ND upsets CBA to give Drulis career win No. 300
LINCROFT » The ninth-seeded Notre Dame High baseball team gave 18thyear head coach Joe Drulis an emotional 300th win when it upset topseeded Christian Brothers Academy, 4-1, Tuesday in the NJSIAA NonPublic A South Tournament.
With the win, the 15-6-2 Irish advance to play fifth-seeded Red Bank Catholic (20-7) on the road Friday, tenatively set for 4 p.m.
“Wow, what a way to reach a milestone! Our team’s gotten hot at the right time,” said Drulis, whose team is 9-1-2 since the beginning of May. “Both teams played well. This is one I’ll remember.”
Going up against longtime CBA head coach Marty Kenny, Drulis’ boys built a 2-0 lead on the Colts in the third inning, then tacked on two more in the fifth.
Robbie Buecker and Tatem Levins both doubled and had a run batted in. Buecker also combined with winning pitcher Tom Mayer on a three-hitter to outduel CBA pitcher Blaise Venancio, who allowed four hits.
NotreDame(15-6-2) CBA (19-5) 2B:
Buecker, Levins (ND), Rodgers (CBA); Buecker, Levins (ND), DiTullio (CBA). Mayer (4-3); Venancio;
WP— 002 020 000 100 LP— 0 — 4 4 0 0 — 1 3 1 S— RBIs:
Buecker (2). CENTRAL JERSEY GROUP III ALLENTOWN 12,
JACKSON LIBERTY 4 JACKSON » The defending champion and third-seeded Redbirds did not let a little deficit bother them.
Instead, Allentown (20-6) rallied to score four times in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings to come from two runs down against the second-seeded Lions in the CJ III semifinals.
Matt Tannenbaum led the way with two hits, a run scored and three runs batted in for the Redbirds, who will try for another sectional crown when they visit top-seeded Wall (22-4) Friday, tenatively at 4 p.m. The Crimson Knights defeated fourth-seeded Hopewell Valley, 3-1, Tuesday.
Ryan Miller also had two hits, scored three times and knocked in a run for the Redbirds, while Chris Reeder, Giuseppe Arcuri and Justin Marcario also supplied two hits apiece.
Allentown (20-6) JacksonLib(20-5) 2B:
Arcuri (A); Hickey, Melfi (JL); RMiller, Gaul, Arcuri, Merkel, Tannenbaum 3, Reeder (A), Hickey, Melfi, Sofield (JL).
Ariano (5-0); Ritz.
WP—
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP II HADDONFIELD 9, DELRAN 2 HADDONFIELD » The third-seeded Bears got out to an early lead on the second-seeded Bulldawgs, only to see Haddonfield take control between the third and fifth innings to knock Delran out of the state tourney.
Joe Mackell and Louie Rossner drove in runs for the Bears, who added a run in the fourth inning. But the Bulldawgs got three hits from Bauer Fichter and three RBIs from Connor MacNeil.
Delran (18-6) 100100 0 Haddonfield(16-5) 003 150 x 2B:
Leroy (D), CBrown, Fichter (H); Cristino (H); MacNeil (H); Mackell, Rossner (D), CBrown, Cristino 2, Fichter, Kadar, MacNeil 3, Mariani (H).
Heine;
HR: WP— HR: LP— 000 404 4 —12 11 2 200 002 0 — 4 12 2 LP— RBIs:
LSmith (4-3).
RBIs: —2 60 —9 13 0 3B: