St. John Vianney Advances to Monmouth County Tournament Quarterfinals

Photo’s above: Raia and Broderick on the mound in Saturday’s MCT win.

MIDDLETOWN – Junior Joey Raia and senior John-Michael Broderick combined to hold No.8 seed Middletown North to one run over eight innings in the Lancers 2-1 win over the Lions Saturday in a Monmouth County Tournament round of 16 game played in Middletown.

With the win, the No.9 seed and sixth-ranked Lancers (8-2, 5-2) move on in the tournament and will face red-hot Middletown South (9-5, 5-4) - the No.16 seed - in the quarterfinals. The Eagles beat No.1 seed Colts Neck in the first round and have won nine of their last 10 games after a 0-4 start to the season.

The left-handed Raia (1-0) started and went five innings without giving up a run in his second start of the season. He allowed three hits without issuing a walk and struck out three batters. Only one batter advanced past first base against Raia coming on a stolen base and an errant throw to second on a pickoff attempt advancing the runner to third before Raia struck out first baseman Seth Ziegler looking to end the inning in the second.

“I like to approach the hitters by throwing first-pitch changeups, mostly off-speed pitches and my fastball had lot of movement so I mixed that in also. My changeup was working real good today and definitely my best pitch working it in-and-out. After not being here last year it feels great to be back. This is right where I belong with all my friends and family.”

Following Raia’s departure the Lancers broke through scoring a run in the top of the sixth to take a 1-0 lead. Junior catcher and cleanup hitter Ciaran Devenney led off with a double down the first-base line off Lions starting pitcher T.J. Vivian sending Vivian to the showers. Junior Hunter Rim relieved and promptly struck out senior left fielder Nick DeLuise before Devenney stole third and senior Jeff McPeek whiffed for the second out of the inning.

Rim then uncorked a wild a wild pitch allowing Devenney to score before getting his third K of the inning for the third out.

Broderick took over for Raia in the bottom of the sixth retiring the first two hitters he faced before junior shortstop Cole Fluta dropped a single into short centerfield and stole second. Then after walking junior Kyle Capo he got out of the inning on a 1-3 roller to the mound.

Lions right fielder Anthony Pianoforte took over for Rimm in the top of the seventh and set the side down in order and the Lancers still holding a 1-0 led heading into the bottom of the inning.

Down a run, Lion centerfielder Tyler Rass led off with a line single into left field before being sacrificed to second on perfectly placed bunt by junior catcher Walter Schopf. Ziegler was hit by a pitch before pinch hitter Mike Mercier struck out for the second out and the tying run and second. Junior left fielder Phil Percherski then came through with a game-tying RBI single to short center before the inning ended with a strikeout and the two teams headed to extra innings.

The Lancers answered immediately with the eventual game-winning run in the top of the eighth. Senior centerfielder Nick Gugliara led off with a single in front of a diving Ras and was awarded second base on an obstruction call when the first baseman faked the tag. Gugliara then stole third before junior second baseman Victor Jamandron sent him home with a sacrifice fly into deep centerfield for go-ahead run.

The Lancers loaded the bases with only one out after scoring but were unable to push another run across and stranded the runners.

Broderick stayed in the game and closed out the win with a perfect eighth for his third win of the season against one defeat – a 2-0 loss to Shore in which he allowed only two hits and one walk. In Saturday’s win he went three innings for the win, allowing one run on three hits, walked one and struck out three.

“I just tried to stay composed and let my defense help me out,” Broderick said. “There was a lot of excitement; it was an eight-nine game (seeding), so you knew coming in it was going to be a great game. This is good test for us, especially for the young guys because it gets them a look at what the tournaments are like; it was a great win.”

“We’re a young team trying to get better,” last year’s New Jersey and Northeast sectional Coach of the Year Mike Morgan said. “Right now they’re working hard because they saw what can happen with last year’s team. We’re still far away from where we need to be and coming in here today was a good challenge to see how good we really are; that’s a good program and I really respect them.”

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