NJSIAA Group Championships

At Veterans Park, Hamilton

Group II

Pascack Hills 2, Point Boro 0 

Senior third baseman Mike Rodriguez chopped a grounder inside the third-base bag to score the only two runs of the game in the bottom of the sixth and senior left-hander Ryan Ramsey finished off a one-hit shutout to give the Cowboys their second straight Group II championship at the expense of the Panthers.

Junior right fielder Spencer Berson led off the sixth with a double - his second hit of the game against Point Boro junior ace Nick Guzzi. Guzzi hit the next batter and walked the bases loaded. The St. John's commit then induced a pop up in foul territory before Rodriguez came to the plate and delivered the decisive blow.

Rodriguez finished the tournament 12-for-21 at the plate with eight RBI in Pascack Hills' six wins.

Point Boro senior Sam Collins led off the top of the first inning with a single to center field and Ramsey - a Maryland commit and a 36th-round pick of the Cleveland Indians - did not allow a hit the rest of the way.

The Panthers advanced Collins to third base in the first and courtesy runner Joey Piccoli to third in the fourth but could not knock either in. Guzzi led off the fourth with a walk - the lone free pass issued by Ramsey.

1234567RHE
Pt Boro (23-7)0000000010
Pascack Hills (29-3)000002X231

Pitching

Point BoroIPHRERBBSOPC
Nick Guzzi (L, 9-1)631127104
Pascack HillsIPHRERBBSOPC
Ryan Ramsey (W, 8-2)71001981

Top Hitters

Point BoroStats
Sam Collins1-3
Pascack HillsStats
Spencer Berson2-3, 2B, R
Mike Rodriguez1-3, 2 RBI

 

Group III

Wall 10, West Morris 2

The Crimson Knights stormed out to six runs in the first two innings and ace Trey Dombroski capped a record-breaking career with another complete game to deliver Wall a win over the Wolfpack and the program's first Group III title in 15 years. The group championship is the fourth in program history.

Senior Johnny Volpe ignited the scoring in both the first and second innings, leading off the first with a single and the second with a booming double off the left-field fence.

Senior Grant Shulman singled with one out in the first and sophomore Jay Bant followed with an RBI single to left that opened the scoring. West Morris starter and Maryland commit Connor Staine hit junior Sean Nocera and senior catcher Dave Howarth made it 2-0 with an RBI single through the right side.

Volpe's one-out double sparked the four-run rally in the second and after junior Teddy Sharkey reached on an error, Shulman scalded a two-run double to right-center field to make it 4-0.

Nocera made it 5-0 when he laced an RBI double to the gap in right-center to score Shulman and came around to score on Howarth's second RBI single in as many innings.

Both runs allowed by Dombroski were unearned, the first of which came in the bottom of the third. His seventh strikeout set a new Wall record with 227 career strikeouts and he added one in the seventh inning to establish the new mark at 228.

After giving up two singles to start the seventh, Dombroski recorded a fly out and a strikeout for the first two outs. On the first pitch to leadoff man Nick Calabrese, Dombroski got a ground ball to senior second baseman Dylan Richey, who flipped it to first baseman Tanner Powers for the final out.

Dombroski finished his senior season with an eye-popping statistical profile: 11-1 overall, 0.37 ERA and 126 strikeouts against only five walks.

1234567RHE
Wall (27-4)240201110144
West Morris (26-7)0010100252

Pitching

WallIPHRERBBSOPC
Trey Dombroski (W, 11-1)75200886
West MorrisIPHRERBBSOPC
Connor Staine (L, 6-2)4.2128534110
Braden Willsey1.11112027
Tyler Weeks1111005

Top Hitters

WallStats
Johnny Volpe2-4, 2B, 2 R, SB
Grant Shulman3-5, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI
Jay Bant2-4, 2B, 2 RBI
Sean Nocera2-3, 2B, 2 R, RBI
Dave Howarth3-3, 2 RBI
Dylan Richey1-4, 2 RBI
West MorrisStats
Matt Gluck1-3, RBI

 

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