Tuesday,
May 24, 2011
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
DUNELLEN - Weehawken came into the season with high expectations as a potential contender for league and county title, but the Indians had trouble closing out tight games, losing six of them by one or two runs, including a 3-1 loss to Memorial in the Hudson County Tournament. With only a run in the state tournament left to shoot for in order to salvage their the season, the Indians turned to their ace, Sal Mendez.
Although just a sophomore, the youngster has showed talent and poise well beyond his years. By pitching about as effective a game as a pitcher possibly can, Mendez not only kept Weehawken's season alive, he turned the Indians back into what they always thought they could be: championship contenders.
Mendez faced the minimum 21 batters, tying a career-high with 13 strikeouts and allowed just one hit. The southpaw retired the final 18 batters he faced as 12th seeded Weehawken pulled a first-round upset in the North 2, Group 1 state tournament on Monday with a 4-0 victory over No. 5 Dunellen at Columbia Park.
Dunellen got its only hit with two outs in the top of the first on an infield single by Jeff Puckett. But Mendez quickly made up for it by picking him off of first to end the inning before helping his own cause in the Indians' ensuing at-bat.
Nicco Brancaccio singled and was moved to second on a sac bunt by Damian Corredor before Mendez stepped to the plate with two outs. He fought off a tough pitch from Dunellen starter Casey Wenzel and poked it into right field to drive in Brancaccio for a 1-0 lead. Although it was only one run, it was more than enough run support for Mendez, who was just flat-out dealing with a variety of pitches.
"I noticed their hitters were chasing some pitches out of the strike zone, so I used that to my advantage to get ahead in the count," said Mendez. "I like to throw strikes and challenge hitters early in the count. But they were chasing, which made my job a little bit easier and it allowed me to keep them off-balance."
Mendez had a deceptively heavy fastball along with a curveball and a changeup working to perfection, which kept the Destroyers' lineup off of its game from his first pitch to his last.
"The last thing you can do against a pitcher of his caliber is let him get into a rhythm and that's exactly what we did by chasing too many pitches and not being patient enough at the plate," said Dunellen head coach Chris Banos. "In high school baseball, you have to battle every at-bat and putting the ball in play is key to succeeding. Weehawken, to their credit, did just that and we didn't. When a kid like (Mendez) is throwing the ball the way he did, sometimes you just have to tip your cap to a job well done."
The Indians got two more insurance runs in the fourth when freshman Mike Jodice roped a long double to right-center to drive in a run and, two batters later, Kenny Miniar brought him home on a single to make it 3-0. The rest was all Mendez, who even made a nice play on a dribbler in front of the mound. He was so dominant that a hard line-drive to right field by Puckett (that was caught to end the fourth inning) was the only ball off of Mendez to reach the outfield.
"Sal was awesome today, no question about it," said Weehawken head coach Anthony Stratton. "When we're playing the way we're capable of and Sal is throwing as well as he did today, we knew we would be a real tough out no matter what the
seeds were."
Mendez had the best start of his varsity career in notching his first-ever state tournament win for Weehawken (12-13). Miniar was the star offensively going 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI. Jason Pineda, Roberto Moran, and Corredor also had hits for the Indians. Wenzel scattered nine hits, walked two, and had 10 K's in taking the loss for Dunellen, whose season ended with a 15-8 record.
Weehawken moves into the Friday's North 2, Group 1 quarterfinal where it will face the winner of fourth-seeded Roselle Park and Harrison, the No. 13 seed. An upset by Harrison would give the Indians a home game, but where they play at this point
in the season does not matter, the fact is that they are still playing is what is important. With top-seeded Technology and No. 2 seed Secaucus getting upended in first-round surprises, the Weehawken players know they have as good a shot as any to make a serious run at a section title.
"This is what you play for and we know are right in the spot we want to be in," said Miniar. "Whether it was today or any other state game we might end up playing, the pressure is all on the other team. Sal pitched great for us and we got a couple of hits when we needed them. We're feeling pretty confident right now that we can play with anybody."
TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT
OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com. |
