Adamczyk’s strong outing lifts Lawrence
LAWRENCE » When Tanner Adamczyk takes the mound for the Lawrence Post 414 baseball team this summer, manager Jason Zegarski’s team wants it to be a close game.
In fact, Post 414 can pretty much count on it.
Recent Lawrence High graduate Adamczyk has been one of the best biggame pitchers in Mercer County in 2017.
The crafty left-hander who defeated Steinert (by one run) during the high school season has come back to win three starts in the beginning of the Mercer County American Legion League season, also all onerun decisions.
Saturday his victim was second-place Hightstown Post 148.
Adamczyk went the distance, twirling a five-hitter with six strikeouts, to outduel Post 148’s Grayson Cooke, 2-1, at Mike Pezzicola Field in Eggerts HIGHTSTOWN RHrngtn ss 4 0 Mnkwch dh 3 1 JSimon lf Brookwll cf 2 0 LoPorto rf Welch 3b O’Hare c BSimon 1b 3 0 Drews 2b Totals abr 2 0 2 0 3 0 3 0 1 0 23 1
Hightstown (6-3) Lawrence (5-5)
Castoral lf 3 0 2 0 Frasclla 3b 4 1 1 0 Kmiec cf 3110 Delcmpe c 3 0 0 0 Cutneo dh 2 0 1 0 Sullivan 1b 1 0 0 0 D’Anglo pr 0 0 0 0 Mains ss 2010 E — RHarrington; DP — Hightstown 1, Lawrence 1; LOB — Hightstown 7, Lawrence 9;
2B — JSimon; SAC — Drews, Sullivan, Mains; SB — JSimon, Brookwell, Cutaneo, Kmiec; CS — RHarrington, Drews. HIGHTSTOWN POST 148 GCooke L,1-1 hbi IP H LAWRENCE POST 414 Adamczyk W,3-0 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 1 6.0 7.0 Russo rf Hiner 2b Totals 8 5 abr hbi 3021 3000 24 2 8 1
1000000—1 100010x—2
R ER BBSO 2 132 1 136 HbP- by Adamczyk (Drews, LoPorto); WP — Adamczyk.
Crossing Park. “I pounded the strike zone a lot more today,” said Adamczyk, who has taken down Allentown, 3-2, South Brunswick Post 401, 2-1, and now Hightstown in MCALL play. “I felt like my last couple outings I tried to do too much, so today I tried to mix up my pitches better and keep the batters off balance.”
He certainly did after getting in deep trouble in the top of the first inning when Steve Brookwell singled in Matt Mankowich, who had walked, then Brookwell and Jake Simon (single) each stole a base to get in scoring position with one out.
Adamczyk got Alex LoPorto and Dylan Welch to pop out to escape the threat with just the one run. Little did the visitors know at the time that would be the only run they’d manage.
Lawrence (5-5) came back to even the game in the bottom of the first with the help of a Post 148 error. Beyond that, Cooke did his best to hold Post 414 in check by stranding nine base runners (four in scoring position) over his six innings of work.
Adamczyk went one step further, stranding six of seven Hightstown runners in scoring position. He got key outs when he needed them most, like in the sixth inning when Post 148 (6-3) loaded the bases with one out on a double by Jake Simon, a walk to Brookwell and a hit-by-pitch of LoPorto. First, Adamczyk got Welch to ground into a fielder’s choice on which Lawrence third baseman Justin Frascella cut down Simon at the plate. Then he enticed Michael O’Hare to fly out to end the inning.
In the seventh, Ben Simon led off with an infield hit, then was bunted into scoring position by No. 9 hitter Jonathan Drews. But Adamczyk got Ryan Harrington to pop out to catcher Trevor Delcampe, and got Mankowich to fly out to right field on a 2-0 pitch to keep the meat of manager Doug Herrin’s lineup from returning to the plate.
“To stay in the hunt (in the MCALL race), we have to do a better job in games like this,” said TCNJ-product Jake Simon (2-for-2), whose team also dropped a 6-1 decision at Post 401 Friday. “(Adamczyk) did his job. He gave us some fits.”
That is what Adamczyk, who will head to McDaniel College to play football at the end of the Legion season, wants to do while waiting for some run support from his mostly younger Lawrence teammates.
The only other run Post 414 would score off Cooke came in the bottom of the fifth when Jake Kmiec led off with a single and stole second base. After a long fly by Delcampe allowed Kmiec to move up to third base, Anthony Russo singled over a drawn-in infield to plate the winning run.
Russo and Ryan Castoral finished the game 2-for-3 to lead Lawrence’s eight hits off Cooke.
On this day, that and two runs would be all Post 414 would need with Tanner Adamczyk on the mound.