Allentown hands Hopewell 1st loss vs. NJ competition

ALLENTOWN » A week ago, Friday’s regular-season matchup between the Hopewell Valley High and Allentown High baseball teams looked to be an early preview of the Mercer County Tournament final.

Despite entering the tournament as the top two seeds, respectively, a rematch of last season’s championship game was not in the cards for the MCT as the Redbirds lost in the quarterfinals.

But with the Bulldogs still alive in counties and not having lost to anyone in New Jersey entering yesterday’s game, the Colonial Valley Conference showdown still had significance for these two Central Jersey Group III squads.

Yet, even though Hopewell Valley was hoping to avenge its MCT loss of a year ago, Allentown came up with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to break open a tie game it went on to win, 6-4.

“We came out with the mindset that we were going to win,” said Redbirds junior catcher Ryan Miller, who was spelling starting senior Chris Reeder behind the dish.

Miller made the most of his playing time, going 2-for-2, driving in two runs and scoring the winning run.

“I haven’t gotten a lot of time, so I wanted to make the most of the opportunity,” said Miller, who will also play American Legion baseball this summer. “I’m gaining great experience.”

After singling in a run in the first inning and knocking in another with a sacrifice fly in the fourth, Miller, batting sixth, led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a single to left field. With the game tied at 4 at the time, that hit proved the impetus to a closing rally for the Redbirds.

After Matt Bethea moved Miller into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, Reeder was called upon to pinch hit and was intentionally walked.

When reliever Jason Greenzang hit Dan Merkel with a pitch, it loaded the bases with one out. Then Austin Ferrier lofted a sacrifice fly to plate Miller before Danny McCormick singled in Reeder for an insurance run.

“We know we have the MCT semifinal coming up, but we still were fired up for this game,” Bulldogs sophomore second baseman Kenny Tagliareni said. “I thought we had a lot of momentum going into the later innings. But all of the momentum kind of changed after the fourth inning.”

Tagliareni had gotten his team even at 3-3 when he tripled to right field after two-out singles by Mark Porpora and Greenzang in the third. Hopewell took the lead the following inning when Cole Hare’s RBI ground out plated Liam Cleary, but Allentown responded with a run in the bottom of the frame.

A weird sequence of injuries threatened to hamper both teams in the bottom of the fourth when Mike Zupko, who had led off with a single and stolen second base, had to leave the game with a hand injury following his head-first slide. Jimmy Frein replaced him and advanced to third base before scoring on Miller’s sac fly.

Before the teams headed back to their dugouts, a pop foul behind home plate defelcted off the nose of Bulldogs catcher Mike Savas, forcing him to leave the game. Though a batter’s interference call on Ferrier helped the visitors keep the Redbirds from taking the lead, Hopewell could not keep its offense going when Justin Marcario replaced starter Brandon Gaul on the mound for the final two innings. HOPEWELL VALLEY

abr hbi Cleary 3b 3 1 1 0 Blake dh 3 0 1 0 Hare p 4 0 0 1 Brodine 1b 3 1 1 0 Savas c 3 0 1 0 Gewecke 1 0 0 0 Porpora ss 3 1 2 0 Grnzng rf 2 1 1 1 Taglreni 2b 3 0 2 2 Haynes cf 3 0 0 0 Potter lf 0 0 0 0 Totals 28 4 9 4

Hopewell Val. (21-2) Allentown (17-4)

ALLENTOWN

abr hbi Ferrier rf 3111 Gaul p 3111 McCrmk2b 1 0 1 1 Marcrio ss 4 0 0 0 Arcuri 3b 3121 Zupko 1b 2010 Frein 1b 1100 RMiller c 2122 Bethea dh 2 0 0 0 DiSlvtro 2b 2 0 0 0 Reeder ph 0 1 0 0 Merkel cf 1000 Boyle lf 0000 Totals 24 6 8 6 E — Tagliareni, Arcuri; DP — Allentown 1; LOB — Hopewell Valley 6, Allentown 5; 2B — Gaul, Arcuri 2; 3B — Taglareni, Ferrier; SF — Greenzang, RMiller, Ferrier; SAC — Bethea; SB — Blake, Zupko, Bethea; CS — Merkel.

IP HOPEWELL VALLEY

Hare 4.0 Greenzang L,1-1 2.0 ALLENTOWN

Gaul 5.0 8 4 3 1 4 Marcario W,1-1 2.0 1 0 0 2 2 HbP- by Greenzang (Merkel); WP — Hare 2, Gaul; PB — Savas. HR ER BB SO

5 3

0102100—4 300102x—6

4 2

4 2

1 1

2 0