Thursday, April 4, 2013

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Alex Castro stroked a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning to score the winning run in Paramus' 8-7 victory over Ramapo on Wednesday afternoon.

PARAMUS – Sometimes a baseball game can be more about enduring it than enjoying the actual playing of it. Early April can turn the great summer game into an early spring Iditarod and when Paramus hosted Ramapo on Wednesday afternoon, the temperature hovered right around 40 degrees with a stiff and near constant wind blowing from the left left field foul line straight across to right. In those conditions and trailing 6-2 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, Paramus could have chosen any number of reasons to get off the field as quickly as possible and head for shelter.

But after waiting out Ramapo starter Biagio Bigica, who was effective in four quality innings, Paramus went to work on the Green Raiders' bullpen and got back in the game. A single followed by three straight walks to open the bottom of the fifth opened the door to a five-spot and Paramus' first lead of the game. With the game tied heading into the bottom of the sixth, Paramus mercifully, for those in attendance at least, ended the game in regulation as Alex Castro's two-out single gave the home team an 8-7 victory in a rematch of last season's Bergen County Tournament semifinal also won by the Spartans.

“It's not the best baseball weather, but we had a baseball game today and we had to play it out,” said Paramus head coach John Morrisette. “The good thing I saw in us today was that we were down, we saw some kind of adversity and we kept our heads up and kept fighting and that is exactly what you ask your players to do no matter the situation. It was cold, but we just had to keep playing.”

Ramapo lead off hitter Andrew Mullen was 2-for-3 with a stolen base and two runs scored.

Paramus played from behind from the second inning on when an error allowed Josh Abolt to reach leading off against Spartans' starter JR Chinchar (4 2/3 IP, 6 R, 4 ER, 4 H, 5 K, 4 BB). An error on a pick off throw allowed one unearned run to score and Connor White's infield single that scored Louis Rozzo, the courtesy runner for catcher Nick Grasso, gave Ramapo its second unearned run of the inning and a 2-0 lead.

Paramus got even in the bottom of the fourth with a two-out, two-run single with the bases loaded by Eric Rosenberg, batting out of the No. 9 spot in the order, before Ramapo struck for four runs in the top of the fifth to take a 6-2 lead. Jon Liqouri's single out of the No. 9 spot leading off the inning was followed by back-to-back bunts by Andrew Mullen and Matt Osieja, the first for an infield single and the second for a sacrifice that put two runners in scoring position for Logan Schulte, who crushed a two-run double into the right centerfield gap that made it 4-2.

Ramapo's next two runs could be attributed to the weather and some heady baserunning as, after drawing a two-out walk that put runner on the corners, Matt Giacose was put in motion on a hit-and-run. Andy Gilard then lifted a looping flyball into the wind on the right side. With Castro, Paramus' second baseman, on the move to cover the bag, there was no one able to chase the funky flight pattern of the ball, which fell in short rightfield and kept moving into foul territory. Schulte scored easily, Giacose never stopped and scored all the way from first base to give the Green Raiders a 6-2 lead.

Eric Rosenberg, hitting out of the No. 9 spot, had two hits and 3 RBI for Paramus (2-0).

With Bigica (4 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 6 H, 7 K, 1 BB) having thrown 70 pitches in his first start of the season and considering the weather conditions, Ramapo went to its bullpen to start bottom of the fifth and its first reliever gave up a single to Mark Diaz leading off and then three straight walks, the last to Anthony DeCeglia, to force in the first of the five runs that scored in the frame. Castro drove in a run with a fielder's choice, Dom Caporell (3-for-4, RBI, 2R) and Rosenberg (2-for-3, 3 RBI) had RBI singles and Kevin Lanningan (2-for-4, RBI) added an RBI double as Paramus sent 10 hitters to the plate and grabbed a 7-6 lead.

“If you are winning a game 6-2 in the fifth inning, the expectation is that you should go on and win that game, but we gave it away,” said Ramapo head coach Mickey Hunt. “They battled and they had good at bats, but we did not throw strikes. It's the thing that I talk about most, I say it all the time, 'throw strikes and catch the ball' and today we did not do that after the fifth inning.”

Paramus reliever Jimmy Hallihan, a junior who pitched the Spartans to the county freshman championship in 2011, had retired three straight hitters before giving up back-to-back doubles to Mullen and Osieja with two outs in the top of the sixth as Ramapo retied the game, but got to first base in time to cover on a groundball to first base. Hallihan's foot just came down in time to nip Schulte, who was hustling down the line, to keep the game tied heading into the bottom of the inning.

Senior Logan Schulte hit a two-run double in the fifth inning for Ramapo.

A walk, a fielder's choice and a single by DeCeglia, a shot to hot too handle down to third base, set up Castro with two outs and the senior delivered the base hit that scored Josh Rollins with what turned into the winning run.

“I was just trying to zone up a pitch and he threw me a curveball right over the plate and I was able to smack it,” said Castro, who finished 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. “The wind was rough, it was cold out there but you just have to find a way to concentrate on what you are doing and that was a big at bat.”

Hallihan than came back to work a 1-2-3 top of the seventh to close out the win, his first on the varsity level and Paramus' second straight to start the season.

“It takes a long time for me to warm up, especially on a day like today, but once I do I get pumping and I felt really good going out there for the seventh inning. I gave up those two doubles in the sixth, but I knew I had to get the last out there to keep the game tied and that we would find a way to win it,” said Hallihan, who pitched the final 2 1/3 innings. “I needed to shut them out in the last inning, that was what the whole game came down to, and my defense made three plays and we got the win. It feels good to get my first varsity win against a team like Ramapo. They are always good.”

Both teams are good and it should come as little surprise as both are perennial contenders for league, county and state sectional championships. After opening the season with a 5-inning win over Hackensack, Ramapo fell to 1-1 on the season.

Paramus starter JR Chinchar struck out five in 4 2/3 innings of work.

“The weather was rough, but Paramus was playing in it too and that can't be an excuse. They found a way to battle trough it and we didn't,” said Hunt, who lost his designated hitter, John Bryzozowski, to a grizzly dislocated pinky finger suffered on a dive back to first base in the second inning. “To biggest problem for us today was throwing strike and in the preseason that was not the case. We had a bunch of guys throw strikes for us and this was an anomaly for us today. We are deep, we have a lot of guys battling for positions still and we will have a different look a month from now, but we are still trying to work things out.”

Paramus (2-0) has some growing to do as well as the Spartans lost 10 seniors from last year's county finalist, but after an 8-4 win over Indian Hills on Opening Day and a second straight win to start the new season, the Spartans are off to as good a start as they could have hoped for.

“We graduated 10 seniors from last year's team that won a league championship and made it to the county final, but we have eight seniors this year, four who were on varsity and four other guys who were waiting for their opportunity,” said Morrisette, who is in his second year as Paramus' head coach and just the third skipper that the baseball program has know since the school opened in 1957 following Bob Kingsley (1958-81) and Joe Cervino (1982-2011). “We have a good turnover because we have a good JV and a good freshman program and when we get these kids they may be inexperienced on the varsity level, but they have the skill level to play varsity baseball.”

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