Offensive fireworks help St. Joseph (Met.) top South Plainfield
By Brian Bobal | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Dennis McCaffery won 511 games over a 25-year career with Cranford and took over at St. Joseph (Met.) prior to the start of the 2025 season.
After losing the first two games, he’s now on the board with his new squad.
From top to bottom, every player had at least one hit and St. Joseph slugged a pair of home runs in a 14-7 win over South Plainfield in South Plainfield on Friday.
“I’m happy for the kids,” McCaffery said. “It’s never about me. I’m happy that the kids are able to get (the win). It starts on the mound. Richie Zangara threw a good game, was able to throw strikes and command both sides of the plate, and he did a very good job out there.”
Zangara set the tone by allowing just five baserunners across the first four innings. South Plainfield got to him in the fifth inning but by that point, St. Joseph was well on its way to victory.
The senior’s final line checked in at 5 2/3 innings pitched, four runs and four strikeouts.
The offense got its spark in the third inning. Trailing 1-0, a leadoff single from Bobby Christensen, who went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs and three runs, and Joseph Barca got on board after getting hit by a pitch to set the table for JP Zayle.
He crushed a monstrous three-run homer to left field, his second in three games this season.
The senior hit .296 a season ago with 21 hits, none of which went over the fence.
“(I’m) playing looser,” he said. Last year, (I was) trying to muscle a lot of things, trying to do too much. This year, just let the bat and hands work and good things happen.”
“JP’s a gamer,” added McCaffery. “He works very hard and he’s someone that is a pleasure to coach and he’s a hard-working kid.”
Barca then supplied a big bop in the fourth inning with a two-run double and the team took over in the fifth.
Matthew Ferber got the run started with a solo homer and he stepped up again later in the inning and delivered a two-run double to make it 13-1. Seven different players had a hit in the inning.
South Plainfield was down to its final out in the bottom of the fifth, but Dan Kapsch stepped up to deliver a bases-clearing triple. He had a pair of hits and four total RBIs in the loss.
From Christensen as the leadoff hitter to Logan Ring, who hit sixth, the top six hitters went a combined 14-for-26 with 11 runs and 12 RBIs.
“We have a very deep lineup,” Zayle said. “Everybody can hit, one through five, one through six, one through nine. Everybody can swing the bat and you saw that today. 14 runs, that’s the way to go.”
Through three games, the St. Joseph (1-2) offense is averaging 8.3 runs per game. These two are set for a rematch on Monday.
Dennis McCaffery won 511 games over a 25-year career with Cranford and took over at St. Joseph (Met.) prior to the start of the 2025 season.
After losing the first two games, he’s now on the board with his new squad.
From top to bottom, every player had at least one hit and St. Joseph slugged a pair of home runs in a 14-7 win over South Plainfield in South Plainfield on Friday.
“I’m happy for the kids,” McCaffery said. “It’s never about me. I’m happy that the kids are able to get (the win). It starts on the mound. Richie Zangara threw a good game, was able to throw strikes and command both sides of the plate, and he did a very good job out there.”
Zangara set the tone by allowing just five baserunners across the first four innings. South Plainfield got to him in the fifth inning but by that point, St. Joseph was well on its way to victory.
The senior’s final line checked in at 5 2/3 innings pitched, four runs and four strikeouts.
The offense got its spark in the third inning. Trailing 1-0, a leadoff single from Bobby Christensen, who went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs and three runs, and Joseph Barca got on board after getting hit by a pitch to set the table for JP Zayle.
He crushed a monstrous three-run homer to left field, his second in three games this season.
The senior hit .296 a season ago with 21 hits, none of which went over the fence.
“(I’m) playing looser,” he said. Last year, (I was) trying to muscle a lot of things, trying to do too much. This year, just let the bat and hands work and good things happen.”
“JP’s a gamer,” added McCaffery. “He works very hard and he’s someone that is a pleasure to coach and he’s a hard-working kid.”
Barca then supplied a big bop in the fourth inning with a two-run double and the team took over in the fifth.
Matthew Ferber got the run started with a solo homer and he stepped up again later in the inning and delivered a two-run double to make it 13-1. Seven different players had a hit in the inning.
South Plainfield was down to its final out in the bottom of the fifth, but Dan Kapsch stepped up to deliver a bases-clearing triple. He had a pair of hits and four total RBIs in the loss.
From Christensen as the leadoff hitter to Logan Ring, who hit sixth, the top six hitters went a combined 14-for-26 with 11 runs and 12 RBIs.
“We have a very deep lineup,” Zayle said. “Everybody can hit, one through five, one through six, one through nine. Everybody can swing the bat and you saw that today. 14 runs, that’s the way to go.”
Through three games, the St. Joseph (1-2) offense is averaging 8.3 runs per game. These two are set for a rematch on Monday.
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
R |
H |
E |
|
|
St. Joseph (Met.) (1-2) |
0 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
8 |
0 |
1 |
14 |
18 |
1 |
|
South Plainfield (2-1) |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
7 |
7 |
2 |
LP: Ryan Balent
South Plainfield Batting
|
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
1B |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
HBP |
SB |
AVG |
SLG |
|
|
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.667 |
1.000 |
|
|
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.250 |
.250 |
|
|
3 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.667 |
1.000 |
|
|
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
.500 |
.500 |
|
|
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
.000 |
|
|
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
.000 |
|
|
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
.000 |
|
|
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
.500 |
1.000 |
|
|
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
.000 |
|
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
.000 |
|
|
Totals: |
26 |
6 |
7 |
7 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
1 |
0 |
.269 |
.385 |
South Plainfield Pitching
|
PIT |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HB |
ERA |
|
|
Ryan Balent (LP) |
76 |
5.1 |
9 |
7 |
7 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
9.19 |
|
30 |
0.2 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
63.00 |
|
|
28 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3.50 |
|
|
Totals: |
134 |
8 |
18 |
14 |
14 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
12.25 |
