FREEHOLD TWP. – Even after the bus filled with Wall baseball players erupted in celebration when the group learned it had officially defeated Marlboro by forfeit in the Monmouth County Tournament round of 16 on April 25, senior Ryan Orender still could not shake what he called “the worst feeling” he’s ever felt.

Orender had served up what would have been the game-winning two-run home run to Marlboro’s Steve Santigate in the bottom of the seventh inning and walked back to the bus thinking his team was now eliminated from the tournament, only to find out that the Mustangs’ pitcher who threw the final two innings also threw more than five innings just two days earlier – which would render him ineligible to pitch on Saturday.

This Saturday against Freehold Township in the MCT quarterfinals, armed with an unexpected second chance and a complete repertoire of pitches, Orender dominated the first six innings and shut the door on a seventh-inning rally by the No. 12 seed Patriots to pitch No. 13 Wall into the semifinals with a 4-1 victory.

The Crimson Knights will look to continue their second life in the tournament when they take on No. 16 Middletown South in the semifinal round at a date and time this week that is yet to be determined.

Wall senior Ryan Orender threw a four-hitter to help the Crimson Knights get past Freehold Township in the Monmouth County Tournament quarterfinals on Saturdauy. (Photo by Matt Manley)
Wall senior Ryan Orender threw a four-hitter to help the Crimson Knights get past Freehold Township in the Monmouth County Tournament quarterfinals on Saturdauy. (Photo by Matt Manley)
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“As a competitor, there is always that fire in your belly to go out and perform your best on the mound when your team needs you,” Orender said. “It’s even stronger when you know you let your team down the last time out. You don’t usually get a second chance, so I wanted to make the most of the opportunity.”

Orender allowed just a run on four hits and two walks while striking out 10, including a punchout of pinch-hitter Jake Russo that ended the game and kept Shore Conference home-run leader Joe Silvestrone from coming to the plate as the potential winning run.

Freehold Township had come back once against Orender to tie the score at one, but in the sixth inning, Wall junior right fielder Nick Maciejewski gave his pitcher the cushion he would need to finish things off. Maciejewski hammered a two-out, three-run double to deep right-center field that cleared the bases and broke a 1-1 tie.

“I hit the ball pretty solid in my first couple at-bats, so I just tried to stay with my approach and get something I could hit,” Maciejewski said. “With two outs, I was looking for a mistake over the plate. (Freehold Township sophomore starter Ralph Gambino) had just struck out the batter before me, so I knew he was looking to challenge me and try to get out of it.”

In his previous at-bat leading off the fifth, Maciejewski hit a line drive right at Freehold Township center fielder Brandon Roth, but on his final swing of the game, he cleared the range of the Patriots center fielder.

“When I took the turn at first, I looked up and I thought the center fielder was settled under the ball,” Maciejewski said. “I have been making some hard outs lately, so it feels like a lot of those hits haven’t been dropping, but I was glad that one got over his head.”

Wall jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning on an opposite-field, solo home run by sophomore shortstop and No. 9 hitter Nolan Cloney.

The long fly ball over the left-field fence by the left-handed-swinging sophomore was the first of his career and came off Gambino, who struck out nine Wall batters in six-plus innings and seven in the first four innings.

Sophomore shortstop Nolan Cloney belted his first career home run Saturday against Freehold Township. (Photo by Matt Manley)
Sophomore shortstop Nolan Cloney belted his first career home run Saturday against Freehold Township. (Photo by Matt Manley)
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“I like to go to the opposite field, but I didn’t know I had the power to get one out that way,” Cloney said. “He threw me a fastball and I just saw it for as long as I could and got a pretty good piece of it going the other way. It seemed like just a regular fly ball to left off the bat, but it looked like it just kept carrying and carrying.”

Freehold Township responded in the bottom of the fourth when shortstop Brian Oliver lifted the game-tying sacrifice fly to right field for the second out of the inning. Silvestrone singled to right field, stole second and scored on the Oliver sac fly, which highlighted the senior catcher’s 1-for-2 day at the plate at the plate against Orender.

“He’s got the most home runs in the Shore Conference, so obviously he’s a great hitter and a really good all-around player,” Orender said. “The one good thing is he is human, which means you can get him out. I just didn’t give in to him and executed my pitches. He still got the one base hit off me, but that’s going to happen against a good hitter. You just have to try to limit the damage.”

Wall senior second baseman Brendan Barcas went 2-for-3 with a run scored and reached base three times via a pair of singles and a walk. Crimson Knights slugging senior catcher Dan Wondrack – who is one homer behind Silvestrone with five – singled in each of his final two plate appearances and scored on the Maciejewski double to highlight his 2-for-4 game.

Cloney also finished the game 2-for-3, adding an infield hit in the seventh inning.

After a strange celebration in school bus parked in the parking lot at Marlboro High School, the Crimson Knights enjoyed a more conventional celebration on Saturday.

“We were all on the bus feeling pretty bad about the loss, but we saw coach (Todd) Schmitt and (assistant coach Jim) Rochford out on the field talking to the Marlboro coach (Jim Ferraro) so we thought, ‘Hey, maybe something is going on here,’'' Maciejewski said. “We thought maybe they batted out of order or something, and when they came back on the bus and told us the news, the bus just erupted.

“It was a weird feeling, but it was a great feeling. One minute we were done and the next we were alive again. Now, we’re trying to make the most of it.”

 

Box Score

Wall 4, Freehold Township 1

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

R

H

E

Wall (12-4)

0

0

0

1

0

3

0

4

8

2

Freehold Twp. (8-11)

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

1

4

0

 

Wall

AB

R

H

RBI

BB

SO

Nick Martinez, LF

4

0

1

0

0

0

Brendan Barcas, 2B

3

1

2

0

1

0

Dan Wondrack, C

4

1

2

0

0

0

Ryan Orender, P

4

0

0

0

0

3

Mike Yard, 1B

3

1

0

0

1

3

Regan Dombroski, 3B

3

0

0

0

0

3

Nick Maciejewski, RF

3

0

1

3

0

0

Sean Larkin, CF

3

0

1

0

0

1

Nolan Cloney, SS

3

1

2

1

0

0

Totals

30

4

9

4

2

10

2B: Maciejewski
HR: Cloney (3rd inning, none on, one out)
SB: Barcas, Larkin

 

Freehold Twp.

AB

R

H

RBI

BB

SO

Matt Gorman, RF

4

0

1

0

0

2

Ralph Gambino, P

2

0

0

0

0

2

--Mike Pirrotta, PH

1

0

0

0

0

1

--Tom Benedict, P

0

0

0

0

0

0

--Jake Russo, PH

1

0

0

0

0

1

Joe Silvestrone, C

2

1

1

0

1

1

Kyle Fenton, 3B

3

0

1

0

0

0

John Carroll, 1B

1

0

0

0

1

0

Brian Oliver, SS

2

0

0

1

0

0

Rob Eriksen, 2B

3

0

0

0

0

0

Brandon Roth, CF

3

0

0

0

0

2

Kevin Gordon, DH

3

0

1

0

0

1

--Jason Spieler, LF

0

0

0

0

0

0

Totals

25

1

4

1

2

10

SF: Oliver
Stolen Base: Silvestrone
Picked Off: Gorman

 

Wall

IP

H

R

ER

BB

SO

HR

Ryan Orender (W, 4-1)

7

4

1

1

2

10

0

 

Freehold Twp.

IP

H

R

ER

BB

SO

HR

Ralph Gambino (L, 0-2)

6

8

4

4

2

9

1

Tom Benedict

1

1

0

0

0

1

0

 

Gambino pitched to two batters in the seventh

Hit by Pitch: Carroll (by Orender)
Groundouts-Flyouts: Orender 5-4, Gambino 4-3, Benedict 0-0

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