Coach Buddy Matthews has said, after two consecutive losses at home, that the Redwings need more discipline at the plate. They found it Wednesday: not a single Hoboken batter struck out in the 19-3 win over Dickinson High of Jersey City. The Redwings evened their record at 3-3.
In his first start of the season, winning pitcher Hipolito Aldea allowed five hits while striking out six and walking two over five innings.
It took Aldea a couple of innings to settle in. Dickinson scored two in the first on Flaco Merlina's 2-RBI double.
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Hoboken came straight back. Ken Roder, who reached on a lead-off walk and advanced to third on a steal and a passed ball, scored on Duke McCourt's sacrifice fly. Justin Arocho followed with a single. Batting clean-up, Sal Pagan put Hoboken up 3-2, driving the first pitch he saw for a 2-run home-run.
The Rams came back in the third, scoring when first baseman Pagan bobbled a relay throw from right. But that was it for Dickinson High; it was all Hoboken from then on.
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The Redwings scored five in the second, highlighted by an RBI triple by Luis Morales and an RBI double by Ryan Haughton. Hoboken added three in the third, then really broke it open with eight runs in the fourth inning. Morales added two more RBIs, scoring Abe Groomes and Travis Haber with a double. Haughton and Anthony Richards added an RBI triple and an RBI double respectively, as 13 Redwings came to bat in the inning.
Aldea shut down the Dickinson batters in the third, fourth and fifth for the win.
At the plate, five Hoboken starters had multiple hits: McCourt was 2-3 with a sacrifice fly and 3 RBI; Arocho was 2-2 with a sac fly and 2 RBI; Pagan was 2-3 with 4 RBI; Morales was 3-4 with 3 RBI and Haughton was 3-3 with 2 RBI.
Coach Buddy Matthews was pleased with the team's performance. "We hit the ball a lot better, showed discipline at the plate," Matthews said. "The defense was solid, hitting was solid. Hopefully this is the start of a win streak. Hopefully we can build on it."
The Redwings are at home Thursday at 4:30pm against County Prep High School.
