Sunday, May 29, 2011

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Wayne Valley's Andrew Furber did not exactly have pin point control, but he was effectively wild in throwing a two-hit shutout as the Indians moved to within a win of a secomd straight Passaic County championship.

WAYNE - In last year's Passaic County championship game, Passaic Valley stood just six outs away from a title until Wayne Valley's Mike Tolerico changed all that. He homered in the sixth inning to get the Indians back in it, then hit a walk-off homer in the seventh to give the Indians their first county title since 1988.

On Saturday, the two teams met again with a spot in the Passaic County final at stake. While the Passaic Valley players had revenge on their minds, Tolerico once again proved to be their Waterloo, even when he did not hit the ball hard.

An infield pop-up off the bat of Tolerico dropped to the turf, leading to a crucial three-run first inning. He later added a solo shot that was more than enough run support for Andrew Furber. Although the senior right-hander struggled with his control, he was effective enough in allowing just two hits as top-seeded Wayne Valley makes a return trip to the Passaic County final with a
5-0 semifinal win over fourth-seeded Passaic Valley at Passaic County Technical Institute in Wayne.

"We feel confident if we can get (Andrew) Furber an early lead, that he'll do the rest because he always does," said Tolerico. "After losing in the first round of the states, we were really disappointed. But now we only have another county title to shoot for, so it's helping in that way because we're putting all our effort into winning another title."

In the bottom of the first inning with K.C. Abel already on second, Tolerico popped up in the infield for what should have been the third out of the inning. But the ball tailed back towards the plate and out of the reach of the Passaic Valley first baseman and landing about 20 feet from the plate just inside the first-base line, which allowed Abel to score. Nick Hoy followed with an RBI double and Josh Marks drove him in with a single to turn what should have been a scoreless game into a 3-0 lead for Wayne Valley.

Passaic Valley starter Charlie Fletcher pitched much better than his final line might have suggested.

"You can't give away runs against a team like Wayne Valley or it will come back to bite you," said Passaic Valley head coach John Mazzo. "We made a few mistakes on the bases and didn't make a few plays we should have made. They didn't make those mistakes and they made the plays they needed to make, and that was the difference. I think Charlie (Fletcher) showed that he is the best pitcher in the county, but we didn't give him any help with the bats. We came in with a lot of
adrenaline and so much fire for this game. But to give up three runs in the first inning when we shouldn't have given up any just sapped the life out of us and we never recovered."

In the bottom of the third inning, the small dimensions of the PCT field came into play as they generally do during championship weekend. Tolerico took an outside fastball and popped up to left. What would have been a lazy fly ball at virtually any other field in North Jersey made it just over the fence for a solo home run and a 4-0 lead.

"I didn't know if it was going to get out or not, but I'll definitely take it," added Tolerico. "It was a pretty good pitch and I just got enough of it to drive it out to left. The more runs we can get for for Furber, the more he settles in, which is what we want every time he is on the mound."

Furber was wild throughout, but was able to bear down and get big outs when he got himself into trouble. On three different occasions, the Hornets had two runners on. Each time, including in the seventh inning, Furber reached back and struck out the next batter to end the inning.

"I had points in the game where I honestly had no idea where the ball was going, but I had to battle through it all day," said Furber. "I wasn't really feeling any of my breaking pitches, so I primarily went the fastball when I got into trouble. The team went out and got me runs early, and I didn't want to give those back."

Tolerico reached base in all three plate appearances, scoring three runs, driving in a run, and also had a stolen base for Wayne Valley (16-8). Furber walked a career-high seven batters, but only gave up two hits and had 6 K's to finish his season with a 6-1 record.

Wayne Valley caught a spot in the county final opposite DePaul. The final is sceduled for Monday.

Despite not walking a batter and having 11 strikeouts, Fletcher (7-2) took the loss for Passaic Valley, which ended the season with a 15-12-1 record. Tom Gaccione and Glen Wilke had the lone hits for the Hornets.

With the win, Wayne Valley reached consecutive Passaic County finals for the first time since 1981 and 1983 (there was no county tournament in 1982). For the Indians to defend their title, they will have to do against an unlikely foe, 11th-seeded DePaul. The Spartans have pulled three
consecutive upsets in the county tournament, the latest coming on Saturday in an 8-6 win over Wayne Hills.

Wayne Valley has beaten DePaul in each of their two regular season meetings, including a 14-13 slugfest a few weeks ago. While they know it will not be as easy this time around, the Indians are prepared to have all hands on deck to ensure that DePaul does not pull off one last upset.

"We've been working hard to get back here all year and now it's down to one game for it all," said Wayne Valley head coach Jeff Hoover. "We're right where we want to be, and we know DePaul isn't going to be easy. They had a lead on us in the seventh inning the last time we played, so we know they are definitely capable of winning. Our guys are focused and we want to be the first team in school history to win back-to-back titles. Now we're just one step away."

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