Sunday,
May 18, 2014
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Sophomore Austin Bodrato threw a one-hit shutout to lead defending champion St. Joseph Regional past River Dell, 1-0, and into the semifinals of the Bergen County Baseball Tournament. |
DEMAREST – It's never easy to replace 'The Guy.' The memories are too fresh and anybody who saw Rob Kaminsky dominate the Bergen County Baseball Tournament last season as the that once-in-a-decade type of player knows that he is impossible to replace.
Kaminsky was the best pitcher in New Jersey last year, a No. 1 draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals and a left-hander who is currently working his way up the minor league ladder. Austin Bodrato is sophomore who is in his first season as a varsity pitcher, a right-hander who works strictly from the stretch position as he continues to iron out the kinks in his wind-up delivery.
To compare the two is lunacy, but Bodrato has inherited the mantle as the ace of St. Joseph's pitching staff and he is doing a pretty good Kaminsky impression. His latest gem was the one-hitter he threw on Saturday in a 1-0 win over River Dell in the quarterfinals of the Bergen County Tournament at Northern Valley/ Demarest High School.
“It would be impossible to try to live up to what [Kaminsky] did here, but that doesn't mean that I am not trying to do the same thing. It's the job of any pitcher to just try to get outs and that's all I am trying to do,” said Bodrato. “You know when you come to St. Joe's that you are always going to have a good defense and that there are always going to be great players here, so I just go out there and try to do my job; to throw strikes.”
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River Dell starter Corey Martinez gave up a run on a two-out, two-strike second inning single and little else. |
Bodrato threw a lot of strikes against River Dell as he honed in on the outside corner and lived there all game long with his mid-to-upper 80s fastball and a tightly wrapped curve. The only hit Bodrato gave up in the top of the second inning. Ryan Baumann drew a one-out walk and designated hitter Brian Rosen followed with a double to left-centerfield that gave the Golden Hawks, the No. 11 seed, two runners in scoring position and two chances to get at least one of them in. But Bodrato responded with by getting a swinging strike three and then cleanly fielded a comebacker to get out of trouble and kick off a stretch in which he retired 13 straight hitters.
Bodrato also earned some rave reviews from his head coach.
“He's beat Bosco, he shutout Bergen, he beat these guys [River Dell], he's 5-0 and going into today his ERA was oh-point-two-eight. I don't know where it is now, you figure it out,” said SJR skipper Frank Salvano. “This was just a great performance for a kid who has never pitched [varsity] before this year and, as you can see, still pitches only from the stretch. He's a tough kid, boy.”
The second inning was the pivotal one as Bodrato got out of the top half without giving up a run and the Green Knights got him one to work with in the bottom of the inning, which was no easy feat against River Dell starter Corey Martinez, a senior right-hander. A leadoff double by John Greeley got things started and he advanced to third with one out on a flyball to left field. The next hitter struck out and Martinez was one pitch away from getting out unscathed before Joseph Toepert muscled a 2-2 pitch into centerfield to drive in Greeley with the game's lone run.
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SJR first baseman Joseph Toepert drove in the game's lone with a single on this swing in the second. |
“I fell behind, but I worked my way back into the count and [Martinez] came with a fastball in. It was a good pitch by him, but I just happened to get a piece of it and knock it into center,” said Toepert, SJR's junior first baseman. “[Devin] Ortiz moved Greeley over to third [base] with that flyball and I knew that all I had to do was put the ball in play and that is what I did.”
There is not much more to report after that second inning Martinez (6 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 3 K, 1 BB, 1 HBP) gave up just three more hits the rest of the way. He worked out of two-on, one-out situations in both the fourth and fifth innings with Baumann making a diving catch in rightfield to help him escape the latter jam.
Bodrato (7 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 8 K, 3 BB, 1 HBP) worked 1-2-3 innings in the third, fourth and fifth, pitched around a two-out walk in the sixth and then let his defense close things out in the seventh. Baumann was hit by a pitch with one out and was replaced by a pinch runner, who moved to second with one out on a wild pitch. But SJR catcher Isaias Quiroz threw in behind the runner at second after the first pitch to Brian Rosen. SJR shortstop Dom Paiotti got his knee down as he took the throw at second and blocked off the route of return, tagging the baserunner for the second out of the inning.
Mike Gallo then closed out the game in style to making a leaping catch near the wall in right field to rob Rosen of extra bases and move third-seeded St. Joseph into next Saturday's Final 4 against second-seeded Indian Hills, a 3-1 winner over No. 10 St. Mary.
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Brian Rosen had a double in the second inning, which was the lone hit for River Dell. |
For River Dell (19-6), it was the second straight year that it has been knocked out of the county tournament by St. Joseph. Last year it was in a lopsided final, while this year it went right down to the wire even if it was little consolation for the Hawks.
“We talked about it before we even came here that we did not want to get back on the bus and be happy with a 1-0 loss, but I don't know if we even really let it all hang out,” said River Dell head coach Brandon Flanagan. “We were a little passive at the plate. We tried to put the ball in play, but didn't really get that many good swings. That is a credit to [Bodrato], he did a good job. We hung in there the best we could, but that is definitely not a consolation.”
St. Joseph is now two wins away from a second straight county title and a 10th under Salvano, who is knows what it is going to take for his team to get there.
“Our team revolves around pitching and defense,” said Salvano. “We have never really struggled like this to score runs, but this is one year for St. Joe's where hitting is a struggle for us. We have to find other ways to get it done and we have been able to so far.”
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