PENNINGTON - Pennington School pitcher Terry Wells jumps
at the chance to throw against Hightstown High or the Peddie
School.
Wells, an East Windsor resident, does not get the chance
all that often at his small prep school, so when the opportunity
to face Hightstown in the Mercer County Tournament presented
itself, the junior right-hander made his coach aware of his
desire to pitch.
It was not an easy sell since Wells was slated to throw
vs. Princeton Day School in the NJISAA Prep `B' Tournament
tomorrow, but when head coach Jerry Russo made his decision,
Wells could not have been happier.
He and his teammates made their coach just as
happy yesterday when they defeated the 10th-seeded Rams, 6-5,
and advanced to the quarterfinals of the MCT for the first
time in Russo's eight years as head coach.
With the win, the seventh-seeded Red Raiders (9-5) advance
to play second-seeded Notre Dame (10-3) at 3:30 p.m. next
Saturday at Mercer County Park.
"This win is humongous for us," Wells said. "I didn't find
out I was going to pitch until I was on my way home (after
Pennington's 13-3 win over Wardlaw-Hartridge) Friday night.
It was a great surprise."
One thing which did not come as a surprise to the Red Raiders,
but may have to the Rams, was the heavy hitting of sophomore
shortstop Chris Slanina. The 6-foot-3 left-handed hitter got
all of a pitch from Hightstown ace Nick Gates and sent his
third home run in two days soaring deep over the right-field
fence.
"I changed my swing a little bit recently," Slanina said.
"I'm seeing the ball well, and I'm getting better cuts. The
last two homers I hit went pretty high."
Yesterday's blast left the field in a hurry and proved to
be the game-winner.
"I don't mind a shot like that. The kid hit it well," Rams
head coach Ernie Rehr said. "It's the ones we can catch that
we don't which concern me."
For instance, the dropped fly ball with which Mike Millstein
opened the bottom half of the second inning, igniting a four-run
rally by Pennington on back-to-back, two-run doubles by Adam
Spadafora and Dylan Via Cava.
Hightstown (8-8) cut the lead in half when Chris Luberto
homered over the left-field fence with two outs in the top
of the third inning, and looked ready to rally after Anthony
Lobianco gunned down Brandon Smith at the plate later that
inning. Smith was a courtesy runner for Wells, who had doubled
with one out.
A two-run single by Jeff Butler and an RBI single by Steve
Anzuini pulled the Rams within a run in the fifth, but they
could not close the gap after putting two men on base in each
of the last two innings.
Tuesday, June 25, 2002
By RED BIRCH
TRENTON - When the Mitchell Davis Post 182 baseball players went in
search of a rally in the bottom of the seventh inning last night at
Trenton High, they did so not only for their team which has been
struggling, but also for a young pitcher named Tony Taylor.
Taylor, a 17-year-old right-hander, had thrown one of his best games of
the season to keep Post 182 in the hunt vs. a revitalized Trenton Post 93
team, which had won two of its last three contests.
So when Ivan Guzman stepped to the plate with a chance to erase a
two-run deficit that inning, he did so for Taylor as much as himself and
the rest of his teammates.
But that pride in their pitcher and pride in their team paid even
bigger dividends when Mitchell Davis added one more run to come from
behind and defeat Post 93, 6-5, for their first victory of the season
against seven losses.
"Tony had pitched a good game for us, so when I went up to the
plate that inning, I said to myself, `I've got to come through. I've got
to hit the ball for him," Guzman said.
Trailing, 5-3, entering that final at-bat, things did not look so good
for Mitchell Davis (1-7) until Bill Hladick hit a high-hopping single off
the glove of Trenton shortstop Juan Torres and Jamar Robinson walked to
start the bottom of the seventh.
Schroths pitcher Tyreese Drummer got James Rolle on strikes, but a wild
pitch allowed both runners to move up a base as No. 9-hitting Guzman
stepped to the plate.
Guzman sent Drummer's first offering deep to left field, but foul.
Drummer got the best of Guzman with his second pitch, a hard fastball. But
when Drummer came back with a two-strike curve ball, Guzman got all of it
and sent a double into the left-center field gap to tie the game.
"I felt good the whole game. My arm felt strong. I didn't want to
come out of this game," said Drummer, who was also having one of his
best outings of the season, but was pulled for hard-throwing Jose Guzman
after surrendering the double to Guzman. "You don't know how mad I am
right now. I thought I was going to strike him out. He hit a curve ball,
but I guess it was hanging."
"I was anxious on the first pitch because I wanted to tie the game
and because my first two times up, I didn't get on base," Guzman
said.
When Gomez came on to pitch, Guzman was replaced by pinch runner James
Brantley. But Gomez, who had thrown six innings in Post 93's second win
Sunday, struggled with his control and walked Tony Bellamy before getting
Will Johnson to ground out for the second out of the inning.
After intentionally walking Corey Thomas to load the bases, Gomez fell
behind Almondo Sewell, 3-1, in the count and walked in the winning run.
"I wasn't worried this game. I just went out to do what I could
do," Taylor said. "I came out with a lot of intensity built up
into this."
His numbers may not have opened eyes as he scattered eight hits, walked
nine and struck out seven, but Taylor worked like a bulldog to get out of
jam after jam. He stranded 12 Schroths on base, including 10 in scoring
position, with a runner at third base from the second inning on, to save
the day.
