeouts and got the Tigers out of the jam. He’d end the day with a strikeout to make history for South Plainfield.
Alba collected five strikeouts, three hits and one walk through four innings of relief, leading South Plainfield to an 8-4 win over Northern Burlington for their first ever Group III title at Toms River North High School on Saturday.
Protecting a two-run lead, Alba challenged hitters with a fastball and curveball combo that took Northern Burlington by surprise as the lead continued to grow. It was a similar situation to their win 4-2 over Cranford for Alba.
“First thoughts coming in is this is Cranford all over again, but we were up this time,” said Alba. “Coming in with the lead, my job is to shut them down and I tried to do my job as best as I can. The offense helped me out by tacking on extra runs.”
“We wanted to win so bad today that there was just no way we were going to lose.”
Alba allowed one run in the sixth, but killed the rally by striking out leadoff man Tyler O’Dell, freezing him with an inside fastball and coaxing a fly out from Zack Wright to strand two runners. Alba went inside to lock the Greyhounds up and it worked to perfection.
“I like to stick to my fastball and my curveball. I think that really threw them off. Late in the game, last two innings, I tried jamming them inside,” said Alba. “Coming inside was like a new pitch to them. They couldn’t really do anything with it and I spotted it so good that all they could do was foul it off.”
South Plainfield coach Anthony Guida couldn’t say enough about Alba’s ability to come in with the pressure on. He never had any doubt things would work out.
“He doesn’t care any time there’s pressure on, he’s as cool as anything,” said Guida. “I felt very comfortable going with him when we were at Cranford just as comfortable as I was today.”
The Tigers did everything right offensively to make sure the lead never diminished. Using small-ball tactics, South Plainfield racked up four runs in the top of the third inning. The results handed Northern Burlington starter Ryan Shinn with his first loss of the season (9-1).
After a dribbler from Kyle Dickerson and LJ Scarpitto reaching on an error, Bryan Gillen walked on four pitches and Chris Graves scored Dickerson on a groundout to short.
Shortstop Nick Polizanno followed that up with an RBI single to score Scarpitto and Sean Erhardt put on a squeeze to score Gillen. Polizanno came home on a wild pitch to make it a 5-1 game heading into the bottom of the third.
Dickerson was a catalyst at the top of the lineup, reaching base four times on a 2-for-2 effort with a bunt single, a walk, a hit by pitch and two runs scored for the Tigers. The designated hitter is the embodiment of what South Plainfield wants to do offensively and the senior explained that the small-ball attitude has been a part of this team’s game since they were kids.
“We’ve always been a small-ball team since we were younger. We’ve been playing together since we’ve been eight years old. Me leading off and doing everything for these guys and them coming through to hit me in is great,” said Dickerson.
Guida commended Dickerson for jumping right into the lineup later in the season and getting the job done.
“His season started April 27th. He had surgery; the first day he was eligible to play he led off the game for us. He knows exactly what to do, he knows how to work the count, he’s our best base runner we’ve ever had here. With him on base, we feel pretty confident. Him getting on base four times kind of set the tone for us,” said Guida.
Guida seemed to have the right call for every situation. The skipper called Wilfredo Rivera to pinch-hit for Tommy Dunn and he delivered an RBI single in the fifth, making it 7-3 going into the bottom of the frame.
Pellegrino allowed three runs in three innings as the starter, giving up a triple to Shinn and a two-run shot to Brett Parlante in the bottom of the third. Chris Graves went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI at the hot corner for South Plainfield.
In bringing the first ever title for South Plainfield, Alba explained that it wasn’t just for the guys on the field. The win is truly for everyone at South Plainfield past, present and future.
“It’s definitely something special because you might now realize it now, but you’re not just winning this for yourself or your parents or your team,” said Alba. “You’re winning this for the town. You’re winning it for all the people that have ever played for the South Plainfield Tigers and down to the little kids that are here watching us play.”
“For me to be an inspiration to them and to the older guys, it just means so much.”
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/sports/high-school/baseball/2015/06/06/south-plainfield-baseball-group-iii-title/28605313/
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