Thursday, April 29, 2010

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Chris DeRogatis struck out 16 of the 24 hitters he faced and finished with a one-hitter as Queen of Peace shutout Westwood, 5-0, on Wednesday afternoon.

WESTWOOD -- The pure definition of throwing a perfect game is that a pitcher retires every batter that he faces. But even if Queen of Peace's Chris DeRogatis had done that in Wednesday's BCSL-American Division game at Westwood, it might not even have been as impressive as what his final line showed. DeRogatis faced just three batters over the minimum, did not allow as much as a hard hit ball over the first five innings and gave up just one hit while striking out 16 and walking just two in a complete game win and complete game domination.

Using not much more than his fastball, DeRogatis struck out the side in the third, fourth and fifth innings, allowed just four base runners in the game and did not allow a hit until Westwood’s Donnie Cimino singled to left field with two outs in the sixth inning before getting caught trying to steal second base.

DeRogatis then struck out the final two hitters he faced to finish off his complete game, Queen of Peace’s 5-0 win and its ninth straight victory as the Golden Griffins pulled into a tie for second place in the league standings. In short, DeRogatis was just about unhittable from start to finish for one of Bergen County’s hottest teams.

Donnie Cimino lining up Westwood's lone hit, a two-out single in the bottom of the sixth.

“I just threw mostly fastballs and hit my spots. I got a little help from the ump and overall it was a good day,” said DeRogatis, who struck out at least two hitters in every inning with the exception of the sixth when he had to settle for one. “It was a big game. Westwood was second in the league by themselves and now we are tied with them. We can put this game aside now and go after Dumont [the league leader] on Friday.”

Also helping DeRogatis was the fact that he was given a lead before he even took the mound. The Golden Griffins sent seven hitters to the plate in the opening inning and scored twice. It started with Anthony Re’s leadoff double in the top of the first inning and, after a flyout and a hit batsmen, DeRogatis hit a ground ball that was misplayed. Re came around to score the game’s first run on the play and the next hitter, Jared Skinner, came through with an RBI single that plated Matt Tarantino, the courtesy runner for DeRogatis.

An unearned run in the second inning gave Queen of Peace a 3-0 lead an it was more then enough for DeRogatis, even if Griffins had not yet broken the game completely open. They got an unearned run in the sixth and an RBI single from Will Newby in the seventh for their two other runs, but stranded nine runners in the game, five of them in scoring position.

Jared Skinner's RBI single gave Queen of Peace a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning.

“The first six games of the year we were in a funk with the bats and we didn’t look so great today either, but our approach at the plate has been a lot better,” said Urbanovich, whose team opened the season at 2-4, before ripping off nine straight wins to improve to 11-4. “We’ve been more patient and we have been a little more opportunistic with our hitting and we came through with a couple of big hits today.”

It was the opposite for Westwood, which was coming off a 4-0 shutout loss to Paramus on Tuesday. The Cardinals had three hits in that loss and just one on Wednesday, which means they haven’t been able to generate runs with their aggressive base running and all out style that led them to 10 wins in their first 14 games before dropping their last two.

Westwood got only one runner as far as second base in the game and that came with two out in the third when Pierce Hans reached on an error and Cimino followed with a walk, but DeRogatis got the next hitter swinging for the third out.

Joe Bates (4-1) went the distance for Westwood and allowed just two earned runs.

“The kid [DeRogatis] pitched a great game. All we could do is tip our cap to him and come back ready to go on Friday [against Ridgefield Park. There was not much we could do,” said Westwood skipper Joe Yurko, whose team fell to 10-6 on the season and 8-3 in the BCSL-American Division, tied with QP and two games behind league leading Dumont. “You can’t do anything to create runs when you don’t have anybody on base. We didn’t hit against Paramus yesterday either and we’ll have to make some changes in the lineup, probably.”

The only suspense left after the third inning was whether or not DeRogatis would be able to finish off the no-hitter. He looked like he was well on his way when he struck out all six hitters he faced in the fourth and fifth innings and then when he survived a leadoff line drive in the bottom of the sixth. Hans smoked a liner to left field, but with the howling wind blowing in; the shot hung up and was gloved by Skinner.

DeRogatis got the next hitter swinging, but the wind then hurt DeRogatis as Cimino’s liner to centerfield was knocked down, leaving little time for Pete Amadio to charge. The ball fell in for Westwood’s only hit, but the caught stealing ended the sixth and DeRogatis struck out the final two hitters he faced to close out the gem.

Anthony Re and QP will run into first place Dumont on Friday.

“It was good to be pitching with the lead the whole game because then I didn’t have to look back and I didn’t have to be cautious,” said DeRogatis, who improved to 4-2 on the season. “I could go right after the hitters and I just kept on throwing.”

DeRogatis also had two hits to help lead the Griffins’ offense. Re had two hits and scored a run; Chris DeCarlo added a hit; Skinner went 1-for-3 with an RBI and Newby had a single an RBI and a stolen base for Queen of Peace, which is on track for a berth in the Bergen County Tournament.

Bates (4-1) pitched well in defeat for Westwood. He went the distance on a seven-hitter and walked two while striking out one and just two of the five runs scored against him were earned.

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