NBC tops Hamilton to reach sectional final
HAMILTON >> With impressive, 6-foot-9 sophomore C.J. Fredericks batting behind him, Northern Burlington High’s No. 3 hitter Drew Wyers has seen his share of favorable pitches this spring.
Yet, the 6-foot-1 junior third baseman said Wednesday in the semifinals of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletics Association Central Jersey Group III Tournament was not one of those days.
Third-seeded Hamilton West had heard plenty about the troublesome middle of the seventh-seeded Greyhounds’ lineup.
That did not keep Northern’s heavy hitters from doing damage early and often on the way to an 8-1 victory over the Hornets.
With the win, head coach Rick Doppler’s 20-5 squad advances to the CJ III Final. The game, which figures to be played Friday or Saturday, will either be at fifth-seeded Allentown (15-4) or top-seeded Colts Neck (20-6) once those teams complete their sectional semifinal, which had to be postponed again yesterday.
“It’s not just the middle of our lineup. The whole lineup is scary when we’re rolling,” Wyers said. “After rain delayed the game (Tuesday), I didn’t know how we were going to come out today. But I have confidence in what we can do, all the way.”
What the Greyhounds can do is score in bunches to back their strong pitching staff. That approach was most apparent in the first inning.
Northern Burlington put up four runs off Hamilton starting pitcher Mack Meara in the top of the first. Leadoff hitter Niko Garnier reached on an error. Wyers walked with one out. That brought to the plate Fredericks.
After Garnier scored on a couple of wild pitches and a stolen base, Fredericks brought in Wyers by roping a double to the left-center field fence. Opposing pitcher Ryan Dromboski followed with a single to put runners at the corners before courtesy runner Keith Tillett stole second.
With two outs and a 2-2 count, Andrew Bressler singled to right field to score Fredericks before Tillett also scored when another delivery got away.
University of Pennsylvania-bound right-hander
Dromboski then took the mound and promptly struck out the first three batters he faced.
The lead became 5-0 the following inning when walks to Franklin Peters and Marco Mannino surrounded a single by Garnier, then were followed by a sacrifice fly by Wyers.
“The first inning sets the tone for the game,” said Hornets senior center fielder Danilo Perdomo, who is headed to Mercer County Community College next season. “Their pitcher had a good two-seamer. He threw well. I got lucky with a couple of hits off him.”
As if the Greyhounds’ offense wasn’t enough of a problem, Dromboski went the distance and threw a four-hitter with nine strikeouts.
Hamilton (16-6) did get one run back off him in the bottom of the third when leadoff-hitting Perdomo got the first safety — a single to left — for head coach Mike Moceri Jr.’s squad, then Noel Olavarria followed with a single to right. After a wild pitch advanced the runners, Nate Rodriguez grounded out to drive in what would be his team’s only run.
“I respect them a ton,” Wyers said of the Hornets, who he used to watch play with his father when Curtis
Wyers was athletics director at Robbinsville High. “We weren’t going to let up because we knew they weren’t going to.”
Rather than worry about whether the opposing team was going to pitch to him, Wyers found a fourth-inning, two-out slider he liked from reliever Dylan Parsons and hit it into the netting above the left-field fence for his eighth home run of the season, which ties a school record. It was also the second consecutive game in which Wyers homered after he hit two in the Greyhounds’ 10-3 win over Burlington Township Saturday.
Parsons refused to allow anything else in his 4 2/3 innings of solid relief, but Northern tacked on two more runs off Rodriguez in the top of the seventh on an RBI ground out by Ryan Boyd and a sacrifice fly by Bressler.
Dromboski, meanwhile, struck out three of the last four hitters he faced to send the Greyhounds back to the CJ III sectional final, which they also reached in 2019.
No. Burlington (20-5) 410 100 2 — 8 7 0 Hamilton West (16-6) 001 000 0 — 1 4 2 2B: Fredericks (NB); HR: Wyers (NB); RBIs: Wyers 2, Fredericks, Boyd, ABressler 2 (NB), NRodriguez (HW). WP — RDromboski (6-2); LP — Meara (1-3).