Sunday, May 31, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Rob Frank spun a four-hit shutout for St. Joseph, which didn't supply much offensive support but just enough to post a 1-0 win over Ramsey in the semifinals of the Bergen County Tournament on Saturday.

DEMAREST – It’s been a matter of debate for a long time in Bergen County baseball circles and one that will no longer be applicable next season when the NJSIAA institutes its cockamamie plan to realign it member schools into disparate groups and break up rivalries that have existed for decades. But the pairings for the Bergen County Baseball Tournament’s semifinals gave the ‘Which league is better?’ debate between the NBIL and NNJIL one last forum for discussion.

In terms of baseball, is it the NBIL with is Bergen County only (with the exception of Passaic County champion Wayne Hills) depth of quality programs? Or is the top-heavy NNJIL with parochial powers Don Bosco Prep and St. Joseph leading the way in a three-division conference spread across three counties with perennial bottom feeders that never seem to challenge the established big boys.

When Ramapo knocked out Bosco in the opening semifinal matchup on Saturday it was a check in the NBIL column. When Ramsey’s Marcus Garone carried a no-hitter through six innings of the second semifinal against St. Joseph, the NBIL was looking pretty good to make it a clean sweep.

“The NBIL is the best league in our area of North Jersey. You might say the NNJIL with Don Bosco or St. Joe’s, but the other good teams in the NNJIL are in other counties. The NBIL is a better league all around, no doubt,” said St. Joseph head coach Frank Salvano. “Last year we had to play three of them to get to the championship game and I know the caliber of ball they play in that league. I knew we had our hands full and that kid [Garone] threw a great game, a no-hitter for six innings.”

Ramsey's Marcus Garone carried a no-hitter into the bottom of the seventh inning.

Garone’s performance was indeed impressive, but in the end it was not enough to make it an all public school final. Instead, St. Joseph finally dented Garone for a run in the top of top of the seventh inning and SJR starter Rob Frank finished off a gem of his own in the bottom of the seventh, a four-hit shutout that resulted in a 1-0 win in a classic game played at Northern Valley/Demarest High School.

“I was just trying to get ahead in the count, get a couple of ground balls, be efficient with my pitch count and go as long as I could,” said Frank, a senior who finished with four strikeout and two walks and only let two Ramsey runners get as far as second base while working on just three days rest. “I have to throw a lot to get prepared for a game so I think [the short rest] helped me in this game. When I get tired I just focus on my mechanics and getting on top of the curveball.”

Garone relied more on his No. 1, a hard fastball that challenged St. Joseph in every at bat. Even when the Green Knights finally broke through it did not come easily. Ken Post, who had the game-winning hit against Don Bosco Prep in the state tournament on Friday, stroked a clean single to break-up the no-hit bid and, more importantly, it came leading off. That allowed Brian Bullard to bunt Post into scoring position.

Ryan Levine then drew a walk before Garone got the second out of the inning by coming back from a 3-0 count to get his six strikeout of the game. But he then fell behind Alberto Rodriguez 3-1 and Rodriguez used that advantage to sit on a fastball.

“In that situation I was looking for a fastball and I got it,” said Rodriguez, SJR’s senior shortstop. “Rob Frank was pitching such a great game that I just wanted to help him out.”

But even after Rodriguez ripped a sinking liner to left field, St. Joseph still wasn’t out of the woods as Ramsey left fielder Casey Ruehl got a solid start on the ball and made a headlong dive that almost robbed the Knights of that eventual game-winning hit. Ruehl came within inches of adding another spectacular outfield play to the list started by right fielder Nick Charamis and centerfielder Vince Fiori in earlier innings.

“I thought that leftfielder [Ruehl] was going to catch that one, too. The rightfielder made one, the centerfielder made one and I said ‘Oh, no, he is going to catch this one,” said Salvano. “Luckily, I saw the ball roll out from [the] third base [coaches box] and I took a sigh of relief.”

SJR shortstop Alberto Rodriguez, who knocked in the game's lone run, turned the 6-6-3 double play that ended the game.

As Salvano was exhaling, Post was racing home with the game’s lone run and St. Joseph played its own brand of solid defense in the bottom of the inning to close it out. Garone led off Ramsey’s last licks with a single and Rob Archetti drew a walk to put two on with nobody out. But a high fastball by Frank thwarted a first pitch bunt attempt by the next hitter, who eventually struck out and Frank then got a ground ball that was gobbled up by Rodriguez and turned into a game-ending 6-6-3 double play.

“Our defense is usually outstanding and I don’t think that we have made in error in the state or county tournament. We played great defense and we had to today,” said Salvano, who team is now juggling two titles shots with county final on Sunday and the Non-Public North A final coming up on Tuesday. “We’ve won nothing yet. We’ve won five playoff games, but we have two championship games left and maybe three. We have one tomorrow, one on Tuesday and, hopefully if we win, another one next Saturday [in the Non-Public A state final].”

Ramsey season ended on Saturday, but, despite the loss, the Rams still went out with a bang, a near no-hitter against a dominant program that has won more Bergen County championship than any other (7).

“We played hard, we fought the whole way. We had men on base here and there and we had some opportunities,” said Ramsey head coach Bill Chesney. “We were a hit away at certain times and we didn’t get the big hit when we needed it. They managed to get that big hit when they got a runner on in that last inning and you have to tip your cap to them. They played a great game, both teams did.”

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