Friday,
April 18, 2014
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Jacob Flax gave up just one run in eight inning, going the distance as Ramapo finally found away to knocked off Wayne Hills, 2-1, on Thursday. |
FRANKLIN LAKES – For the better part of the first seven innings, the game fell into a predictable pattern. Hitters would put the ball in play and the fielders would catch it on the fly or throw out would-be baserunners at first base. Both pitchers were locked, the defense was airtight on both sides, the innings were flying by and it was going to take something unusual to finally settle on a winner on Thursday's pitcher's duel between Ramapo and visiting Wayne Hills.
And then Ramapo's Lou Rozzo came up in the bottom of the first extra inning simply looking to hit a ball hard somewhere. The result set in motion the game-winning rally. Rozzo hit a hot shot that got a piece of Wayne Hills starter Austin Phillips, who hustled after it and threw to first base where the ball, Rozzo's helmet and the glove hand of first baseman Zack Kaye all arrived at the exact same time. The play would have to be scored as an error because if Kaye had held on to the ball it would have been an out, but it is also would have been hard to deprive Rozzo of a hit as he was clothes-lined, like WWE Monday Night Raw clothes-lined, as Kaye reached up to grab the high throw.
However you score it, Rozzo was safe at first and, still trying to clear the cobwebs, he promptly stole second. Even though Rozzo was forced out at third base two hitters later and therefore was denied the chance to score the winning run, it was his effort in getting down the line that set up the decisive run in Ramapo's 2-1 victory, its fourth in a row as it improved to 5-2.
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Chris Phillips singled leading off the game and scored three batters later, but that was all of the offense Wayne Hills could muster in 8 innings. |
“I was running hard to first base just trying to get on any way I could and I don't really even know what happened. I guess the throw kind of got into the baseline and I ran into [Kaye] and the ball came out,” said Rozzo. “Then I was able to steal second and we were able to get a run out of it. We had to find a way because it was tough to score with the way both pitchers were throwing and with the defense both teams played.”
Wayne Hills scored an unearned run in the top of the first, and Ramapo answered in the bottom of the opening frame and after that nothing either way as Phillips and Ramapo starter Jacob Flax matched zeros for six straight innings until Rozzo's unconventional rally-starter and Tyler Schoffelen followed with an infield single to put runners on first and second with one out. Armand Biagini had the first chance to end it with a runner in scoring position and almost did before his hard-hart grounder was snared by Wayne Hills third baseman Chris Phillips, who laid out toward the line to smother the ball before forcing Rozzo at third base.
It was the last example of the outstanding defense played in the game as the next batter up, Ramapo catcher Mikey Grasso, stroked a clean single up the middle to give Ramapo the win.
“I just had to find a way to put the ball in play. I knew if I could just keep a ball fair in that situation that good things could happen,” said Grasso. “It was a 2-0 count and I was looking for a pitch right down Broadway that I could drive. It was a relief when it got through because we really wanted to get this win for Jake [Flax]. It seems like every game he throws goes into extra innings and he deserved to have the win to show for what he did out there today.”
Both Flax and Austin Hall would have been deserving winners as it speaks volumes that the most important offensive sequence of the game was a bang-bang play at first base in the eighth inning with both starters still in there. Flax gave up a hit to Chris Phillips, the first hitter of the game, and an RBI two-out single to Edzel Ortega on an 0-2 pitch three batters later, but then nothing else. Flax (8 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 8 H, 2 K, 3 BB), a senior who will play at Suffolk University in Boston next year, worked out of a two-on, two-out jams in the second and third innings and got a comebacker to leave the bases loaded in the fourth, but then settled in and allowed just one hit over his final four innings and retired seven of the final eight hitters he faced.
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Ramapo's Mikey Grasso had the game-winning hit, an RBI single back up the middle in the home eighth. |
“I just had to hit some spots and get some momentum going. I struggled with my control a little bit early and I just had to find the rhythm and throw some strikes,” said Flax, who also threw 8 innings only to leave with a no-decision in an eventual win over No. Highlands in 10. “Whether I got the win or not I just wanted to go out there and help the team. This is a close group of guys and I knew that eventually we would find a way to pull this one out.”
For Wayne Hills, it was the latest disappointment in what has been a rough start to the season. The Patriots (0-7) certainly did not play like a winless team and Austin Phillips (7 1/3 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 6 K, 2 BB) certainly did not look like losing pitcher. He gave up a two-out first inning walk to Schoffelen that led to an unearned run when a tapper in front of the plate off the bat of Biagini was thrown away up the first baseline, but other than that Austin Phillips was as good as it gets. He retired three straight hitters after giving up a leadoff double to Matt Capozzi, the only extra base hit in the game by either team, and got a key groundball out after giving up back-to-back two out singles to Connor Russo and Dom Muccilo in the fourth. Austin Phillips retired nine of the 10 batters he faced in the fifth through seventh innings including two straight strikeouts to end that dominant stretch.
But Ramapo found a way to pull it out in the bottom of the eighth to stay on a roll with four straight wins heading into a Saturday doubleheader.
“I count this as a good win because Wayne Hills played a heckuva game for a team that hasn't won yet. Their pitcher was great and they made all the plays in the field. We played a game just like this last Wednesday against Northern Highlands. Jake pitched that one two, but this time we were able to get him the win and I am happy about that,” said Ramapo head coach Mickey Hunt, whose team will play rival Indian Hills and Fair Lawn in Saturday's double-dip. “We've gotten good pitching with Jake and Mike [Vranesich]. They are seniors and they both pitched last year and the other guys we have thrown have also done well. We just need to find a way to score some runs a little more consistently, but I like this team and we will get there.”
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