Baseball – Big 2nd Inning Propels Wall Past Red-Hot Middletown South and into MCT Final

WALL TWP. – The senior battery of Ryan Orender and Dan Wondrack felt they had a good game plan to quiet the bats of the hottest team in the Shore Conference on Saturday and get the Wall baseball team into its second Monmouth County Tournament championship game in three years.

While their plan worked, it didn't hurt to score 11 runs, either.

Orender threw a four-hitter in a five-inning complete game and Wall used an eight-run second inning to bury Middletown South, 11-1, and end the Eagles’ 14-game winning streak in convincing fashion.

“We felt like we had a good report on them, and Orender and Wondrack did a nice job putting it to work,” Wall coach Todd Schmitt said. “We wanted to be the aggressors today and try to apply the pressure to their defense and see how they’d respond. I thought we did a nice job of just putting the ball in play hard on the ground and giving ourselves a chance to get some baserunners.”

Wall jumped on top of Middletown South with two runs in the first inning with a pair of two-out RBI. After the Eagles cut the deficit in half with a run in the second, the Crimson Knights blew the game open in the second against starter and a senior right-hander Zac deRocco.

Wondrack had the biggest blow of the second inning – a bases-loaded, two-run double inside the third base bag and down the left-field line to give Wall a 5-1 lead. Wall would add five more runs in the inning, the last three of which were unearned thanks to three Middletown South errors over the final five batters of the rally.

“Over these last 12 or so games, it just feels like any ball we put in play is finding a hole or finding grass in the outfield,” said Wondrack, whose team has now won 11 of its last 12 after having a 10-game winning streak snapped by Colts Neck on Wednesday. “Early on, we were hitting the ball pretty well, but things just weren’t really clicking. We weren’t on the field much during the preseason, and I think it just took a little while for everybody to get into game form.”

Sophomore right fielder Sean Larkin started the second by dropping a bunt down the third base line and reaching first base without a throw. Fellow sophomore and shortstop Nolan Cloney followed with a single and Middletown South made its first mistake of the inning on Nick Martinez’s ensuing sacrifice bunt attempt, when no one on the Eagles infield covered first after deRocco fielded the bunt cleanly.

“You see a big inning like that, and think about all these big hits, but it was really a couple bunts that allowed it to be a big inning,” Schmitt said. “Larkin dropped down a perfect bunt to start it off and then we caught them out of position on the second one, and we just kind of took off from there.”

Senior second baseman Brendan Barcas ripped an RBI single to right field to plate the first run of the second, followed by Wondrack’s double down the line. Orender then reached on a fielder’s choice ground ball to third, which sophomore third baseman Ben Porpora fielded with a diving stab to his back hand side before applying the tag to Barcas at third base. Barcas got his hand in prior to the tag, again loading the bases for the Crimson Knights.

Middletown South shortstop Johnny Zega fielded Zach Wilson’s ground ball and fired home to cut off Barcas at the plate and record the first out of the inning. Porpora could not handle a ground ball by Wall third baseman Regan Dombroski on the next batter, allowing another run to score and giving the Knights a 6-1 lead.

Center fielder Nick Maciejewski pushed home another run with a ground out to second base before Larkin came up for the second time in the inning and smacked a two-run single to right-center and advanced to second on a throwing error from the outfield. Another error on the infield allowed Larkin to score his second run of the inning and stretch the lead to 10-1.

Orender added an RBI single in the bottom of the third to cap the scoring.

Wall took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a two-out, bases-loaded walk by Dombroski, followed by an RBI single by Maciejewski. The relay from center fielder Nolan Pereless to first baseman Ian Scheuer and on to catcher Freddie Yahn was in time to cut down the second runner on the play to keep the score 2-0.

DeRocco loaded the bases by hitting two of the first three batters of the game and walking Barcas in between. He nearly escaped trouble by inducing pop-ups to second base by Orender and Wilson, but walked Dombroski on five pitches with two out.

Middletown South got a run back in the top of the second on a passed ball that allowed second baseman Austin Markmann score. Courtesy runner Tom Gannon also tried to score on the play, but Wondrack recovered the ball and flipped to Orender at home plate in time to make the tag for the final out of the inning.

Orender struck out six and walked one to secure his second win of the tournament. He pitched a complete-game four-hitter in a win over Freehold Township one week earlier.

“We knew they were an aggressive hitting team,” Orender said. “They like to look for the fastball early in the count, so I came out knowing I had to use my curveball and my slider to get them off balance. I wanted to establish the fastball to make them honor it, and then start mixing things up. I have to give credit to Wondrack, he knew how to go after these guys and he called a great game.”

Wall lost to Red Bank Catholic, 10-0, in the MCT championship in 2013, when Wondrack and Orender started as sophomores. The Crimson Knights will take on the winner of Tuesday’s semifinal between Christian Brothers Academy and Manalapan in Friday’s championship game at FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood.

“There was a lot of motivation for us to get back to the Monmouth County championship game because we got there as sophomores and didn’t perform the way we wanted to,” said Orender, who will be on full rest for Friday’s championship. “I’m going to enjoy this win, enjoy Mother’s Day with my mom, because that’s her day, and then get after it for the next three days so I’m ready to go out and play for a championship.”

Box Score

Wall 11, Middletown South 1 (5 Innings)

Outfield Assist: Pereless

2B: Wondrack
GIDP: Martinez

Gyurindak pitched to three batters in the third

HBP: deRocco (by Orender), Martinez (by deRocco), Wondrack (by deRocco)
Pitches-Strikes: deRocco 42-27, Gyurindak 25-14, Bergin 25-16, Orender 68-50
Groundouts-Flyouts: deRocco 2-0, Gyurindak 0-0, Bergin 3-0, Orender 7-1