Allentown drops heartbreaker to Somerville in state final
HAMILTON » The rain came down like tear drops near the end of Sunday’s NJSIAA Group III baseball state final at Bob DeMeo Field in Veterans Park.
For those supporting Allentown High, it might as well have been.
After battling so hard to return to the state final for a second year in a row, the Redbirds had victory staring them in the face, but first-time finalist Somerville found a way to hold on for a 3-2 win.
“This would have meant a lot to us,” A’town senior pitcher A.J. Ariano said.
Ariano and his 10 classmates on head coach Brian Nice’s 22-7 squad wanted badly to regain the Group III trophy they won in 2017. No Colonial Valley Conference team had done so since Steinert won Group IV titles from 1998-2000.
Despite struggling to break through in the first five innings versus Pioneers starter Thomas Babalis, the Redbirds were perched to take over the game in the sixth and seventh innings — instead stranding five runners, three of whom were in scoring position.
“It was pretty huge to get out of the sixth inning,” said Babalis, a SUNY Binghamtonbound left-hander who threw 107 pitches through six innings.
When Giuseppe Arcuri reached on a one-out error, and Mike Zupko and Justin Marcario followed with singles to trim Somerville’s lead to one run, Babalis reached back to strike out Austin Ferrier before getting Matt Bethea to fly out to avoid further damage.
“Their first pitcher was good,” Allentown senior catcher Chris Reeder said of Babalis, who struck out eight and did not walk a batter. “Once he located his fastball, he was tough.” ALLENTOWN
abrhbi Tnnnbm 2b 3 0 1 0 Gaul 1b 40 10 Reeder c 30 00 Arcuri 3b 41 10 Zupko lf 40 20 Marcrio ss 30 21 Ferrier rf 31 10 Bethea dh 30 00 Merkel cf 20 11 Totals 29 2 92
Allentown (22-7) Somerville(20-5)
E — Arcuri, Belford; DP — Allentown 1, Somerville 1; LOB — Allentown 9, Somerville 7; 2B — Arcuri, Zupko; 3B — Miceli; SF — Merkel; SAC — Miceli; CS — Scott.
IP HR ER BB SO
ALLENTOWN
Nitti L,5-3
Ariano
SOMERVILLE
Babalis W,8-2 6.0 8 2 1 Wortman S 1.0 1 0 0 HbP- by Wortman (Reeder); WP — Babalis.
4.1 1.2 SOMERVILLE
abrhbi Hack cf 2210 Miceli 2b 2121 Babls p-1b 2 0 1 0 Kovacs cr 0000 Scott dh 3012 Belford ss 3 0 0 0 Brong lf 3000 Tutunjn 3b 3 0 2 0 Bozzuti rf 3000 Mele c 3010 Murphy cr 0 0 0 0 Ciempla1b 0 0 0 0 Totals 24 3 8 3
6 2
0000110—2 100020x—3
3 0
3 0
2 0
0 1
1 2
8 3
A first-inning single by Babalis had set up the 20-5 Pioneers’ first run when Preston Scott pushed across Devin Hack with a fielder’s choice ground out.
The Redbirds evened the score in the top of the fifth when Ferrier singled and later came home on Danny Merkel’s sacrifice fly, but head coach Chris Banos’ club answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame, both charged to A’town junior starting pitcher Jack Nitti.
A one-out infield hit by Hack and an RBI triple by Matt Miceli put Somerville in front again. Ariano came on in relief and struck out Babalis, but Scott doubled to drive in Miceli and push the lead to 3-1.
With the Redbirds one run closer the following inning, Nice was headed to the mound, planning to replace Ariano after a one-out single by Joe Tutunjian, when the senior right-hander told his coach he wanted to finish.
“I was frustrated I’d left that pitch up, but I didn’t want to come out,” said Ariano, who proceeded to strike out Dante Bozzuti, then get Vince Mele to pop out to keep the score tight.
When Merkel singled and Matt Tannenbaum walked against new pitcher Bobby Wortman to start the seventh, it looked as though a rainbow might appear on the Allentown horizon.
Wortman struck out Brandon Gaul to momentarily breathe a sigh of relief, but when he plunked Reeder in the back with his next pitch, the bases were loaded with one out and the heart of the Redbirds’ order up.
At that point, Banos called a mound meeting with the junior right-hander and the infield, which included Babalis, who had moved to first base.
“We just wanted Bobby to give his full effort and leave it all on the field,” Babalis said. “That’s all anyone could ask.”
“It was scary to come in on my own,” Wortman said. “The first strikeout gave me a sense of relief. After our meeting, a sense of adrenalin came through.”
Wortman reached deep and struck out Arcuri and Zupko, both of whom had doubled earlier in the game.
“He did nothing differently. We should have been able to hit him,” said Arcuri, who will play at East Tennessee State University next year.
“Not at all did we think we’d lose when we loaded the bases,” said Reeder, who will play at The College of New Jersey next season.
As the rain fell harder, the Redbirds seniors could only watch this time as the Pioneers piled on Wortman in the infield. They had to hold back real tears as their dream of repeating as state champions washed away.