Calamoneri Strikes Out 11, But Hillsborough Falls

The baseball team squandered a three-run lead in a 4-3 loss to Ridge in eight innings Thursday night in the Somerset County Tournament championship at Bridgewater's TD Bank Ballpark.

Matt Calamoneri pitched 7 1/3 innings and struck out 11, but his counterpart J.B. Kole went the distance for eighth-seeded Ridge and delivered the winning hit in the top of the eighth inning.

After Kole set the Raiders down in order in the bottom of the seventh, he became the hero with his bat in the top of the eighth. Greg Fazio got the rally started when he reached on an error. After Fazio advanced to second on a swinging bunt, Kole ripped an RBI single to center field to give the Red Devils a 4-3 lead.

Kole then retired the Raiders in order in the bottom of the eighth to secure Ridge's first county championship since 1989.

“I thought their pitcher pitched a great game," Hillsborough coach Norm Hewitt said. "We had our opportunities but we couldn’t capitalize. I take my hat off to Tom [Blackwell] and his team because they played a great game. He’s done an excellent job with that program, and tonight we got beat by the better team.”

The Raiders (12-7), who were the third seed in the tournament, got their bats going early. Dan Sheldon smacked an RBI double that many, including Sheldon, thought was a home run. He later scored on a Gary Lavoie groundout to the shortstop that gave the Raiders an early 2-0 lead.

In the second, Matt Hornich led off with a double and scored on a Ridge throwing error. With a 3-0 lead, the Raiders only managed one hit for the rest of the game.

Calamoneri, who was able to start due to the rainout on Tuesday, didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning. He pitched into the eighth inning until he was relieved with one out in the frame by Paul Mammino.

Calamoneri gave up four runs—two earned—on five hits and struck out 11, including the side in the first and sixth innings.

Sheldon went 2-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI and a run scored. He drove in the first run for the Raiders and also had the last hit.

“We have nine games in 11 days coming up, so our pitchers are going to have to do a good job for the rest of the season," Hewitt said. "Our conference is wide open and the last four teams remaining in this tournament were all from the Skyland Conference. That shows how tough it is everyday to play in our conference.

"We have five games next week and we’re just going to try to win one at a time and make a run in states."

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Final

Ridge (11-10)

0

0

0

1

0

1

1

1

4

Hillsborough (12-7)

2

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

3

Up Next—Old Bridge Monday at home in the first round of the state tournament.

Patch will update this story on Friday with a full photo gallery and video of Thursday night's championship game.