Sunday, April 25, 2010

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Artie Lewicki struck out 10 in six innings for St. Joseph, which improved to 12-2 on the season with a 4-0 win over Old Tappan.

MONTVALE -- The No. 1 pitcher at the top of the rotation is the stopper for his team. The ace is the guy who is supposed to stop any kind of losing trend his team might run into. But since St. Joseph, the reigning Bergen County champion, does not do too much losing, Artie Lewicki had to find another streak to end and the four-game winning streak that Old Tappan brought into Saturday's independent match up in Montvale was as good as any other.

The first seven outs that Lewicki recorded all came via the strike out and then, as his coach said, he really started pitching. Lewicki allowed just three hits and worked around a three-walk inning in the fourth struck out 10 and left after six sparkling innings in St. Joseph’s 4-0 win.

“The last two innings I thought were his best two innings and he didn’t have a strikeout,” said SJR head coach Frank Salvano. “He’s so good that he can pitch to contact. You like the strikeouts, they look good, but strikeouts and walks, that is what builds up your pitch count and we like to keep his pitch count low.”

Old Tappan starter Sam Elias allowed just two earned runs and did not issue a walk.

Lewicki’s final line read 6 innings pitched, 0 earned runs, 10 strikeouts and three walks before he turned the ball over to Tim Tedesco, who struck out three of the four hitters he faced in closing out the win and improving SJR’s record to 12-2 on the season.

“I was able to throw my curveball for a strike, locate my fastball and get ahead in the count. The adrenaline was pumping for this game because Old Tappan is a good team and they have been playing well,” said Lewicki, who is signed and sealed at the University, but not yet delivered as the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft may change his plans for next year. “I don’t know what I am going to do yet. I want to play at Virginia, but I want to get drafted, too. We’ll see what happens, but what I am really looking forward to right now is Friday against Don Bosco.”

After splitting its first six games of the season Old Tappan was on a roll heading into Montvale with four straight wins. And Golden Knights head coach Tim Byron feels like his team has turned the corner, even if it couldn’t muster much offense against Lewicki, who struck out the first two batters he faced, gave up a single and a walk to the next two, then closed the door on one of the Knights’ two best chances with a strikeout to end the opening inning.

“It was just one of those days where you have to tip your hat to the pitcher. He just shoved it up us, you know what I mean? He was coming at us, he was throwing all of his pitches and we knew we were going to have a tough time,” said Byron. “[Lewicki] is dominant. He is the class of Bergen County pitching wise, but with anybody else on the mound I like our chances and we are not going to let this stop us because we have a big week coming up.”

Jamie Wollerman following through on his third inning, two-run home run that gave St. Joseph a 3-0 lead.

What St. Joseph needed to compliment Lewicki was a big inning and it came in the third. After taking the lead with an unearned run in the bottom of the second inning, SJR added three in the bottom of the fourth with the big blow coming on Jamie Wollerman’s two-out, two-run homer to left centerfield.

St. Joseph was actually just playing for a single run, which probably would have been enough with the way that Lewicki was throwing, but it turned out better than that. Ken Post hit a one-out single and SJR gave up the second out when Brian Estevez’s sacrifice bunt pushed post into scoring position. Wollerman then homered to give the Green Knights a 3-0 lead and Alex Aitkens then reached on an error and stole second base before Dan McDermott knocked him in with a single up the middle.

That sums up the offense in the game and left Old Tappan starter Sam Elias working from behind. A junior and his team’s ace, Elias acquitted himself quite well opposite Bergen County’s best starter. Just two of the four runs scored against him were earned and he threw all six innings, allowing just six hits without a walk and striking out four.

Ryan Spagnuolo had one of Old Tappan's three hits.

“It was a big game against one of the best teams and best pitchers in Bergen County and even though we lost I felt like we went after them. Obviously you want to play better than 4-0, but there is no shame in that against St. Joe’s,” said Elias, who is now 3-1 on the season. “Once we went down 3-0 that made it tough. I thought I threw a pretty good pitch [to Wollerman], but he put a good swing on it and there is a short porch out there. In Old Tappan that probably would have been a double, but it went out here and it put us too far behind.”

Old Tappan (7-4) had its shot to get back in the game in the top of the fourth when Ian Osterman worked out a leadoff walk before Lewicki struck out the next two hitters. Back-to-back walks to Dale Veselsky and Joe McNerney then loaded the bases with two outs for George Pabst and the Old Tappan second baseman put the ball in play, but Estevez, SJR’s shortstop, handled a tough second bounce and threw to second base for the force and the third out of Old Tappan’s lone real rally.

This game was a good measuring stick for both teams as St. Joseph got to see where it stands against one of the top public school teams in Bergen County while Old Tappan saw a team that will be one of, if not the favorites, when the county tournament begins. And when it was over both teams could begin to look ahead toward a week’s worth of pivotal games, weather permitting.

Dane McDermott drive in SJR's final run with a two-out single in the third inning.

Old Tappan will play Ramsey and Indian Hills, two teams that beat the Golden Knights the first time around the NBIL regular season schedule while St. Joseph has Paramus, a team that beat it on opening day, and then the annual grudge match against Don Bosco Prep on Friday.

St. Joseph will save Lewicki for the Bosco start, which might not have been Salvano’s first choice but turned out to be his only one.

“If it was up to me I would pitch [Lewicki] against Paramus but if I did that I would have a lynching from the parents and I think my team would lock me out of the locker room,” said Salvano. “Artie wants that game on Friday so he is going to get it. We just have to keeps his walks down so we can conserve on his pitch count.”

While St. Joseph is essentially playing for position in the Bergen County and state tournaments, Old Tappan has not yet secured its place in the county playoffs and this is its week to make some headway in that area.

“We have a big week with Paramus Catholic, Ramsey and Indian Hills, two teams that beat us. We’ll see what we got, it’s a big stretch of games,” said Byron. “It can put us into the states and for the county we have to make sure that we put some distance between us [and the .650 winning percentage required for automatic entry].”

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