Sunday, June 8, 2014

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Justin Chin threw 6 1/3 solid innings for St. John-Vianney, which beat St. Joseph Regional, 3-1, in the Non-Public A state final on Saturday in Toms River.

TOMS RIVER – It sounded good off the bat and looked good in the air. With two on, one out and with his team trailing by three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning of Saturday's Non-Public A state final, St. Joseph Regional senior Mike Gallo got into one. The left-handed hitting right fielder got around on a fastball thrown by a dominant but tiring Justin Chin and the ball was in the air long enough for those watching it to do the math. If it landed over the fence in right field it would have been a tie game.

As it turned out, however, the ball landed in the glove of St. John-Vianney rightfielder Evan Pietronico, who had to retreat halfway across the warning track to haul it in. Three other hitters came up in that final inning representing the tying run, but all the Green Knights could get out their final turn at bat of the season was Gallo's 'almost' and a Mark Fossati single that broke up the shutout but still left SJR two runs short in a 3-1 loss at Toms River East High School.

“You can't have that late inning magic all the time. We did it against Union Catholic, we did it against St. Peter's and we almost did it again today but it is hard to rely on that,” said St. Joseph head coach Frank Salvano. “I tip my cap to [St. John-Vianney], but the thing that is going to hurt is that we don't think they are a better team then us, but they played better today.”

Mark Fossati drove in the lone SJR run with a single in the seventh.

St. Joe's was a step behind from the get-go as Chin, who is not a flame-thrower, kept the Knights' hitters guessing. Using a fastball, change-up and curveball all at different speeds and all with accuracy, the right-hander retired the first 11 hitters he faced until Isaias Quiroz's two-out single in the fourth. Meanwhile, SJR sophomore Austin Bodrato, who is a hard-thrower, had trouble finding a consistent release point and got in trouble with walks. Bodrato struck out four in the first two innings, including the side in the second, but that was also the inning that the Lancers took the lead for good with an unearned run.

Joe Rotelli led off with a well-struck double to left and scored when Chris Morris' sacrifice bunt attempt was thrown away as Bodrato tried to get the lead runner at third. Rotelli popped up and scored to give the Lancers the lead. Two-out walks to Nick Gugliara and Pat Devenney loaded the bases and Bodrato (3 1/3 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 H, 4 K, 4 BB) fell behind Anthony Santoro before working all the way back from a 3-1 count to get a strike out that limited the damage.

In the top of the third, Chris Loney led off with a walk, moved up two bases on a walk and a sacrifice and a walk to Morris put runners on the corners with two outs. LaVigne then came through with a double that hung up in the air in right center before finding a safe place to land. Both Loney and Morris scored to make it 3-0.

Isaias Quiroz nearly hit a home run in the sixth inning, but the consolation was that the SJR senior catcher was drafted in the 20th round by the Texas Rangers.

Devin Ortiz (3 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 K, 1 BB) relieved Bodrato with one out in the fourth and gave St. Joseph the time it needed to try to mount a comeback. Ortiz, a freshman already drawing the interest of Division 1 and professional scouts, gave St. Joseph the time it needed to try to mount a comeback as he retired 10 of the 11 hitters he faced with the lone blemish being a harmless one-out walk to Santoro in the top of the seventh.

But Chin (6 1/3 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 5 K, 0 BB) was up to it. He worked around a Gallo single and an error that allowed Vin Spoleti to reach with two outs in the fifth, and he escaped trouble again in the sixth. Bodrato beat out a bunt single leading off and was at first when Quiroz, SJR's senior catcher who found out during the game that he was drafted in the 20th round by the Texas Rangers, put a charge into one. Quiroz drove one the other way and it might have gone out of the park for a two-run homer, but Pietronico got back to the wall and caught it. Pietronico did not have to leap to make the grab, but his glove was above the top of the fence when the ball landed in it.

Add that to Gallo's shot in the seventh that fell just short and it was just not St. Joseph's day.

“The big play was their double. If that doesn't fall in then we are still playing but that is baseball. They get a dunker that falls in for two runs and we hit two bombs for outs,” said Salvano, who has a lot coming back to make another run next year starting with Bodrato and Ortiz back to lead his rotation. “I am thinking that by getting here this year we were a year ahead of schedule. A lot of our top players are the younger kids and I told them to remember this feeling today. Remember the feeling you had against Bergen Catholic [after winning the Non-Public A North state sectional title], which was exhilaration, and remember the feeling today, which was total disappointment. But the future is bright.”

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