Saturday, May 28, 2011

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Mahwah's Walker Larson struck out nine and gave up just four hits as he picked up his second state tournament win, this time a 4-0 shutout of top seeded Glen Rock on Friday afternoon.

GLEN ROCK – No team wants to be knocked out of the Bergen County Baseball Tournament elimination last weekend for both Mahwah and Glen Rock did make setting up pitching rotations a little bit easier. With no other championships to play for each coach could had the ball to his respective ace and then hope his offense could scratch out a couple of runs in what was almost assuredly going to be a pitcher’s duel in the quarterfinals of the North 1, Group 2 state sectional playoffs.

Neither starting pitcher disappointed as 13 of the 14 combined innings thrown by Glen Rock’s Matt Lawsky and Mahwah’s Walker Larsen threw were scoreless frames. It was Larson, however, who kept the clean sheet with a dominating performance. The Mahwah right-hander tossed a complete game three-hitter and struck out nine against just two walks. He did not allow a runner to reach third base in the game, did not allow one past first in any of the final four innings and willed Mahwah into the sectional semifinals with a 4-0 win on Friday at Glen Rock High School.

It was not just a matter of throwing hard for Larson, who can dial it up when necessary, but more the movement on his fastball and being able to drop his curveball and change up into the zone for called strikes that made him nearly unhittable. Of his nine strikeouts, seven of them were on called strike threes, a glowing testament to his pin point control.

Glen Rock starter Matt Lawsky struck out 12 and did not give up a run outside of the fourth inning.

“My curve and my change were definitely solid today, but I just felt like I had the best command of my fastball that I have had all year,” said Larson, whose fastball had a tail on it that broke away from right hand hitter and repeatedly nipped the outside corner. “I was just pounding it all day and I just kept hitting that spot.”

Glen Rock pushed a runner into scoring position in each of the first three innings, but was unable to push any of them across the plate. The Panthers got two one with one out in the second only to see a pop-up and a strikeout abort that potential rally and had a runner on second with one out in the third, but fizzled with two straight pop-ups.

It was a that point that Glen Rock head coach Joe Sutera knew that his team was staring at a couple of miles of bad road.

“We didn’t beat ourselves, we didn’t kick the ball around but we just couldn’t get the big hit early when we could have taken a lead. That would have made a big difference,” said Sutera. “In the first, second and third innings we had runners in scoring position and we just didn’t get a big hit. That was trouble because you are not going to get that many more chances against a kid like Larson.”

Brian Brown's two-run single in the fourth gave Mahwah a 3-0 lead.

Lawsky was pretty stingy himself, but the difference in the game was the top of the fourth inning. That was when all four of the game’s runs were scored and the rally started with one of those knuckling line drives that seems to take off as it reaches the outfield. It was struck by Mahwah’s Adam Hanig, it went for a leadoff double and it was the only extra base hit in the game for either side.

Hanig’s double made him the first of seven straight Mahwah hitters to reach safely, but it wasn’t like the Thunderbirds were playing pepper with the outfield fence. Brandon Block was intentionally walked and Andy Shuart then negotiated a free pass on his own to load the bases. When Chris Baldi became the third straight hitter to receive a base on balls, he also got the game’s first RBI as it forced home Hanig.

Brendan Brown broke the string of walks, taking the first pitch he saw right back through the box and into centerfield for a two-run single that gave Mahwah a 3-0 lead.

“The two batters before me walked and so I knew he was going to come in with a strike to try to get ahead [in the count]. I went up there looking for a pitch I could hit and I got it. It was an outside fastball and I just drove it up the middle,” said Brown, Mahwah’s starting centerfielder. “I knew going up there that it was a key point in the game and that a hit in that spot would be important. I didn’t want to leave those guys standing out there.”

Paul Goldman had two of Glen Rock's four hits.

After being unable to get the bunt down on an attempted suicide squeeze that cost Mahwah an out and a base runner, CJ Musumesi atoned with an infield single that knocked in Brown with the final run of the game. The 4-0 lead was more than enough for Larson, who retired 13 of the final 16 batters he faced.

Over the final four innings top-seeded Glen Rock could muster only a two-out walk by Andrew Warner in the fourth, a two-out single by Paul Goldman, who had two of the Panthers’ four hits, in the sixth and Paul Scandale reached on an error in the bottom of the seventh. Larson responded with a strikeout to end the fourth, Block, Mahwah’s first baseman, made a circus catch of a pop fly in foul territory to end the sixth and Glen Rock’s final base runner was picked off of first base by Musumesi, Mahwah’s catcher.

Larson, who improved to 7-3 on the season, has now won two games in the state tournament and has given up just one run in 14 postseason innings.

“He pitched a gem the other day too against Lenape Valley. Walker has really advanced. He has a good fastball, a good curveball and he changes speeds,” said Mahwah head coach Jeff Remo. “He mixes in his change up and that is what really keeps the hitters of balance. And he was on today.”

Adam Hanig had two hits for Mahwah, which will play Ramsey in the North 1, Group 2 semifinals on Tuesday.

Lawsky finished his stellar season with another strong outing. The senior who will play next season at Muhlenberg College, went the distance on a seven-hitter with 12 strikeouts against three walks. Take out the fourth inning where he gave up all four runs, all three walks and four of the seven hits without a strikeout then do the math and see how well he pitched the other six innings.

“I don’t know what else we could have asked for from Matty. Double digit strikeouts and seven hits allowed against one of the best hitting teams in the county is a good effort, it was just one bad inning,” said Sutera, whose team finished the season with an NJIC Colonial Division title and an 18-7-1 record. “It’s tough to see a great group of seniors go out like this because they are a big part of why we are where we are as a program. But that is the game. The breaks went their way in the fourth [inning] and we just couldn’t get anything going.”

Mahwah (15-10) is going to the sectional semifinals where it will take on Ramsey, a team that it has beaten twice already this season. But since it is the No. 9 seed and Ramsey, which beat Pompton Lakes, 16-5, on Friday, is seeded second, Mahwah will be on the road for the third straight time in the state playoffs.

“Knocking off the one seed today, we are obviously pretty confident,” said Larson, who will take the start against Ramsey on Tuesday. “We beat Ramsey twice. The first time we scored 13 runs against them, the second time we won, 3-2, on a walk-off home run by [Cole] Fabio. We are probably not going to put of 13 runs this time, but I am confident that we will be able to find a way to win.”

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