Tuesday, May 3, 2011

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Mike Mecca had a hit and scored three runs for Don Bosco Prep, which improved to 15-0 with a 13-1 win over Ridgewood on Monday afternoon.

RIDGEWOOD – To play any sport at Don Bosco Prep is to know that every opponent is looking to make a name for itself by beating the Ironmen. A national championship in football, an undefeated baseball season two years ago, a top of the heap boys soccer program…it goes on and on at the parochial powerhouse with the national cache.

So when Ridgewood hung with Bosco the first time the teams met this season, the Maroons had hoped that a similar effort and a couple of breaks might change the outcome the second time around. But all that was gone four batters into the game on Monday at Veterans Field.

Bosco shortstop Jason Vosler led off the top of the first inning with a single. Grant Van Orden followed with a double. Joseph Purritano then lifted a sacrifice fly and Nick Bruno doubled out the of the clean-up spot. Four batters, two runs and the tone was set as the Ironmen went on to pound out 13 hits (7 for extra bases) in just the five innings they needed to post a 13-1 win, their 15th straight to start the season.

“We’ve started pouring on the runs recently. Everybody in the lineup has just really been hitting the ball. It’s been crazy,” said Vosler, who finished 4-for-4 with four RBI, three runs scored and two doubles hitting out of the leadoff spot. “We’ve cut down on our base running errors, our defensive errors and we have been capitalized every time the other team makes a mistake. Ridgewood is a good team, a real good team, we just really played well today.”

Shortstop Tyler Welence had two of Ridgewood's four hits and turned a nifty double play in the fourth inning..

And the Ironmen did so in all phases. They scored multiple runs in four of the five innings, did not have a single batter strikeout, made productive outs and were 8-for-18, a .444 batting average, with runners in scoring position.

The one guy who didn’t necessarily enjoy the offensive barrage was Bosco starting pitcher Tom Burns. That meant a short stay on the mound for the junior, who went the first four innings and allowed just three hits, two walks and one run that he made Ridgewood work for. He struck out six and knew his time was up after his offense tacked on five more runs in the top of the fifth to invoke the mercy rule.

“When we get in a game like this I know that I am only going to get to pitch four innings. I want to pitch that full seven innings and battle it out. I don’t know of there is such a thing as too much run support, but maybe there is with all of the runs we have been scoring,” said Burns, who improved to 5-0 on the season. “I want to pitch, but I am not going to complain. Our team is really starting to gel and it is really good to see.”

Seven of the nine hitters in the Don Bosco Prep lineup had at least one base hit. In addition to Vosler’s 4-for-4, Purritano (2-of-2, HR, 4 RBI, 2 R, BB) had a big day at the plate and won some family bragging rights in the process. With his team leading 9-1 with two on and one out in the fifth, Bosco’s No. 3 hitter launched a moon shot to right center that put his team ahead by double digits. The home run also happened to come off of his cousin, Ridgewood relief pitcher Nick Purritano.

Bosco starter Tom Burns threw four innings of three-hit ball to improve to 5-0 on the season.

“I am going to see him on Mother’s Day and that should make it a fun family dinner. I am going to say ‘Thank you for laying that one on a tee,” said Joe Purritano, Bosco’s designated hitter. “I was hoping he was going to challenge me with a fastball because, hitting in the three-hole, you have to realize that you have to be very selective and kids might try to pitch around you and not necessarily give you anything to hit. When I saw fastball, I got on top of it. It was the first pitch I ever saw from him and drove it out.”

Grant Van Orden finished 1-for-4 with a run scored; Bruno was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI; Matt Dacey had a hit and drew two walks; Carter Toth was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and Mike Mecca, hitting out of the No. 9 spot, had a hit, drew two walks and scored three runs to go along with and RBI and a stolen base. Of the two Ironmen who went hitless, one found other ways to contribute and the other simply found bad luck.

Catcher Zach gross (0-for-1) reached base twice with a walk and a hit by pitch and his courtesy runner, Mike Yankovich turned those into two runs scored and a stolen base. George Iskendarian hit the ball hard in all four of his plate appearances, but twice smoked two line drives that were turned into double plays. Ridgewood’s Doug Licitra gloved the first one and threw behind the runner at first for the first double play and shortstop Tyler Welence robbed Iskendarian with an all out dive to his left to start the second twin killing.

Bosco leadoff hitter Jason Volser was a perfect 4-for-4 with 4 RBI, 3 runs scored and a pair of doubles.

Welence had two of Ridgewood’s four hits, a two-out single in the first and a one-out double in the fifth inning that ended when Bosco reliever Alex Vinett induced a groundball with two outs and the bases full of Maroons. Licitra had an infield single and scored Ridgewood’s lone run in the fourth; Kurt Hommen had a bloop single in the second and Mike Johnson drove in the Maroons’ lone run with a fielder’s choice.

The loss dropped Ridgewood to 12-4 on the season and its pitching depth has been tested with a busy schedule over the past week-and-a-half, but the Maroons are still in good shape for a top five seed in the Bergen County Tournament and a high placement in the North 1, Group 4 state sectional playoffs. The key is to put this one in the rearview mirror and move on with the rest of the season.

“I’ll be honest, Bosco is real good, they are on a different level right now and they are a great hitting team. The difference is that they will take a close breaking pitch or they will see it, adjust to it and rip it. They don’t swing at bad pitches and you can’t get them to chase,” said Ridgewood head coach Kurt Hommen, Sr., whose team has an important league game against Paramus on Wednesday. “We played them close the first time, we lost 5-3, and about today, you have to have a short memory and just look forward to the next one.”

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