Sunday, April 26, 2013

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Jordan Matthews threw a complete game, 6-hit shutout for Teaneck, which reached the state sectional semifinals for the first time since 1999 with a 4-0 win over Ramapo on Saturday.

TEANECK – With its usual home field unplayable because of the recent deluge, Teaneck's baseball team resorted to renting some local real estate to try to find a way to play its North 1, Group 3 state sectional quarterfinal against Ramapo. It costs $150 per hour to use the all-turf field at Fairleigh Dickinson University, which could have added up to a hefty sum as high school baseball games, especially state playoff games where every pitch is so important, have been known to stretch toward the three hour mark.

As it turned out, the Highwaymen got a bargain. With senior left-hander Jordan Matthews throwing strike one to just about every hitter and with the defense behind him handling every chance flawlessly, it took just one-hour-and-thirty-two minutes for Teaneck to post a 4-0 victory and reach the state sectional semifinals for the first time since 1999.

“That has been the name of the game for us all year. When we pitch and throw strikes we are very successful. When we put people of base and get behind in the count it has been a different story,” said Teaneck head coach Ed Klimek. “[Matthews] got ahead of almost everybody. He did a great job today.”

Senior centerfielder Logan Schulte had two of Ramapo's six hits.

The difference really was what each team was able to do when it did get runners on base against either starting pitcher, Matthews or Ramapo's Matt Osieja. While Teaneck was able to force its way to the next base, Ramapo was station to station at best and giving outs away two at a time at its worst.

Ramapo, the No. 16 seed that knocked off No. 1 Montville in the opening round, had two on with one out in the top of the first inning, but were foiled by a shallow flyball and a come-backer to the mound. When Teaneck got its lead hitter, Dmitri Rueger, on with a single, he stole second and scored on Questin Smith single back up the middle to put the Highwaymen ahead for good.

In the second inning, Josh Duster singled and Tishaun Conde drew a walk and opened up a bunch of options for Klimek, who had Chris Morillo bunt both runners up a base for Jalin Johnson, the No. 9 hitter. It was obvious what was next, but on what pitch was the question and Johnson used Osieja's third offering to lay down that successful suicide squeeze that not only got Duster home, but also got himself on base after a throwing error. Ramapo then was a beat late in trying to turn a double play on Rueger's groundball and Teaneck scored its second run of the inning for a 3-0 lead.

Third baseman Jalin Johnson was a key piece of Teaneck's air-tight infield defense.

On the other side, Teaneck was a step ahead defensively as Questin Smith, Nick Ruscingno and Leo Voreacos combined on a 6-4-3 double play to end the top of the second inning and Johnson, who was smooth at third base all game long, turned in a 5-5-3 double play to end the top of the third.

“The double plays definitely hurt. We just couldn't get anything going and they were able to do a little bit more with their legs then we were,” said Ramapo head coach Mickey Hunt. “They were able to squeeze a run in and that was really all they needed. It's hard to win games when you score zero runs.”

The middle innings belonged to the two starting pitchers, who both went the distance. Matthews worked around a leadoff walk in the fourth by retiring the next three hitters in order and made a two-out walk to Andrew Mullen in the top of the fifth a moot point by getting the next hitter to hit a groundball into Johnson's glove. The last hit Matthews allowed was a leadoff single in the sixth by Logan Schulte, but the Highwaymen turned their third double play of the game, this time a 4-6-3, to close that threat down in a hurry.

Osieja, Ramapo's senior left-hander worked out of trouble in the third with some help as Teaneck ran itself out of the inning. Ruscingno singled leading off and that was followed by a Harrison Preschel infield single that quickly went south. On the slow bouncing ball, Ramapo third baseman Matt Giacose had only one play and he tried for the force out at second. Ruscingno beat the play and then, noticing third base was unguarded, took off for the next base only to lose the race to the base to Mullen, who hustled over to the bag. Preschel tried to sneak into second behind the play but was tagged out for the unconventional 5-4-6-4 double play.

Ramapo senior Matt Osieja went the distance and struck out 8.

Osieja (6 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 8K) faced the minimum nine batters in the third through fifth innings and struck out the side in the sixth despite giving up a run on Duster's two-out bloop single to shallow left field that scored Ruscingno (2-for-3, R, SB) with the game's final run.

Matthews (6-1) went the distance on a six-hitter. He struck out two, walked three and kept the ball down in the zone all game long, allowing only two flyballs to reach the outfield, one of them picked off by a nice running catch by Rueger in centerfield.

“I knew I had a shutout going and it was kind of sitting on my conscience because I almost got one last game but wasn't able to finish it off. I really wanted to complete one today. I had some drive to finish it off,” said Matthews, the brother of former Don Bosco Prep standout Jaren and the son Leon, the former Bosco head coach. “This is big for Teaneck. We haven't had too many good baseball teams here and this is the last year for this senior class, which has been so close. We have been playing together for 11 or 12 years together and we want to keep this going.”

The loss brought Ramapo's season to a close with a 14-13 record.

“It was an up-and-down year for the Green Raiders. We won some good games, we lost some tough ones,” said Hunt, who will lose 10 seniors to graduation. “I would say that 14-13 is about right. It kind of sums up the way we played this year.”

Teaneck (19-7), the No. 9 seed, will move on to the semifinals where it will host No. 11 Mount Olive in a bracket that saw the Nos. 1, 2, 5 and 6 seeds eliminated in the opening round. Mount Olive took out No. 4 Northern Valley/Demarest in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader at FDU. In a bracket long since busted, the Highwaymen have as good a shot as any of the teams left standing.

“It's been since 1999. That is when we made the semis of the counties and the states and other than there hasn't been much,” said Klimek. “We have Mount Olive at home on Tuesday and it's an opportunity to go a step further.”

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