Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Instead of a first round game against Old Tappan, Glen Rock, and its ace Matt Lawsky, will face St. Mary in the opening round of the Bergen County Tournament.

Not 24 hours had passed since the Bergen County Baseball Tournament was seeded an not one game had been played, but already the field has taken on a new look. Fourth-seeded Dumont was found to have used an ineligible pitcher in a regular season game against Rutherford last week and the Huskies will pay a heavy price.

Instead of an opening round bye and a free pass into Saturday’s Round of 16 where it would have awaited the winner of Ramsey vs. Rutherford, Dumont was dropped into an unenviable position.

The Huskies are now the No. 8 seed matched against No. 9 Bergen Catholic in the Round of 16 with top-seeded Don Bosco Prep, the undefeated juggernaut, likely waiting in the quarterfinals. It also means that Ramapo, the previous No. 8, moves up to No. 7, out of the ‘Group of Death’ and into a Round of 16 matchup against No. 10 Ridgewood. Also, the former No. 5-7 seeds each move up one spot meaning that Lyndhurst assumes the No. 6, Glen Rock bumps up to No. 5 and Emerson is the new No. 4, taking over Dumont’s former slot.

The issue is that Dunellen threw a complete game in a win over Westwood and came back on Saturday, on just two days rest, he came back to throw one inning in relief in a win over Rutherford. Under NJSIAA rules a pitcher may not throw more than five innings without two complete days off, while any more than five innings of work requires three full days of rest. A pitcher may not throw more than 10 innings in any four-day period.

Because Michael Donellan threw seven innings on a Wednesday and then one more on Saturday without three complete days off, he was ruled to be ineligible, Dumont was forced to forfeit its win over Rutherford and the resulting loss dropped the Huskies to 15-5 at the county cutoff rather than the 16-4 that earned them the No. 4 seed.

“I think it is a rule that a lot of coaches have to double and triple check during the week. It sounds simple when it is all laid out, but mistakes can be made, especially at this time of year when coaches are trying to put there teams in the best postseason positions possible,” said a Bergen County head baseball coach who preferred to remain anonymous. “Part of our jobs as coaches is to know the rules and no matter the circumstances, you have to catch it before you do it. The rules are there to protect the kids and it is an unfortunate circumstance for Dumont.”

The tournament has yet to begin, but already it is very interesting.

--CORY K. DOVIAK