MY CENTRAL JERSEY PHOTO GALLERY LINK:
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=CN&Dato=20110525&Kategori=MULTIMEDIA05&Lopenr=105250803&Ref=PH&odyssey=mod|galleriespic
Tomei leads South Plainfield to 10th straight win
Written by GREG TUFARO
May 25, 2011
Leadoff hitter Mark Tomei batted ninth in the South Plainfield High School baseball team's order a year ago.
The senior left fielder's productivity from the top spot this season is a major reason why the Tigers extended their winning streak to 10 games with an 11-1 victory over Woodbridge in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament quarterfinals at East Brunswick High School on Wednesday.
South Plainfield (19-7) will face Perth Amboy or Sayreville in Saturday's GMCT semifinals at East Brunswick Tech.
Tomei, who is batting just above .500 with a conference-leading 51 hits, went 3-for-5 with a triple, two RBI and three runs scored to help the fourth-seeded Tigers advance.
"During scrimmages we were trying to find someone to lead off because I knew without our guys from last year, someone was going to have to take that spot," South Plainfield coach Anthony Guida said of moving Tomei from the nine spot.
"We threw him in there the last couple scrimmages and he stayed there and he ain't moving. He's doing a fantastic job. He's been our guy. He's the guy that we are excited to have at the plate. He doesn't get cheated. He's been in a zone for weeks."
Tomei set the tone for a 15-hit assault, leading off the home first with a triple and scoring on Brandon Downes' single to left.
The 2010 GMC Player of the Year, Downes, too, has been on a tear of late after getting off to a slow start this season. He singled in his first three trips Wednesday, raising his average near the .400 mark.
The game was billed as a pitcher's duel between South Plainfield ace Dan Hansen (6-1) and counterpart Nick Stallone (8-2), but only Hansen was able to fulfill that promise.
The teams split a doubleheader to start the 2011 season. Hansen was the winning pitcher in the opener, a 10-0 mercy-rule win. Stallone went the distance in the nightcap, tossing six shutout innings before working out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh to preserve a 6-5 victory.
Hansen, a senior left-hander, scattered three hits over five innings Wednesday before giving way to reliever Nick DeMarco, who threw a scoreless sixth. Hansen surrendered an unearned run in the second when Jesse Lammers plated Kyle Anderson, who reached on an error, with a single to left, making the score 1-1.
DeMarco, who has been South Plainfield's closer during its winning streak, actually ended Wednesday's game with his bat, invoking the mercy-rule on an RBI single with the bases loaded in the home sixth.
Batterymate Stephen Petriello highlighted a four-run rally in the sixth with a three-run homer over the left-field fence. His blast gave the Tigers a 10-1 lead.
South Plainfield scored single runs in the first, third and fifth innings. The Tigers took a 4-1 lead in the second with a three-run rally.
Stallone, a senior right-hander, threw 89 pitches before being lifted after four innings with the eighth-seeded Barrons (19-6) trailing 6-1. He walked four and hit a batter.
Stallone and two relievers combined to work out of trouble all day, forcing the Tigers to strand nine runners. South Plainfield left the bases loaded twice.
"We happened to get a couple of timely hits (late)," Guida said. "We were expecting a pitching duel, and I think that's what we got for the first three or four innings."
Now that the Tigers, who lost in the GMCT quarterfinals and sectional semifinals last year, are in the postseason, Guida has altered his club's philosophy.
"We play to win but this time of the year we've got to win to play," he said. "So we've just got to continue to win."
Star Ledger/NJ.COM Photo Gallery Link:
South Plainfields Ryan Marcoux (9) makes the play at 2nd base on Woodbridges James Lyczkowski (8) at the GMC baseball quarterfinal between South Plainfield and Woodbridge game in East Brunswick, NJ 5/25/11 (William Perlman/The Star-Ledger)
Dan Hansen (19) of South Plainfield delivers the pitch at the GMC baseball quarterfinal between South Plainfield and Woodbridge game in East Brunswick, NJ 5/25/11 (William Perlman/The Star-Ledger)
South Plainfields AJ Celentano (6) tries to stretch as Woodbridges Kyle Anderson (5) is safe at 1st base at the GMC baseball quarterfinal between South Plainfield and Woodbridge game in East Brunswick, NJ 5/25/11 (William Perlman/The Star-Ledger)
Woodbridges Kyle Anderson (5) tries to get the throw as it hits Ryan Marcoux (9) of South Plainfield as he slides back to 2nd base at the GMC baseball quarterfinal between South Plainfield and Woodbridge game in East Brunswick, NJ 5/25/11 (William Perlman/The Star-Ledger)
South Plainfields AJ Celentano (6) tries to tag out WoodbridgesJesse Lammers (350 as he gets back in timeand is safe at 1st base at the GMC baseball quarterfinal between South Plainfield and Woodbridge game in East Brunswick, NJ 5/25/11 (William Perlman/The Star-Ledger)
Woodbridge (1) at South Plainfield (11), Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament, Quarterfinal Round - Baseball
,
By Josh RosenfeldFourth-seeded South Plainfield entered its quarterfinal-round game in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament with a nine-game winning streak against a fifth-seeded Woodbridge team that had won 17 of 19.
It took South Plainfield only six innings to extend its winning streak to 10 games, as it scored in every inning in handing Woodbridge an 11-1 setback yesterday in East Brunswick.
South Plainfield (19-7) advanced to Saturday's semifinal round by pounding out 15 hits and scoring six runs in four innings off of Woodbridge ace Nick Stallone (8-3), who entered the game with a 1.37 ERA.
"We're starting to come together as a team and we're staring to hit real well," South Plainfield center fielder Brandon Downes said. "We really wanted this game today. We wanted to show that we can beat any team out there and we wanted to show that we could beat their ace."
Downes, who went 3-for-4, hit RBI singles in the first two innings as South Plainfield amassed a 4-0 advantage. Mark Tomei drilled Stallone's first pitch of the contest to deep right center for a triple and also had a single and a double, scoring three times. Steve Petriello drove in four runs, hitting a three-run homer in a four-run fifth that built the lead to 10-1.
"I told them we need at least a five-run lead and we got that, but I still wasn't comfortable," South Plainfield coach Anthoiny Guida said. "Not with their bats. I think that they're a good hitting team. I felt that we really needed to build a big lead and we finally did with Petriello's home run."
South Plainfield's Dan Hansen (6-1) limited Woodbridge (19-6) to three hits and one unearned run over five innings, striking out three and walking two. He retired the last seven batters he faced.
"He was a little shaky by my standards the first couple of innings, but he shut them down 1-2-3 in the fourth," Guida said. "I said 'He's in a zone right now' and that's exactly what it was."
Woodbridge scored its lone run in the second to tie the score at 1-1. Kyle Anderson led off and reached first on an infield error, took second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on Stallone's sacrifice bunt and scored on a single by Jesse Lammers.
South Plainfield closer Nick DeMarco pitched a scoreless sixth inning and brought the game to its early conclusion with a single up the middle that scored Ryan Hutchinson for the final run.
No comments:
Post a Comment