Sunday, May 24, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Bobby Graber allowed two first inning runs and then just two hits the rest of the way in Ramapo's 14-2, five-inning win over Lyndhurst in the quarterfinals of the Bergen County Tournament.

DEMAREST – When a baseball team is losing a busy schedule is a bummer. It can be tough for players to drag themselves to the diamond on a daily basis when the losses start to pile up. But for a team like Ramapo, which has already clinched its first NBIL-Division 1 title since 2002 and eliminated West Milford in the quarterfinals of the North 1, Group 3 state sectional tournament on Friday with a last-licks grand slam by Sean Munier, showing up for its 11th game in 13 days on Saturday was another chance to keep their roll going.

And there wasn’t a tired eye in the handshake line after the fifth-seeded Green Raiders needed just five innings to take out No. 4 Lyndhurst by a 14-2 score at Northern Valley/Demarest High School.

“We are living off of [Friday’s] last inning grand slam by Sean Munier against West Milford,” said Ramapo assistant coach Joe Spafford. “We go from there, wake up the next morning and score two runs right away. Our bats are still alive.”

Runs-scoring singles by Kevin O’Connor and Bob Graber in the top of the first inning put Lyndhurst in immediate trouble, but the Bears, themselves coming off of a state sectional quarterfinal win on Friday, quickly retied the game in the bottom of the first inning. Justin Capp, the Bears’ leadoff hitter, singled and was replaced at first base when Brian Walker grounding into a fielder’s choice. That brought up Mark Naseef, who deposited a home run over the left field fence to tie the game.

Despite the loss, Kevin Walker and Lyndhurst, the defending Group 2 state champions, are still alive in the North 1, Group 2 state tournament.

But the Bears two-first inning hits were half of the total that they were able to muster against Graber, who settled in thereafter. Graber finished with a four-hitter and did not walk a batter while striking out four in his five inning complete game as Ramapo improved to 21-7 on the season. For the second straight year the Raiders put up 14 runs on Lyndhurst in the county quarterfinals and for the second straight year they will take a shot at top-seeded and three-time defending champion Don Bosco Prep in the Final 4.

“It was smooth sailing, just keeping the ball down in the zone. It took me a while to establish the curveball in the first inning, but once it got it established I was jumping ahead of the batters,” said Graber, a senior. “After they got those two runs there was absolutely no point to panic with this team. When we are down I have always had the feeling all year that the game is never over. We have a great group of guys and we are pretty resilient.”

As Graber found his groove, Ramapo’s offense never cooled off. The Raiders scored three in the second, the two most important ones coming on a two-run double by O’Connor that put Ramapo in front for good, six in the fourth inning and three more in the fifth to invoke the mercy run.

Ramapo racked up 15 hits against three different Lyndhurst pitchers and all nine of Ramapo’s starters had at least one hit. Rob Santaniello (3-for-3, 3R) and O’Connor (3-for-4, 2 RBI, 2 R, SB) led the barrage with three hits a piece. Graber had two hits and two RBI, Marc Solecitto had two hits, including a two-run triple in the fifth and Andrew Ciriello and RJ Voorman each had two hit of their own. Tommy Breault, Munier and Greg Madormo also had hits for Ramapo.

Matt Esposito (left) trying to stay in front of Tommy Breault as both headed around third base during Ramapo's three-run fifth inning.

Madormo’s was a double that just found fair territory down the line in left field and he was happy about it. It came with the Raiders already in front by a score of 11-2.

“I came up there and I said I have to put this game out of reach,” said Madormo, with more than a hint of self-effacing humor. “This game was going to come down to the last run and if I didn’t get a hit anything could happen.”

So exactly one year later, Ramapo finds itself almost the exact same position it was in 2008: with spots secured in both the county and state sectional tournament semifinals.

“We set our goals every year are to make states, make counties and go from there,” said Spafford. “But now we have 21 wins, we have our first league title since ’02 and we are right back to where we were last year, in the Final 4 of both [the county and state tournaments].”

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