Thursday, May 8, 2008

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Dylan Rust kept his team in the game and in the B-PSL King Division title race with a complete game in Garfield's 4-3 win over Lodi on Wednesday.

GARFIELD – As Garfield’s Ljucpo Apoleski walked sheepishly back to the bench after looking at a called third strike, all he hoped for was one more chance to make things right for his teammates. Garfield was down a run in the bottom of the fifth to archrival Lodi, Apoleski failed to get down a suicide squeeze bunt, and then struck out looking on the very next pitch.

With the Boilermakers down to their last at-bat, Apoleski came up in the bottom of the seventh with the bases loaded and the ideal situation to make up for everything that went wrong just two innings prior.

This time, he did not get the bunt sign and took the hack he wished he took his last time up.

Apoleski roped a triple to right-center that cleared the bases and won the game as Garfield dispatched of its rival, Lodi, and stayed alive in the B-PSL King Division race with a come-from-behind 4-3 triumph.

Lodi put a run on the board in the first inning when Aldo Noriega singled, stole third, and then came home on an error to give the Rams a quick 1-0 lead. Lodi starter Mike Lortz nearly gave it back by walking the bases loaded before settling down and getting two strikeouts to end the threat.

Corey Paladino gave Lodi a 2-0 lead with a single to right field on this swing in the fifth inning.

Lortz kept the Boilermakers off-balance with a bevy of off-speed pitches to set up his deceptive fastball. He was matched by his counterpart, Garfield’s Dylan Rust. Rust used the opposite approach with a steady diet of fastballs to set up his off-speed repertoire. Both teams threatened, but neither scored again until the fifth inning.

Anthony Harris was on first when Paul Johannemann blooped in a two-out single. Harris attempted to go to third, but the throw beat him by 20 feet. Instead of running into the tag, he alertly went all the back to second and beat the throw. That kept the inning alive for Corey Paladino, whose single to right brought in Harris to make it 2-0. However, instead of there being runners on the corners, Garfield first baseman Ron Neumann cutoff the throw to the plate and nailed Paladino at second to end the inning.

The Boilermakers got a run back when Eddie Casiano walked and scored on a throwing error. They had runners at second and third with one out when Apoleski attempted tie the game by trying to get down a bunt. The pitch was right over the middle of the plate, but Apoleski could only foul it off. On the next pitch, he took a curveball on the inside corner for strike three. Lortz then induced a fly ball to end the inning.

Garfield improved to 10-8 win the win and stayed in the race for the B-PSL King Division title.

“I was down after striking out and I just hoped I would get up again,” said Apoleski. “Rigs (Head coach Charlie Rigliosi) always believes in me and he just told me to keep my head up and stay focused. In the seventh inning, I got another chance and didn’t let it go to waste.”

Although they got the run back, the Boilermakers were a bit dejected that they did not get more run support for Rust. The right-hander had a career game for Garfield and kept his team in it throughout.

“Dylan has thrown the ball well lately and he put us in a position to potentially come back and win,” said Garfield head coach Charlie Rigliosi. “He only gave up one earned run in his last start against Passaic Valley (a 4-3 loss), which is a very good hitting team. He has been coming on for us and I’m glad we finally got him some support at the end.”

Noriega drove home a run to give Lortz more of a cushion heading into the seventh, but it was not enough. Lortz, who pitched a fine game up until that point, started to lose his control. After walking Garfield’s No. 9 batter and running the count to 2-0 on Adam McCarthy, Lodi head coach Bill Schroen lifted Lortz for big right-hander Joe Falato.

“We saw Lortz was tiring in the sixth and we had to make a tough decision in the seventh,” said Lodi head coach Bill Schroen. “I have a lot of confidence in both Mike Lortz and Falato. I know both are capable of getting the job done, today it just didn’t happen. In this league, anyone can beat anyone on any given day.”

Lodi starter Mike Lortz was used his variety of off speed pitches to keep Garfield hitters off balance.

McCarthy eventually drew a walk and Brian Wehner laid down a perfectly executed bunt to load the bases for Apoleski. Falato fell behind Apoleski 3-0 before throwing two strikes to make it a full count. With the possibility of winning the game on one swing of the bat, Apoleski dug in and waited for his pitch. He went with an outside fastball and crushed it to right-center. It was just out of the reach of Lodi centerfielder Chris Irizarry and right fielder Robbie Colon, getting past both and rolling all the way to the wall. Wehner raced all the way around from first to score the game-winning run.

“I was just hoping to get on base and get my No. 4 hitter (Neumann) up,” said Apoleski. “When the count went full, I knew he had to throw a strike. It was a hard fastball and I just went with the pitch. Once I swung, I knew I hit it pretty hard, I was hoping it would fall in.”

Rust was solid from start to finish for Garfield (10-8). He scattered eight hits, walked one, and had 11K’s in going the distance and picking up the win. Apoleski had a stolen base and a two-hit game, including the game-winning triple.

Johannemann had three hits and Noriega added two for Lodi (12-6). Lortz allowed just three hits, but walked seven, and also struck out seven. Yesterday’s result turned the tables on the Rams, who beat Garfield with a walkoff homer in the season-opener. The loss has now forced the Rams into a situation where they need to win out to grab the B-PSL King Division league title. For Garfield, the win was much-needed after several close losses recently. It also helped them get back into the race for the league title.

“We needed this win bad and it’s always nice to get a win over Lodi,” said Rust. “We kept our heads up and we stayed positive. All I could do was keep pitching, and try to throw as many strikes as I can to get ahead in the count. We still have a shot at our league and we’re already in the states, which we haven’t done in awhile. I think this win will bring us more together as a team and I think we could make it interesting.”

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