Baseball – Hirschy Pitches TR East Past Rival TR South

TOMS RIVER – Toms River East senior C.J. Hirschy is heading into his fourth year as a varsity player, and while Hirschy has played all over the diamond during his first three seasons, he has not had a chance to start a game on the mound.

Tuesday against Toms River South, Hirschy started, finished and dominated the Raiders’ 3-1 opening-day win over the Indians by tossing a complete-game one-hitter on just 83 pitches.

Hirschy posted a 1.94 earned-run average in 18 innings last year, but all of those innings came in relief. Toms River East saw enough during the preseason to tab Hirschy the opening-day starter despite also returning last year’s No. 2 starter Anthony DeBlasio, who went 4-2 with a 2.51 ERA.

“I didn’t think he was physically ready to start last year,” Toms River East coach Bill Frank said. “He was throwing the ball pretty hard, and he was not a big kid so we wanted to protect him by bringing him in for two innings here, three innings there and let him get some outs late in the game with the idea that this year, he could probably start for us.”

“I’ve been wanting to start since last year and all preseason long, I have been preparing to be a starter,” Hirschy said. “We have three good starters and we’re all going to pitch, so it wasn’t a huge deal who went today and who went next, but it was definitely an honor to get the ball today. I felt like I pitched really well during the preseason, and I think the coaches saw how hard I worked and knew how good I felt.”

Hirschy walked Indians shortstop Christian Campbell, the second batter of the game, and surrendered a single to junior catcher and clean-up hitter Ryan Shiffer later in the frame. From that point on, Toms River South’s lone baserunners were the result of two hit batsmen, two walks (one intentional) and an error. Hirschy struck out five, walked three and induced nine ground-ball outs while allowing three fly-ball outs, an infield pop-up and a weak line drive to end the game.

“We have a bunch of seniors and guys who know what they’re doing out there, so my job is pretty simple,” Hirschy said. “I’m just looking to pound the zone and let our guys work. Defense is definitely a strength of ours and the best way to keep your pitch count down and stay in the game is to challenge hitters and let the defense work.”

The Indians finally got to Hirschy in the top of the sixth inning after Raiders senior right fielder Jerry Caporale gave Toms River East a 1-0 lead with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the fifth. Tom River South senior center fielder Russell Messler reached on a one-out error on a hard-hit ground ball to shortstop Jon Meola. Hirschy then issued a four-pitch walk to Campbell, who along with Messler, each moved up a base on a ground-out to second by first baseman Spencer Kapp.

The Raiders dugout elected to walk Shiffer intentionally with first base open and two out, which brought up junior third baseman Ray Ligouri. With Hirshy pitching out of the wind-up, Messler took a lead halfway down the third-base line and took off for home plate on a straight steal attempt. Hirschy stopped his wind-up once Messler was already two strides from home plate and was called for a balk that tied the game 1-1.

Toms River East took the lead right back in the bottom of the inning. After Meola helped start the Indians rally with the error, he started one for his own team with a double inside the third-base bag to lead off the home sixth. Senior Ron Calantoni then reached on an error when Kapp took a high throw from Ligouri on a ground ball to third, but missed the tag on the Raiders' catcher, which also allowed Meola to go to second.

Meola missed the last four days of baseball while battling the flu, according to Frank. Outside of the error on a well-struck ball by Messler, the University of Virginia recruit handled four other ground balls and made the chances look easy doing so. He also battled at the plate on a day in which he did not see a fastball from any of Toms River South’s three pitchers.

“I didn’t see a fastball all day so I went up looking for something offspeed that stayed up where I could get to it,” Meola said. “I was definitely looking to make up for the inning before, but you have to stay within yourself in that situation. I was a little long (with my swing) the first two times up so I didn’t want to try to do too much there.”

Following the missed tag at first, DeBlasio – who was the designated hitter for Hirschy and got loose in the bullpen during Toms River South’s sixth-inning rally – came through with a shallow fly ball that dropped in left field and scored Meola with the go-ahead run. The Raiders tacked on an insurance run on an RBI single to right by senior second baseman Tommy Vincent that plated DeBlasio with one out.

DeBlasio finished 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.

Hirschy followed the two-run sixth with a 15-pitch, one-two-three seventh to nail down the complete-game victory.

In addition to being almost unhittable Tuesday, Hirschy was also efficient. He needed 18 pitches to get out of the first inning, but did not throw more than 10 in any of the next four innings.

“His changeup was his best pitch today,” Frank said. “He had a pretty good fastball and got the breaking ball over a few times, but the changeup was the pitch that was getting those ground balls. When we needed an out, the changeup was the way to go today.”

Although Messler beat Hirschy on the basepaths, the Raiders were able to keep the Rutgers University recruit and All-Shore outfielder in check at the plate. Messler finished 0-for-3 with two ground outs in addition to reaching on the error, but once on base, he wreaked havoc by stealing second base and forcing the balk to score the Indians’ lone run.

“He’s a really talented player and like he showed today, he can beat you a bunch of different ways,” Hirschy said. “My focus was just to change speeds, mix pitches and make him hit my pitches. If you make a mistake he can make you pay and even when you don’t, he sometimes finds a way on.”

Toms River South started sophomore right-hander Trevor Wagner on the mound in his first varsity start. He lasted three-plus innings before giving way to junior right-hander Vinny Scrudato, who pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fourth. Ligouri came on with two on, none out and a run already in during Toms River East’s two-run ninth and recorded all three outs in the inning.

Toms River East is now off to a 1-0 start in a season in which the Raiders expect to contend for a division title behind a roster loaded with seniors to go with their Division I junior shortstop. DeBlasio and senior Jeff Cannova round out the starting rotation after solid junior seasons and with Hirschy showing a glimpse of what he can do on Tuesday, any high expectations seem warranted.

“This is the class we’ve been looking forward to for a while now,” Frank said. “These guys have been with me for four years and most of them have been playing since they were sophomores and some of them even freshmen. That’s why I’m so laid back this year. I know these guys know the drill, they know what’s expected of them, so I just want them to be able to relax and go play the game.”

Box Score

Toms River East 3, Toms River South 1

IBB: Shiffer
GIDP: Messler, Shiffer
SB: Messler

2B: DeBlasio
GIDP: Clark
SB: Sommerer
Batter Interference: Mulé

- Wagner pitched to one batter in the fourth
- Scrudato pitched to three batters in the sixth

HBP: Kapp (by Hirschy), Thompson (by Hirschy)
Balk: Hirschy
Pitches-Strikes: Wagner 32-22, Scrudato 29-25, Ligouri 9-8, Hirschy 83-49
Groundouts-Flyouts: Wagner 3-1, Scrudato 4-0, Ligouri 1-1, Hirschy 9-3