Saturday, May 4, 2013

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Mark Alburque tripled in both the first and second innings for Ridgefield Park, which won its 7th straight game with an 11-0 over Dwight-Englewood on Friday afternoon.

ENGLEWOOD – A hallmark of Ridgefield Park's success on the baseball field over the past few season is its aggressive approach both at the plate and on the mound. That mindset is preached by head coach Pete Kraljic and readily accepted by players like senior Mark Alberque, who wasted little time in setting the tone and putting his stamp on the outcome of Friday afternoon's game against Dwight-Englewood.

Alberque tripled on the first pitch of the game and later scoring. An inning later, he added another triple. That one drove in a pair of runs in the midst of a six-run outburst as Ridgefield Park cruised to its seventh straight win with three pitchers combining for an 11-0 shutout.

“We wanted to set a tone in the first and Mark got us going,” said Kraljic. “We’ve been scoring runs consistently lately and that puts pressure on the opponents’ pitching staffs. When you’re aggressive and you leave it all out there, good things tend to happen. We had a few tough losses early on. Last time I checked though, there were no tournaments in April. We’re starting to come together and we’re peaking at the right time.”

Alberque slugged the triple to right on a first-pitch fastball from Dwight-Englewood starter Dallas Devlin. Chris Fitzgerald followed with an RBI double and Jordan Jackson added an RBI double of his own to plate Fitzgerald. Charles Heslin capped the inning with an RBI single to make it 3-0.

Noah Rosenberg had one of Dwight-Englewood's three hits and now has 99 in his career.

“I just sat on a fastball and got a pitch I could drive,” said Alberque. “We lost a few games we felt we should have won earlier this season. That has motivated us to start every game aggressive by scoring a few runs in the first couple of innings. You can’t take any team lightly. Losing the games we have has taught us that lesson and we’ve definitely learned from it.”

The Scarlets really poured it on in the top of the second inning. Alex Alberque was hit by a pitch and then Connor O’Grady singled before Mark Alberque hit a ball to deep center for his second triple in as many innings and a 5-0 lead. The bases were loaded later in the inning when Tom Visaggio stroked a two-run double to make it 8-0. Visaggio then scored on an error to cap the spurt and give Ridgefield Park a commanding 9-0 lead.

That was more than enough run support for the Scarlets’ top three arms. Connor O’Grady pitched the first two innings before giving way to Liam Connors. Joey Guercio closed out the game with a 1-2-3 fifth.

Mark Alberque had a stellar day at the plate going 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBI. Visaggio and Jackson each added two RBIs for Ridgefield Park (14-4).

Connor O'Grady and two Ridgefield Park relievers combined for the three-hit shutout.

Max Bograd finished with two of the three hits for Dwight-Englewood (6-9). Noah Rosenberg had the other hit and is now one shy of 100 for his career.

The Scarlets are brimming with confidence just as they were last year heading into the Bergen County tournament where they pulled off the biggest upset in the tournament’s history when Derek Hyland tossed a no-hitter for a 1-0 win over St. Joseph Regional and Rob Kaminsky, now a senior and a surefire high-round MLB draft pick. But they will not be sneaking up on anyone this time around and they will get everyone’s best effort. That might have taken the Scarlets by surprise earlier in the year, but not anymore.

“The Joe’s game put us on the map last year, but that was last year,” added Mark Alberque. “We were an underdog team just looking to pull an upset. Now we’re a contender and we have to play like one every time we step on the field. A target is on our back, but that’s where we want it to be.”

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