Winzinger leads Hightstown to semifinals
HAMILTON >> Aaron Winzinger takes a humble approach to his pitching, and his teammates have been catching on.
Winzinger, a 6-foot-3 junior right-hander with the Hightstown High varsity baseball team, has hit 90 miles per hour with his fastball, yet he considers himself only the No. 3 pitcher on the Rams’ staff.
“I have to tip my hat to everyone in front of me,” Winzinger said Monday after he helped pitch and hit sixth-seeded Hightstown to a five-inning, 12-0 win over third-seeded Hamilton West in the quarterfinal round of the Colonial Valley Conference Tournament. “Jared Stillwagon and Andrew Luczak are senior pitchers. They deserve it. I have to be humble.”
Winzinger and his teammates actually seemed upset Monday after suffering an extra-inning, regularseason loss to Hamilton on their home field earlier this month, a game which Winzinger had started.
This time around, the Rams did not let the game slip away.
As Winzinger pitched a three-hitter with one walk and five strikeouts, Hightstown (7-2) moved into the CVC Tournament’s Wednesday, May 19 semifinal round against second-seeded Steinert (82), which defeated 10thseeded Nottingham, 5-4, yesterday.
“I took the last game against them personally,” Winzinger said. “That fueled the fire for this one.”
The Rams got on the board first when Hornets starting pitcher Nate Rodriguez walked the bases loaded in the top of the first inning.
Stillwagon grounded to third base. The fielder’s choice ball was bobbled, then overthrown, allowing Colin De Trolio and Derek Geissel, who was courtesy running for pitcher Aaron Winzinger, to score.
The Hornets (7-5) had a chance in the bottom of the first when Danilo Perdomo lofted a fly ball which Hightstown centerfielder Christopher Drews lost in the sun.
With Perdomo at second base after the leadoff double, Noel Olavarria hit a grounder to Winzinger on the first-base side of the mound. Just when it looked like Winzinger would get the out at first base, he turned and cut down the lead runner at third base.
Shortly thereafter, when Olavarria tried to steal second base as a ball momentarily got away from Rams catcher Sean Kane, Kane recovered to throw out the runner and destroy the rally.
The visitors got bonus runs with two swings of the bat in the second and third innings. First, No. 9-batter Justin Sabogal belted a solo home run over the right-field fence two batters into the second. Then Winzinger led off the following frame with a blast over the leftfield fence.
“I haven’t hit a ball out since I was on the Little League field,” senior left fielder Sabogal said. “It felt really good when it left the bat, but I couldn’t believe it when it went over. This time, we all really came out swinging.”
Head coach Mike Moceri
Jr.’s Hamilton West squad put two runners on with two outs in the bottom of the second, but could not capitalize. Meanwhile, Hightstown continued to attack after Winzinger’s homer.
Kane singled, then Stillwagon and Vincent Bibbens walked to load the bases with one out in the third inning.
When Rodriguez fell behind Marq Buiison, 2-1, the southpaw was lifted in favor of righty Jack Angelini. Yet, as Angelini was preparing to throw his first pitch, he was called for a balk, which allowed another run to score.
Angelini got ahead of Sabogal, but the lefthanded swinging batter came through again with a two-strike, bloop single to left field to put the Rams up, 6-0.
Head coach Chris Knott’s team, which hosts Steinert in a regular-season game Wednesday, kept the pressure on in the fourth by loading the bases with one out. Luczak then hit a towering fly ball to right field. That ball was also lost in the inagain, out-again sun, and two more runs scored.
When Andrew Glatt led off the fourth with a triple, he was singled home by Colin De Trolio, spelling the end for Angelini. But RBI singles by Stillwagon and Luczak, plus a sacrifice fly from Vincent Bibbens off reliever Jack Boufford put the 10-run rule in effect.
“It’s hard because this was such a big game for us,” Hornets’ junior first baseman Patrick McAuliffe said. “We knew we had to come out strong, but this turned out to be their best game.”
McAuliffe had Hamilton’s only other hits against Winzinger, going 2-for-2 with singles in the second and fifth innings. His safety which led off the bottom of the fifth kept the humble Winzinger from retiring the final 10 batters in a row after issuing his only free pass to Connor Kasa in the second inning. Hornets’ pitchers, in contrast, walked eight. Hightstown (7-2) 213 24 — 12 11 0 HamiltonWest(7-5) 000 00 — 0 3 2
2B: Luczak (Hi), Perdomo (HW); 3B: Glatt (Hi); HR: Sabogal, Winzinger (Hi); RBIs: Stillwagon 2, Sabogal 2, Winzinger, Luczak 3, De Trolio, Bibbens (Hi). WP — Winzinger (2-0); LP — NRodriguez (1-1).