Zach Attianese, Old Bridge blank South Plainfield
Byon April 01, 2016 6:42 PM
OLD BRIDGE -- A healthy Zach Attianese flashed the form that made him the New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year in 2014 Friday, striking out nine and allowing two hits over six innings and led Old Bridge to a 6-0 victory over South Plainfield in an Opening Day meeting of Greater Middlesex Conference heavyweights.
South Plainfield won the Group 3 title last spring and Old Bridge was the Central Jersey Group 4 winner.
The North Carolina-bound Attianese, who was shut down late last season with arm soreness, threw 88 pitches. He featured a buzzing fastball and wicked breaking stuff. Attianese struggled with command -- mostly with his fastball, which missed up at times.
"My breaking ball was the better pitch today," Attianese said. "My command wasn't what I wanted it to be, but for the first day it wasn't too bad."
"Zach threw harder than he did all spring," said Old Bridge head coach Jimmy Freel.
Nick Polizzano had both hits for South Plainfield (0-1). He had a lead off double down the left field line in the fourth and an infield chopper over the third base bag for an infield single in the sixth.
Attianese threw six groundball outs in the game. He also helped himself by picking off two South Plainfield runners.
Old Bridge scored all of its runs during an 11-batter third inning. South Plainfield starter Jake Alba, who is usually a strike-throwing machine, threw 43 pitches in the inning.
Old Bridge (1-0) got the first two runners on in the third, then a dropped flyball allowed Sam Allen to score and opened the flood gates. Pete Marottoli drove in a run with an infield single and then an infield throwing error allowed two more runs to score. The Knights also scored a run on a bases loaded walk. Connor Romano also had an RBI hit during the rally.
Attianese was able to summon his best stuff in critical situations. With a runner on third with one out on the fourth, he induced a ground ball then struck out the final two hitters of the inning.
South Plainfield won the Group 3 title last spring and Old Bridge was the Central Jersey Group 4 winner.
The North Carolina-bound Attianese, who was shut down late last season with arm soreness, threw 88 pitches. He featured a buzzing fastball and wicked breaking stuff. Attianese struggled with command -- mostly with his fastball, which missed up at times.
"My breaking ball was the better pitch today," Attianese said. "My command wasn't what I wanted it to be, but for the first day it wasn't too bad."
"Zach threw harder than he did all spring," said Old Bridge head coach Jimmy Freel.
Nick Polizzano had both hits for South Plainfield (0-1). He had a lead off double down the left field line in the fourth and an infield chopper over the third base bag for an infield single in the sixth.
Attianese threw six groundball outs in the game. He also helped himself by picking off two South Plainfield runners.
Old Bridge scored all of its runs during an 11-batter third inning. South Plainfield starter Jake Alba, who is usually a strike-throwing machine, threw 43 pitches in the inning.
Old Bridge (1-0) got the first two runners on in the third, then a dropped flyball allowed Sam Allen to score and opened the flood gates. Pete Marottoli drove in a run with an infield single and then an infield throwing error allowed two more runs to score. The Knights also scored a run on a bases loaded walk. Connor Romano also had an RBI hit during the rally.
Attianese was able to summon his best stuff in critical situations. With a runner on third with one out on the fourth, he induced a ground ball then struck out the final two hitters of the inning.
http://highschoolsports.nj.com/news/article/-4385175513289087948/zach-attianese-old-bridge-blank-south-plainfield/
Senior lefthander Zach Attianese, who has signed with the University of North Carolina, made the third-inning outburst stand, scattering two hits – including an infield single – while striking out nine and walking three over six innings.
CHECK IT OUT: Read all about the GMC's other season-opening games
Counterpart Jake Alba, headed to Stony Brook University, was the hard-luck loser, as all the runs scored off him, when the Knights sent 11 batters to the plate in the third, were unearned.
South Plainfield reliever David Tavarez closed with three hitless innings, but the Tigers were never able to solve Attianese or touch closer Joe Papeo, whose impressive changeup resulted in a perfect seventh inning.
“It’s like any of these games where you’ve got two aces going, whose going to crack the armor first,” Old Bridge head coach Jimmy Freel said of his team reaching Alba. “They misplayed one ball, and it opened the floodgates. It could have happened to us the same way. The kid (Alba) is a great pitcher. He competed his tail off. But to get to a kid like that and get a few runs on him is huge, especially with our guy (Attianese). You give him six runs, you should win the game.”
Rob Dacunto walked on four consecutive pitches to force home a run. Tom Giasi reached on an infield error for a 4-0 lead before Connor Romano capped the rally with a two-run single up the middle. Alba, who retired the game's first seven batters on 21 pitches, needed 42 pitches to escape the third inning.
“I wanted to focus on basketball and work hard to get better at that,” Romano explained. “Once it (the end of hoops season) came around, I wanted to come back to the diamond, work hard and play with my best friend Zach.”
With defending Central Group IV champion Old Bridge having graduated more than 70 percent of its offensive production, Romano was a welcomed addition to a team that may struggle to score runs during the early part of a brutal schedule that features 17 games in 31 days.
“It’s a pleasure to have (Romano) back and be so good,” Freel said. “I personally didn’t think he would have as much of an impact not playing in three years, but he’s just a great athlete. He’s got great tools and he makes it work. He competes in whatever he plays and that makes him a great player. He’s a brilliant kid. He’s the smartest kid on the field, and at all times he’s kind of an energetic leader for us. He communicates with everybody else and he gets us going.”
With the exception of two four-pitch walks – each of which he couldn’t get his fastball down in the zone – Attianese was brilliant. His 12-to-6 curveball was tight and looked as good as he has thrown the deuce throughout his career.
“I felt I had all right stuff,” said Attianese, whose fastball topped out at 87 mph. “My fastball command wasn’t its best. I was missing everything high. I couldn’t really get it down. I felt my curveball was pretty good. I had a good defense behind me.”
After allowing two runners aboard with one away in the first – an inning which has traditionally proved to be difficult for the southpaw – Attianese fanned the next two hitters to escape the jam.
He faced just two batters over the minimum the rest of the way, largely because he erased the two batters he walked on pickoffs at first base, the second of which bordered on a balk but was brilliant in its execution.
Senior shortstop Nick Polizzano, who was stellar defensively, recording five assists, led off the fourth with a double down the third-base line for South Plainfield. He took third on cleanup batter Dylan O’Connor’s groundout but was stranded as the next two batters fanned on a total of seven pitches, mostly curveballs.
“A lot of our guys look fooled on it,” South Plainfield head coach Anthony Guida said of Attianese’s deuce. “He threw it well and he owned it. A guy like that, we tried to break his rhythm (Tigers such as Jared Marks skillfully stepped out of the box) and we couldn’t. It was a well-pitched game on his end.”
Old Bridge assistant coach Matt Donaghue, who stealthily provided the Knights with some key batting tips during the third-inning rally, reminded the team, which did not register a hit in any other inning, that it needs to be more productive offensively.
“One bad play,” Guida lamented, noting that the third-inning miscue changed the entire complexion of the contest. “That’s all it was. They capitalized and exploited that one (misplay). They tacked on runs and made a 1-0 game into a 6-0 game.”
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/sports/high-school/baseball/2016/04/01/old-bridge-baseball-team-defeats-south-plainfield-opener/82357582/
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