Hopatcong Pirates Chase Championship Booty

As the members of the Amateur Baseball Association's A Wood Summer League wrap up their regular season and prepare for the playoffs, the Hopatcong community will be well represented as a group of former Chiefs have become Pirates eager and make off with the league's championship trophy.

At the season's beginning, the Pirates—filled with Hopatcong High School grads—figured themselves to be a team built around pitching and defense, but they have also put up impressive numbers at the plate.

Bill Lounsbery [.517 batting average] and Ricky Gathen [.583] have led a potent Hopatcong lineup as they are first and second in the league in RBIs with 18 and 16, respectively. Gathen's two home runs also lead the league.

But Lounsbery and Gathan have plenty of help powering the Hopatcong lineup as the Pirates have five players ranking in the league's top ten in hits. Joining Lounsbery [2^nd] and Gathan [3^rd] on the hits leaderboard are Casey Lakicevic [12 hits, 5^th place], Steve Serocke [10; tied 7^th], and Matt Wenneis [10; tied 7th].

 "We've had everyone hitting from one through nine in the lineup," Wenneis said. "Everyone's been contributing. We feel confident that anyone can get the job done at the plate."

The Hopatcong squad has been anchored on the mound by ace pitcher Frank Gibney, who has compiled a 5-1 record to go along with a 0.77 ERA [second in the league] and a league-leading 45 strikeouts in 35 innings pitched.

"Frank's been a good pitcher since high school. He uses the entire plate effectively, he has a good curve and changeup to go with his fastball, and when he's on, he's on," Pirates manager Art Marinoni said.

Gibney credited much of his success to his familiarity with Gathen behind the plate, a solid defense and the team's relaxed atmosphere.

"It helps being familiar with my catcher, and there's definitely a comfort factor of playing with guys you've known for a long time," Gibney said. "No one's trying to impress anybody. We're just going out to have fun and play."

Gibney has also noticed an increased velocity to his fastball this summer.

"I've been throwing harder now than I ever have before," Gibney said. "I'm usually a low eighties guy, but I've probably been averaging around 85 this summer. A lot of times, you can get by with just a fastball if you can spot it properly."

Both Gibney and Marinoni have been impressed by the Pirates outstanding performance in the field, led by second baseman Alex Marinoni and centerfielder Wenneis.

"Everybody's been playing great defense behind me," Gibney said.

"They play very good defense," Marinoni added. "It's an event when somebody makes an error."

The Pirates only losses on the season came as they dropped both games of a doubleheader to the New Jersey Cougars on June 27. The Pirates battled the Cougars to a 7-5 loss in a close morning game before being routed in the afternoon rematch, 11-1.

"We didn't come prepared to plat that day," Gibney stated. "That was a full team loss."

"We played some very poor defense," Wennies added. "We handed them some runs."

Since debacle against the Cougars, however, the Pirates have reeled off five straight victories to finish the regular season 8-2, giving themselves the No. 2 seed as they head into the league playoffs beginning this Sunday.

"I think we have a pretty good shot at beating anybody," Wennies said. "The playoffs are all single games rather than doubleheaders, so that will work out to our advantage by having Frank on the mound."

While the Pirates are certainly eager for a rematch with the Cougars, Marinoni will remind his team that they must take it one game at a time.

"We can't get caught looking past the first round," Marinoni said. "If we get everybody playing and Frank pitches the way he's able to, I like our chances against anybody."