Jacob Greenberg threw 4+ innings to pick up the win and also had a big day at the plate for Fort Lee, which improved to 5-2 and 3-0 in league play with a 14-2 win on the road at Ridgefield Park on Monday.
LITTLE FERRY – Fort Lee High School has been around since 1916 and has been in its present location for almost 100 years and in all of that time the baseball program has probably never had it so good. The Bridgemen earned a spot in the Bergen County Tournament for the first time ever last season and return every single player from that historic team
This year they are on the hunt for their first league title since sometime in the 1950s and that quest took a big step forward on Monday in a 14-2, six-inning win over Ridgefield Park at Bassano Field in Little Ferry in the road leg of the two-game set to be completed on Wednesday.
“We had a great season last year, we made the counties for the first time and the best thing for us is that we did not lose a single guy and we are still young,” said Fort Lee head skipper Pete Kraljic, who is nearing a decade as the Fort Lee head coach and is being rewarded for his patience in building the program. “We got a kid back from Bergen Catholic and the depth in our lineup is the best that it has been since I have been the head coach. These kids have played a lot and they know how to play together.”
Fort Lee is now 5-2 on the season and got to 3-0 in league play by applying the pressure just about immediately. The Bridgemen sent eight hitters to the plate in the top of the first inning before Ridgefield Park sophomore starter Andrew Garcia could settle in.
Helped by two hit batters, two walks and an outfield error, Fort Lee plated four runs in the opening inning. CJ Senatore (1-for-3, RBI, R), Niko Sango (1-for-2, 2 RBI, R, 2 BB) and Gabe Lasval (0-for-1, RBI, R) all driving in runs in the rally.
Emmanuel Paula, one of five sophomores in Ridgefield Park's starting lineup, scored a first inning run.
Ridgefield Park, which is a co-op program with Bogota, knows all about riding a talented class to new heights. The Scarlets won the last three Big North American Division titles before the Class of 2024 walked out the door and in its place is a young group that has talent, but lacks varsity experience.
Mike Clement is the only senior in the starting lineup and he drove in one of two first inning runs that got the Scarlets back in the game momentarily. Emmanuel Paula’s double, Ryan Lewis’ infield RBI single and Clement’s sacrifice drew RP back to within 4-2 and Garcia set the side down in order in both the second and third innings, but as it turned out, the outcome had already been decided.
The Fort Lee pitching staff led by right-handed starter Jacob Greenberg (4+ IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 H, 2 K, 3 BB, W) and followed up by Gabe Garcia (1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 K, 0 BB) and Ethan Rybalsky (1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H) allowed just one hit over the final five innings. Garcia and Rybalsky combined for two innings of scoreless relief while the offense continued to pile on.
“We have a great team and I have a great defense behind me. I came out and struggled a little bit, but I started to find my rhythm and got going,” said Greenberg, who also had a big day at the plate with two extra base hits, 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. “Our bats gave me a lead right away and it is easier to pitch with a lead then pitch by pitch in a close game. I take comfort because I know the guys behind me in the field and in the lineup have my back.”
The Bridgemen sent 11 hitters to the plate and scored six runs in the fifth inning to break the game open and got a bases-clearing, 3-run double from Luke Senatore in the top of the sixth to invoke the 10-run rule. Every hitter in the FL lineup reached base at least once, Greenberg and Jack Dorkhom (2-for-3, 4 R, 3B, SB) had multiple hit games and Luke Senatore (1-for-4, 3 RBI, 2 R), Greenberg, CJ Senatore and Sang each drove in at least two runs.
Luke Salvatore drive in three runs for Fort Lee, which is in search of its first league title since the 1950s.
The Big North American is a five-team league, which means there are only 8 games that count in the chase for the league title and if the Bridgemen can finish off the sweep on Wednesday they would be halfway home.
And home is where junior shortstop Christian Kim is now after transferring back from Bergen Catholic. He was on base twice, scored a run and is in the middle of everything that Fort Lee is trying to accomplish while it has roster depth and experience in his favor. Those aspects of the game come in waves at public schools and while Fort Lee has them both its hopes to not just qualify for the Bergen County Tournament, but rattle some cages when it gets there.
“With this team the chemistry is really there. We just feed off each other’s energy and we love playing together. It was easy to fit right back in when I came home. These guys welcomed me back with open arms and we just want to go out and win a bunch of games together,” said Kim. “We want to go deep in the county tournament and go undefeated in our league as well. Those are the goals.”
Rebuilding might be too strong a term to describe Ridgefield Park, which is 4-4 through the first eight games with a lineup made up almost exclusively of underclassmen. A potential spot in the Bergen County Tournament might be hanging by a thread, but the Scarlets could we well-suited to make a run in the Bergen Invitational Tournament as a consolation prize.
“We start two freshmen [catcher Justin Maldonado and second baseman JD Fucci], five sophomores, two juniors and a senior and you never want to get your heads beat in like we did today, but in a lot of ways in the games we have lost we have been our own worst enemy,” said Ridgefield Park head coach Scott Papetti. “Honestly, we are more than likely a BIT-type team, but I think we are going to be playing better baseball at that time of the season. We do have kids that can throw, we are just all over the place sometimes and getting experience as the season goes along is, I think, really going to help us.”
All of that being said, the bigger picture is high school sports can and should be an agent for good in a community and three other schools in the Big North American have all agreed to take part in the first annual Pulmonary Fibrosis Challenge to honor Marybeth Papetti, the mother of Scott Papetti, who passed during the pandemic from the disease.
The event will take place this weekend with Ridgefield Park hosting in Little Ferry and playing the opening game against Saddle Brook on Friday night. On Saturday, Fort Lee will take on New Milford at 10 a.m., Cliffside Park will play Memorial (WNY) at 1 p.m. and Dumont and Leonia will play in the 4 p.m. finale.
“It took a couple of years to get this going and I started to investigate if there was anything like the Autism Awareness Tournaments for Pulmonary Fibrosis and their foundation helped me kind of map things out. They helped with a website (https://secure.qgiv.com/event/2025baseballtournament/) to process donations right through,” said Papetti. “Our league agreed to be a part of it and I really appreciate that. I am really excited and I am hoping we can raise a good bit of money for this.”
FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS EVENT PLEASE CLICK HERE. TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS STORY PLEASE VISIT 4-FeetGrafix.com.
