Baseball – DiPiazza Sparkles in Central Win over TRS

TOMS RIVER – Over the last two seasons, Central Regional baseball coach John Scran has had an up-close view of senior right-hander Andre DiPiazza as he has dominated the opposition, but Scran has been as likely to praise his ace’s preparation of his mind and body prior to his dominant starts as he is to praise the starts themselves.

In many ways, Saturday’s start against Toms River South in the Ocean County Tournament quarterfinals was one that DiPiazza had been preparing to pitch since before he even stepped on a high school pitching rubber. From his first pitch Sunday until the 88th and final one, he pitched like it.

DiPiazza, a University of Alabama recruit, allowed only two baserunners on Saturday in a complete-game, one-hit gem that lifted the sixth-seeded Golden Eagles to a 2-1 win over the No. 3 Indians. Central will host No. 7 Toms River North on Saturday in the OCT semifinals.

A day after throwing 17 pitches in the seventh inning of a 6-5 OCT first-round win over Point Pleasant Boro to earn the save, DiPiazza pitched all seven for his first ever win over Toms River South and the program’s first win over the Indians during the seven-year tenure of Scran, a former Toms River South assistant.

“I’ve wanted a shot a Toms River South for years,” DiPiazza said. “I was in eighth grade watching my brother (James) when he was a senior trying to beat them. We beat (Toms River) North, we beat East, but we could never beat South. They just have this attitude about them, and I couldn’t wait to get at them.”

With a number of radar guns pointed in his general direction, DiPiazza worked with an overpowering fastball that sat anywhere from 87 to 92 miles-per-hour and as well as a curveball that DiPiazza said wasn’t his best despite its effectiveness. The stuff translated to 11 strikeouts, just one walk and just two shallow fly ball outs against eight ground outs.

“He’s been on point all year, but early in the season, it would take him two or three innings to find his top-notch stuff,” Scran said. “This was the first start where I felt that he was on point from the beginning.”

Central senior right fielder Christian Bearden gave DiPiazza a two-run lead with a long two-run double in the top of the third inning, scoring juniors John Forrester and Frank Rose. The Golden Eagles made the most of four hits against Toms River South pitchers Tyler Folger (four innings) and Ray Liguori (three innings), two of which came in the two-run third.

“I know we can all hit,” Bearden said. “We’re a lineup that gets guys on, and we like coming up with runners on base. It’s a situation we feel comfortable in as a team, one-through-nine in the order.”

DiPiazza retired the first nine batters that Toms River South sent to the plate and jumped ahead of lead-off hitter Russell Messler 0-and-2 to begin the fourth. Messler stayed on a 0-and-2 curveball that stayed up in the zone and cracked it to the wall in left-center field for a leadoff triple, the only hit DiPiazza would allow and the first of just three balls that reached the outfield grass against the Central right-hander.

“After that hit, there was no way I was throwing him anything other than a fastball,” DiPiazza said of his battle with Messler, which ended with Messler going 1-for-3 with the triple, a strikeout and a weak ground out to third. “Me vs. Messler, that’s got to be one of the bigger match-ups you could have in the Shore Conference, so I definitely wanted to try to get the better of him.”

“I’m pretty sure there was some talking going back and forth between those two guys, just some competitive banter between two guys,” Scran said. “That’s the way those two guys are. They don’t want to give an inch, especially against another great player.”

Messler, a Rutgers recruit, scored on an errant pick-off throw by DiPiazza, who then retired another nine in a row before issuing his only walk of the game to start the seventh. Trailing by one, Toms River South put the tying run on in the seventh when catcher Ryan Shiffer walked on five pitches to lead off the inning and stole second base with two out.

Shortstop Christian Campbell – whom DiPiazza had overpowered for two strikeouts on nothing but fastballs in his first two trips to the plate – fouled off four pitches before lifting a fly ball to right field that Bearden hauled in after battling the wind.

“He’s amazing to watch - sometimes you get lost just watching him pitch,” Bearden said of DiPiazza. “We didn’t get a lot of fly balls and on that last one, I saw it start to tail at the last second, and I was like, ‘Oh no,’ but it worked out.”

Although DiPiazza enjoyed success in the NJSIAA South Jersey Group III Tournament last season, his best statistical starts during his junior year came within the first few weeks of the season. He could not pitch Central to an OCT quarterfinal win over Brick Memorial, which beat the Golden Eagles in extra innings after DiPiazza left the game.

This season, the Central coaching staff and DiPiazza got together on a plan to limit his workload early in the year and build up toward his May starts in order to better preserve his arm for the stretch run.

“Lately, I’ve been throwing the ball a lot better,” DiPiazza said. “I’ve had starts where I’d have my fastball and then I wouldn’t have my fastball, and it’s nice to pitch games where I’m consistent with it.”

“We still have numbers in mind so that we’re not just leaving him out there for the wolves,” Scran said. “Now is the time of year we can let him go a little bit more, but at the end of the day, this is still a kid who has a chance to be a potential high draft pick, and he’s going to pitch at Alabama next year, so we’re not just dealing with high school baseball here. We’re looking out for his best interests, and the interests of all of our pitchers.”

DiPiazza’s turn in the rotation is scheduled to come up in time for Saturday’s game against defending tournament champion Toms River North, which means DiPiazza will have a chance to pitch his team into the championship game before passing the baton off for the OCT final on May 13.

“We’re obviously confident with him on the mound, but we’re confident with all of our pitchers on the mound,” Bearden said. “Whether it’s Andrew or somebody else, we’re a good enough team to go far.”