Monmouth Regional Keeps Rolling With 6-3 Win Over B North Rival Middletown South

Photo above: Dante Ciaramella delivering a pitch Monday against Middletown South

MIDDLETOWN - Monmouth Regional won’t be sneaking up on anyone anytime soon as the Falcons have legitimized themselves as one of the favorites to capture the ultra-competitive B North crown.

After Monday’s 6-3 win over last year’s A North champion Middletown South, Monmouth Regional (7-1, 5-1) holds a one-game lead over Wall in the battle for first place ahead of a logjam of teams right behind ready to make a move.

In the most recent Shore Conference Top 10 rankings released Monday, the Falcons claimed the No.2 spot in the Shore Sports Network Top 10 and were ranked fifth in the Asbury Park Press top 10. The Falcons 2013 CJG II championship team was the last Monmouth team to be ranked in the top 10 and the 2005 Group II champions were the last to hold a top 5 ranking.

“Coming into the season I knew we had a good group of competitors but our leadership is something we haven’t had in the past couple of years,” Monmouth head coach Paul Crivello said. “From day one my expectations grew stronger with this group because of the leadership, honestly. They just believe no matter what challenges are going to lie ahead they’ll be able to overcome them and get it done.”

In Monday’s win – its third straight after opening the season 4-0 - sophomore righty Dante Ciaramella picked up his third win of the young season going the distance in the Falcons 6-3 win. He allowed three runs (2 earned runs) on eight hits, struck out five and walked only one batter on 98 pitches (68 strikes).

“Dante’s been great,” Crivello said. “He had a big opening day win against Wall and came in to get a win in a tight game against Neptune. He was more than ready to go (entering the season). We knew coming forward with Dante he was going to do special things for us out there on the hill.”

Ciaramella gave up an unearned run in the second inning then breezed through the Eagles lineup in the third through fifth innings before running into trouble in the sixth inning. Entering the sixth inning the Falcons held a 4-1 lead after scoring four unearned runs in the fourth without the benefit of a hit compliments of Eagles starting pitcher Robby Zega who issued four walks and hit two batters to go along with two errors.

In the bottom of the sixth, a single and back-to-back doubles to start the inning led to Middletown South’s second run of the game and left men on second and third with no outs. Ciaramella then uncorked a wild pitch that bounced back towards the mound allowing him to get the ball to catcher Josh Jackson in time to nail South’s Ben Porpora at the plate for the first out.

Aurellio Licata then bounced an RBI single through the 3-4 hole to pull the Eagles within one, 4-3, but Ciaramella bailed himself out with a strikeout and soft grounder to second to get out of the inning and prevent what looked like a big inning for the Eagles with the lead still intact.

“I had my fastball, curveball and slider working; my changeup wasn’t really there early,” Ciaramella said. “In the sixth I pitched to my fielders; they got my back. That (strikeout) definitely pumped me up and got me out of the inning.

“This is a special team. We haven’t had a state title in a long time and I feel like this is the one. We have a good group of guys that don’t do anything special but put the ball in play and make plays. We thought we were right up there with the best from the start (of the season) and we don’t consider us a surprise team.”

Monmouth then added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh. Senior Paul Birzin stroked a one-out double into the left-centerfield gap and after a walk to senior Mark Abrams junior Ricky Voss brought in Birzin with a single up the middle with Abrams getting thrown out at third on the play. A wild pitch moved Voss to second before Anthony Guarino lined a double down the first base line plating Voss giving the Falcons a 6-3 lead.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Eagles (4-3, 1-3) had runners on first and second with two outs but Ciaramella again closed the door on the Eagles getting No. 3 batter, Ben Porpora, on a fly ball to end the game.

Voss finished 1-for-2 with a sac fly and two RBI, Birzin added a double and two runs scored and Abrams went 1-for-1 with three walks, a double and an RBI. Guarino added a pinch hit RBI double in the seventh.

“The confidence on the team has been there since out first practice,” Crivello said. “I saw the group we had, the intensity we were bringing and again as far as our success I have to talk about leadership. The important thing about us being successful is all our players understand their roles and are unselfish, hard-nosed ball players. Whatever I ask of them they’ll do and be more than happy to do it.”

Follow @getmready