Tuesday, May 10, 2011

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Ryan Biango drove in two runs and threw a complete game shutout for Waldwick, which blanked Hawthorne, 8-0, on Monday afternoon.

HAWTHORNE - With the majority of the Waldwick team returning this season, the pressure has been on all season and it has not been nearly the joy ride the senior-laden squad would have liked. However, as the season moves toward crunch time, the Warriors are starting to round into form. With the Bergen County seeding meeting taking place on Monday night, it is time Waldwick to raise its level of play. Behind the right arm and the bat senior Ryan Biango, that is exactly what they did.

Biango helped his own cause with a two-run single in the midst of a six-run third inning, and allowed just five hits in a complete game shutout as Waldwick bounced back from a weekend loss to Fair Lawn with an 8-0 win over Hawthorne on Monday afternoon at Hawthorne High School.

"I think the loss to Fair Lawn really woke us up so we had to come out and play well today," said Biango. "We always talk about coming out and playing hard every game. When we had that big inning, that was huge for us and for me personally. It was very comforting to have a lead like that and it allowed me to just worry about throwing strikes. We had a three-game losing streak a few weeks ago and we're really starting to play much better since then. I thought we hit the ball well, I was hitting my spots, and we played good defense. This is the type of game we needed to get back into a groove."

Hawthorne sophomore Kenny Tousignant wiggled his way out of a first-inning jam without giving up a run. But the southpaw was not as fortunate in the third when Waldwick not only got on the scoreboard first, but broke the game wide open. Dylan Ritondale and Kevin Nitsche both drew walks and a botched pickoff, along with Eric Greenwald legging out an infield single, loaded the bases.

Scott Koningswood hit a ball to the wall that was hauled in, thwarting one of Hawthorne's best scoring chances.

James Dertouzos brought in a run with a groundout before Biango tacked two more with a single to center for a 3-0 lead. John Simeone knocked in another run on a bad-hop single and No. 9 batter Chris Basso capped the frame by fighting off an inside fastball and fisting a single to center, plating another two runs for a commanding 6-0 lead.

"With a team like Waldwick that can hit the ball the way that they do, you don't have much margin for error," said Hawthorne head coach John Passero. "We gave them a few extra at-bats and they hurt us with them. We have talent on this team and at times we've put it together with successful results. But we've been too inconsistent throughout the year and it shows in our record. Bottom line is we just made a few too many mistakes in that one inning and it cost us."

The Warriors scored two more runs in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Basso and a run-scoring double from Ritondale. Meanwhile, Biango was on cruise control, consistently working ahead in the count and throwing pitches from various arm angles to keep the Bears off-balance.

Hawthorne did have chances to score in both the third and the seventh innings. Ritondale showed off one of North Jersey's strongest arms in right field on a single by Hawthorne's Ricky Grofsick. He fielded the ball cleanly and threw a one-hop strike to the plate to cut down the speedy Eddie Kreger to end the inning. With two on in the seventh, Dertouzos made a running catch deep in right-center off the bat of the 6-foot-7, 275-pound slugger Scott Koningswood in center to end the game.

Waldwick catcher Eric Greenwald getting ready to tag out a runner at the plate.

Biango walked two and and struckout eight to pick up the win for Waldwick (13-5). The top of the vaunted Waldwick lineup has gotten most of the attention from both the media and the Warriors' opponents. But yesterday, it was the bottom of the lineup that carried the offense. Their 7-8-9 batters -- Simeone, Dylan Van Riper and Basso -- combined to go 7-for-11 with four RBI, three runs scored, and two extra-base hits.

Kreger had a pair of hits and a stolen base for Hawthorne, which fell to 10-8 on the season. Kevin Hancock, Ryan Hollis, and Koningswood had the other hits for the Bears, who are the No. 11 seed in this weekend's Passaic County Tournament, where they will face No. 6 seed DePaul.

As of press time, the seeds for the Bergen County Tournament were not available. But no matter where they end up, the Warriors will be a tough out and could be a prime candidate to pull a huge upset, which is what head coach Frank Clark has been hoping for all season; the chance for his team to prove itself against the best that Bergen County has to offer.

"I think in the three-game losing streak we had really molded us as a unit and we responded to that well, just like we did today after the tough loss to Fair Lawn," said Clark. "Ryan Biango really was a bulldog out there for us today and did a fantastic job against a pretty good lineup with some power threats. From pre-season until now, our goal was to be playing our best ball at the right time of the season. Today we took another step closer to that goal."

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