Dodgers Baseball Just Short at Powerful Pequannock

PEQUANNOCK TWP.–Friday afternoon was a big step forward for the Madison High School baseball team.

The Dodgers lost to Pequannock, 5-4, in a back-and-forth classic that ended with the Golden Panthers scoring the game-winning run on a bases-loaded groundball to second base.

But though Madison came up short, the fact that they were so close to a victory–on the road, against the defending Group II state champion, facing North Carolina-bound all-state pitcher Jordan Tabakman, in front of MSG Varsity television cameras (the game will be broadcast there Monday at 8 p.m.)–left quite an impression on first-year coach Mickey Ennis.

"I'm proud to be the Madison baseball coach today," Ennis said. "I'm not happy with the loss, but we're a very young team, and I think we grew up today. We proved we could play baseball, high-caliber baseball against a great opponent today."

First baseman Tom Tracy picked up three hits, Connor Allen picked up two RBIs and gritted out a six-inning, three-earned run performance on the mound, and seven Dodgers picked up at least one hit off Tabakman.

Madison took the lead on three separate occasions, pounding Tabakman for 11 hits. The biggest blows came in the top of the sixth inning, when Allen and Jamie Hunter blasted back-to-back RBI doubles to put Madison ahead, 4-3.

"He's just a piece of meat on the mound," Hunter said. "It was a fastball, which is good for me. I hit the fast pitches a lot better."

Tabakman left a pair of fastballs up in the zone, and Allen and Hunter put a solid swing on each. Allen's hit two-hopped to the centerfield wall , while Hunter's caromed off the 385-foot marker on the wall in left center.

But Madison's lead would be short-lived.

Allen gave up a leadoff triple to Mike Carlon. The third baseman scored on a sacrifice fly by Steve Rizzi to tie the score at 4-4 with one out in the bottom of the sixth.

After losing the lead in the previous inning, Tabakman seemed to actually gain strength, striking out five of the final eight hitters he faced despite a pitch count well over 100.

In the bottom of the seventh, Madison reliever Mike Wallace walked designated hitter Joe DiFranco. A Tabakman single moved him to second, and Wallace unfortunately hit Chris Weir with a pitch on a 1-2 count to load the bases with one out.

Pequannock's next batter, Mark Westdyk, hit a slow roller to second base. Madison's Mike Wulff, playing fairly deep, bobbled the ball, but the ball was hit too softly to turn a double play and throwing out the runner at home wouldn't have been a guarantee. Thus, the Golden Panthers celebrated a walk-off comeback win.

Tabakman allowed just two earned runs–the back-to-back doubles in the sixth–scattering most of his other hits allowed. He struck out nine and didn't walk a batter, relying primarily on a 90-plus mph fastball.

Madison, which left six runners on base, had opportunities. They cashed in with a run right out of the gate, Allen scoring Jake Meister with a single to centerfield in the top of the first.

"We've been putting the kids in different situations during batting practice," Ennis said. "We've been forcing them to drive in runs, and rewarding the kids for swings that lead to hard-hit balls and RBIs. Maybe that helped them out a little bit."

Allen cruised through the first 2 2/3 innings before giving up a two-out line drive single down the third base line to Nick Gencarelli, which scored DiFranco and tied the game at 1-1.

Madison's sophomore centerfielder, Dilan Kluge, continued his hot start (batting .600 through four games) by picking up his second hit, a sharp single to center to lead off the fifth.

Two batters later, with Kluge on second and two out, Jake Meister hit a dribbler to third base. Meister beat the throw for an infield single, and the throw went under Westdyk's glove, scoring Kluge.

"I know we're a good hitting team," Hunter said. "We did have control, and we had them shaking coming out with the lead. We can compete with anyone in the state, we feel like."

Allen did everything he needed to do to keep Madison's 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth. After allowing a leadoff single to Corey Kernan, Allen induced Ryan Griffin to hit a groundball. But instead of a double play, Madison only got the lead out; a throwing error moved Griffin to second.

Allen walked Tabakman with two out, and got Gencarelli to pop up to left, seemingly ending the threat. But this time, the wind took hold of the ball, blowing it back towards the infield, and the ball dropped just out of the reach of left fielder Mike Zuzaro.

"Connor was terrific today," Ennis said. "The pop up, the conditions were tough out there. It could have been caught, I guess. We had our outfield back a little bit, and it landed in no man's land. It was a tough play. But with their kid, who's an all-state pitcher, and Connor, you couldn't tell who was the better pitcher. Our guy was every bit as good as their guy."

But instead of Allen getting out of the inning, the game was now tied at 2-2, and Weir's RBI single two pitches later put Pequannock up 3-2, setting the stage for the dramatics of the final two innings.

NEXT UP
Madison will take part in the Governor Livingston Highlander Classic, a weekend early-season tournament event at the Berkeley Heights school.

The Dodgers open play against New Providence Saturday at 11 a.m. Jake Meister (0-1) is slated to make his second start of the year for Madison. New Providence is 1-2 this year, pick up its first win, 12-2, over Oratory Prep Thursday.

At 2 p.m., the host Highlanders will battle Chatham. The winners of the two games will meet the following Saturday for the tournament title.

Madison returns to regular-season action Monday with a home game against NJAC-Independence foe Morris Catholic.


BOX SCORE
Madison          1  0  0  0  1  2  0  -  4 / 11 / 1
Pequannock  0  0  1  0  2  1  1  -  5 /   8 / 2
W: Jordan Tabakman (3-0)
L: Mike Wallace (0-1)

MADISON (2-2, 0-2 NJAC-Independence)
-Brownlee, 3B            0-4
-Meister, SS                 1-3, R, CS
-Tracy, 1B                   3-4, R
-Allen, SP/3B             2-4, R, 2 RBI, 2B
-Hunter, DH                1-3, RBI, 2B
-Higgins, LF                 1-3
-Haughey, RF             1-3, SB
-Kluge, CF                    2-3, R
-Ruiz, C                         0-2

-Allen, SP                     6 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 91 pitches (55 strikes)
----Wallace, RP          1/3 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 0 K, 18 pitches (8 strikes)

Left on base: 6

PEQUANNOCK (3-1, 1-0 NJAC-Independence)
-Griffin, 2B                 1-4, R
-DiFranco, DH          1-3, 2 R, BB
-Tabakman, P           1-2, R, 2 BB
-Gencarelli, SS          2-4, 2 RBI
-Weir, C                       1-3, RBI, HBP
-Westdyk, 1B            0-4, RBI
-Carlon, 3B                2-2, R, 3B, SB
-Walter, RF               0-2
----Rizzi, RF              0-0, RBI
-Kernan, LF              1-2

-Tabakman, SP      7 IP, 4 R, 2 ER, 11 H, 0 BB, 9 K, 113 pitches thrown (75 strikes)

Left on base: 8