Lancers Defeat Pirates

Livingston's baseball team knew Thursday's game against Seton Hall Prep was going be tough.  The two teams, who have a long and cherished rivalry, were battling to earn a semifinal berth in the Great Newark Tournament.  

Both had advantages. Livingston is the defending Greater Newark Tournament Champions, but Seton Hall had beaten the Lancers early in the season.  

"Whenever we play Seton Hall it is a huge game," senior captain Frank Schwindel said.  "There is such a great rivalry between the programs and everyone is always hyped when we play each another."

It ended up being a close contest after a surprising start and the Lancers came out on top, winning 10-8.  

But Seton Hall struck first, off junior Ryan Sullivan, Livingston's pitcher.  The lead off man for Seton Hall, Matt Cianci, walked.  The next batter, Stephan Halibej, had a 12 pitch at-bat before Sullivan got Halibj to fly out to right field.  Rob Fonseca followed Halibej and, like Cianci, walked to give the Pirates first and second with one out.

The hot-hitting Joe D'Angiolillo provided Seton Hall with the first run of the game as his single to left field scored Cianci and advanced Fonseca to third base. Junior John Norwood, one of the best hitters in the Super Essex Conference, followed and he hit a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Fonseca. Sullivan struck out Shane Nolan to end the first inning.

The Pirates took a 2-0 lead.  The Lancers responded — in an explosive way.

Nick Kozlowsky led off at bat and reached first base on an error.  Senior captain Jimmy Napolitano walked after Kozlowsky, setting Livingston up with runners on first and second with no outs.  When Frank Schwindel got to the plate, he got under a fastball from John Silvestri and flied out to right field, keeping Kozlowsky on second and Napolitano on first.  Senior John Beaubien then came up, hoping to provide Livingston with some run support.  But Beaubien was overmatched by Silvestri and struck out on four pitches.

But instead of being down with two outs, the Lancers rallied, just as they have all season.

Matt Rehm hit a ground ball to third baseman,Joe D'Angiolillo, who bobbled the ball, letting the bases get loaded for Livingston.  Brian Drapeau then laced a single to center field scoring Kozlowsky.  Junior Nick Grande followed and, like Drapeau, he singled and scored Napolitano.  Senior Mike Mansfield came up and roped a double to right field that scored both Drapeau and Grande.  John Sorrentino then followed and singled to left field, scoring Mansfield and Sorrentino, and he advanced to second base on the throw home.  Nick Kozlowsky came up for the second time in the inning and hit a ground ball to the second baseman, Chris Manfredonia; an error allowed Sorrentino to score and prevented the inning from concluding. 

Napolitano then hit a single through the left side of the infield and gave Livingston men on first and third, still with two outs.  Schwindel followed and singled, too, scoring Kozlowsky.  Beaubein then struck out, but Livingston led with a large 8-2 score after one inning.

"That first inning was huge for us," Napolitano said.  "Scoring eight runs against anyone in one inning is good, but against Seton Hall it is phenomenal."

Seton Hall isn't a powerhouse for nothing, though.  The Pirates remained collected and rallied for two runs in the second inning.  Livingston didn't add any more runs to the board in that inning.

In the third, Livingston's Sullivan made quick work of the Pirates and D'Angiolillo, Nordwood, and Nolan all flew out.  Sullivan threw just 12 pitches in the third, holding the lead for the Lancers.

But even with a four run lead, the Lancers knew they  needed to score more if they wanted to hold-off the formidable Pirate squad.  

At bat, John Sorrentino reached first base after a walk. Kozlowsky then roped a single to right field setting-up Livingston with runners on first and third with no outs.  Napolitano continued to produce runs and hit a sacrifice fly to John Norwood in center field.  Sorrentino scored on the play and Kozlowsky was able to advance to second.  With Schwindel batting, Kozlowsky stole third base and Scwindel hit the ball to Rob Fonseca at first base, which plated Kozlowsky. 

Livingston led 10-4 after three innings of play.

Seton Hall followed Livingston and scored three runs of their own in the fourth inning.  After two straight singles by D.J. Link and Tom Mahala, Livingston head coach Scott Schroeder took Ryan Sullivan out and brought in Sean Rucker, another junior.

Chris Manfredonia was the first batter Rucker faced;  he hit a ground ball to Rucker, who threw to second to get the runner out, but missed. The bases were then loaded for the Pirates. Matt Cianci crushed a double, which scored Link and Mahala.  Halibej hit a fielder's choice to Matt Rehm at short stop, which plated Manfredonia.  But Rucker then retired the rest of the Pirate lineup.

Matt Rehm started the fourth inning for the Lancers with a single, but that was negated as Brian Drapeau grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.  Nick Grande flew out to right field for the final out of the inning.

After four innings, Seton Hall had cut the deficit to 10-7. Seton Hall head coach Mike Sheppard used Stephen Silvestri, John Norwood, and Cody McCallum during the fifth and six innings, who were able to get past the Lancers, but not without a little trouble. 

In the fifth inning, Livingston was able to load the bases, but Jimmy Napolitano struck out and Frank Schwindel then grounded into a double play. In the sixth, Livingston loaded the bases once again, but failed to score insurance runs against the tenacious Pirates.

After the sixth inning, momentum shifted to the Pirates, who added a run to make the score 10-8.  But in the seventh inning, Lancer head coach Scott Schroeder made another pitching change and brought in Jimmy Napolitano to close out the game.

The first batter Napolitano faced was D.J. Link; Napolitano overpowered Link with his fastball and struck him out for the first out.  Tom Mahala was up next and hit a fly ball to reach first base.  Pinch hitter Ty Blankmeyer was then up, but struck out.  Matt Cianci was the final hitter of the game as Jimmy Napolitano struck him out a 1-2 curveball that froze Cianci.

"I just want to come in and throw strikes consistently. I'm just interested in getting outs to try and secure a victory for us," Napolitano said. "Everyone did their part today and that was the key to today's victory."

Up until last year, Seton Hall Prep reached the Greater Newark Tournament final for 12 straight years; the Pirates lost to Nutley in the semifinals last year. This was the first time since 1995 that Seton Hall was eliminated this early in the tournament.

"When we saw our seed and our bracket we knew it would be a tough road but that is what we want," the Lancer head coach said.  "To be a good team you have to beat the best teams and our bracket has set us up for that."

Livingston will now face the West Essex Knights, the top seed of the Greater Newark Tournament and No. 2 team in the state. The Lancers and Knights last met in the Greater Newark Tournament in the 2004 in the first round with the sixth-seeded Knights defeating the 11th-seeded Lancers, 4-3.

"It will be a great match for us and we are looking forward to it," Schroeder concluded.