With cutoff looming, Hawks need to get hot
BY SHAWN LAYTON
Staff Writer

SCOTT PILLING staff St. Joe's Dave Milanes beats the tag of Woodbridge second baseman Chris Shrieks during Thursday's game in Woodbridge.

EDISON - The J.P. Stevens High School baseball team looked to commence a winning streak after picking up an 11-6 win over Old Bridge early last week.

The Hawks came close, but lost a 1-0 nail-biter to North Bergen over the weekend to fall to 4-7 on the season. With the state tournament cut-off date of May 11 rapidly approaching, Stevens hopes to get that elusive winning streak under way.

"The North Bergen game was a tough one to lose," Stevens head coach Dave Marzano said. "If it wasn't for that one-half of an inning, we could still be playing. They had a couple of tough pitchers they threw against us, but I thought our guys pitched really well. Connor Medler and Michael Zinno did a nice job and kept us in the game the entire way."

To make the loss even tougher to swallow is the fact that North Bergen's go-ahead run reached base on a strikeout-passed ball play.

It was another top-notch pitching performance by Zinno that led the Hawks to victory over Old Bridge. After sophomore Billy Dumchus did a solid job as the starting pitcher to keep the Hawks in the game, Zinno took the ball in the later innings to record the win.

One-time shortstop and recent catcher Anthony Montalbano went 3-for-3 and knocked in three runs in the win while teammate Brad Newman drove in four runs on a 4-for-4 performance at the plate. Zinno went 2-for-4 with one RBI.

Old Bridge jumped ahead early and made a game of it thanks to the hitting of Nick Ballinger and Dan Walsh. Both went 2-for-4 in the loss. Ballinger and Old Bridge catcher Dan Cwiek drove in two runs apiece.

"It was an exciting game and I was pleased with our team's determination," Marzano said. "They battled back and put together two strong innings offensively in the fifth and sixth."

The Hawks will have plenty of opportunity to put together that much-needed winning streak with a busy week on tap. Starting with a Monday match-up with Red Division rival East Brunswick, the Hawks will play host to Woodbridge today at 3:45 p.m.

The team is scheduled to close out the week with a road game May 4 at South Brunswick followed by a May 5 home game against visiting Piscataway.

"I definitely think we're better than a 4-7 team," Marzano said. "We had some games that we should have won, but just came up a little short."

In order for the team to qualify for the state tournament, it must pull its record up to at least .500 by the May 11 cut-off date.

"To get to that point, we're going to have to win all the games we're supposed to win," Marzano said. "We have to win some of the close ones and avoid beating ourselves during this stretch."

Diamond notes... The Hawks aren't the only local team that needs to string together some wins over the next two weeks to assure themselves of a spot in the state tournament.

Edison, J.F. Kennedy, Metuchen and Bishop Ahr were officially on the bubble when the week started, with records hovering around the .500 mark entering Monday's play.

Edison entered the week at 6-6, while Kennedy was in a bit better shape at 9-7. Metuchen can't afford too many losses over the next two weeks at 5-6, while Bishop Ahr, at 4-3, has a busy stretch of games looming.

Kennedy also finds itself in the heart of a battle for the Blue Division crown, trailing division-leading Middlesex (6-2 in the division) by just one game when the week began. Spotswood (5-1 in the division) remains the favorite to emerge with the banner, while Bishop Ahr also has a shot at this title, entering the week just one-and-a-half games back of Spotswood.

The only local baseball teams that appears to be a lock to be in the state tournament is St. Joseph, which entered the week at 9-4, and in the midst of a furious battle for the Red Division title.

Top-ranked South Brunswick (7-2 in the division) holds a one-game lead over the Falcons at this point, while Piscataway is also very much in the mix, with a 6-2 divisional record. Edison is also a factor here, with a 5-3 divisional record.

On the softball diamond, top-ranked JFK (14-2) and third-ranked Bishop Ahr (9-2) are state playoff bound, while fifth-ranked Colonia (8-4), ninth-ranked Woodbridge (8-5) and seventh-ranked Edison (7-4) are also looking strong at this point.

J.P. Stevens (4-7) and Metuchen (2-6) entered the week needing to get hot quickly.

As far as the divisional races go, both Kennedy (White Division) and Bishop Ahr (Blue Division) are in the driver's seat, while Edison and Woodbridge have some work to do if they hope to top Old Bridge for the Red Division title.