Madison Baseball Comes Back To Beat Mendham

After 10 days of bad breaks and missed opportunities, the Madison High School baseball team finally had something go its way at a crucial moment.

Jamie Hunter hit a two-out, RBI bloop single to shallow center field - falling just in front of Mendham's deep-playing outfielders - to score the go-ahead run, and the Dodgers picked up a much-needed 6-5 win over the Minutemen Wednesday.

Hunter, the designated hitter-turned-pitcher, also threw two innings of relief to pick up a save. Madison ended its five-game losing streak in wild fashion, coming back from a three-run deficit in a game delayed 44 minutes by a lightning storm.

"It was very important to win this," Hunter said. "We proved that we could come back. Spirits are up now, and we feel like we can start to bulldoze some teams."

Madison coach Mickey Ennis said that his team could have packed it in when Mendham took control with three runs in the top of the fifth.

"It was a gutsy performance," he said. "We won a one-run game, and we haven't had many of those. It shows some character to go down three runs. It's a natural opportunity to give up and today, we didn't."

Instead, the Dodgers rallied for five runs, scoring four after Mendham starting pitcher Justin Sawka had recorded two outs.

An infield single and a bloop down the right field line put runners on the corners with one out for Dilan Kluge. Kluge hit a ground ball to short, who threw to second for the second out, but the centerfielder just barely beat the throw. The play scored a run, making it 4-2, but also kept the inning alive.

Sawka had kept Madison off-balance for four innings with a good curveball.

"We can't be baffled by a breaking ball," Ennis said. "It's a regular pitch and we're going to see more of it. We've simply got to hit it."

But Tom Tracy finally connected on a curve, blasting a double to left center to score Kluge and make it 4-3.

Allen smoked the next pitch, a belt-high fastball, to center field to score pinch-runner Mike Wulff and tie the score at 4-4.

Mike Wallace gave Madison a little breathing room with an RBI single.

Entering the game with a two-run lead, Hunter struggled in the top of the sixth. Sawka hit a leadoff single, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and moved to third on a groundball to second.

Hunter tried to pick Sawka off at third, but threw the ball into left field after a miscommunication between he and new third baseman Allen. Sawka scored easily to cut the Dodgers' lead to 6-5.

Dan Vallachi hit a triple to deep left center on the next pitch, but Hunter got Casey Dennis and Dan Dessel to pop out to first baseman Tracy.

Hunter retired Mendham in order in the seventh to pick up his first save of the season.

"He's become that guy for us," Ennis said. "We've really pushed him this week, we've rode him in three of our last four games. But he's told us, 'I can give you an inning or two every couple of games.' "

The Minutemen, who have lost four straight, took a 4-1 lead in the top of the fifth on a three-run home run by Matt Kuttner. It was only the second hit given up by Allen, the Madison starter, but Kuttner crushed a curveball up in the zone. With no outfield fence on the Madison High School field, Kuttner had to motor around the bases, but the ball was hit far enough that he scored standing up.

Allen's contradictory stat line - two hits but four runs, seven strikeouts but five walks - was good enough for the win, but Ennis was disappointed with the amount of free passes given up by the junior hurler.

"Connor's gotta learn not to give those out," Ennis said. "He walked three of the five leadoff hitters he faced, and that's inexcusable. Possibly now he's pressing with the poor run we've had lately. He's got to stop giving hitters so much credit and stop picking at the corners."

Three of Allen's four runs allowed reached base on a walk: Dennis and James Morsch walked back-to-back just before Kuttner's homer; Christian Kachmar walked and scored in the first inning, courtesy of a Paul Borda RBI single.

Borda's at-bat would be the second-to-last before umpires delayed the game after seeing a lightning bolt. Players jogged into the Madison High School gym, where they stayed for more than 40 minutes as officials waited for the storm to pass.

MCT PAIRINGS SET
Madison received the No. 19 seed in the 2010 Morris County baseball tournament at the seeding meeting Tuesday night.

The Dodgers open with a preliminary-round game at Kinnelon High School this Saturday. First pitch is set for 10 a.m. The 14th-seeded Colts were 4-6 entering Wednesday's action, breaking a three-game losing streak with a 4-3 win over Boonton Monday.

The winner of the Kinnelon-Madison game will face a first-round clash at Delbarton Saturday, May 1. The winner of that game would advance to the quarterfinals the following day.

Morristown, the defending MCT champions, was awarded the top seed in the tournament, followed by Randolph, Delbarton and Madison's NJAC-Independence rival Pequannock.


NEXT UP
The Dodgers will complete the first half of their NJAC-Independence schedule when they host Dover Friday at 4 p.m. at Madison High School.

The Tigers (1-10) have struggled this season, earning their sole win - 2-1 over Boonton on April 3 - in the second game of their season. Dover has lost nine straight since then, including all five Independence games. In divisional play, the Tigers have been outscored, 64-7. Madison, which is also winless in its five league games thus far, has been outscored, 29-14.

Kyle Flanagan will make his first start of the season for Madison.

BOX SCORE
Mendham    1  0  0  0  3  1  0  -  5    4  2
Madison       0  1  0  0  5  0  x  -  6  11  2
W: Connor Allen (2-1)
L: Justin Sawka (1-2)
SV: Jamie Hunter (1)

MENDHAM (3-9)
-Kachmar, LF           0-3, R, BB
-Cianci, CF                0-4
-Borda, SS                 1-4, RBI, SB
-Sawka, P                   1-3, R
-Maguire, 1B             0-2, BB
-Vallachi, DH            1-3, 3B
-Dennis, RF                0-2, R, BB, SB
-Morsch, C                 0-1, R, 2 BB
-Ashnault, 2B            0-0, BB
---Kuttner, PH          1-1, R, 3 RBI, HR
---Dessel, PH             0-1

-Sawka, SP                 4 2/3 IP, 6 R, 6 ER, 11 H, 3 K, 0 BB, 96 pitches (61 strikes)
---Dessel, RP             1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 21 pitches (11 strikes)

MADISON (4-7)
-Meister, SS               1-4
-Kluge, CF                  0-3, R, RBI, SB, SAC
-Tracy, 1B                  2-4, RBI, 2B
---Wulff, PR                        R
-Allen, 3B                   1-3, RBI
---Finelli, PR                       R
-Brownlee, 2B          2-3, 2 R, SB
-Hunter, DH             1-3, RBI
-Higgins, LF              0-2, RBI
---Wallace, LF         1-1, RBI
-Haughey, RF          2-3, R
-Ruiz, C                      1-3

-Allen, SP                 5 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 H, 7 K, 5 BB, 89 pitches (48 strikes)
---Hunter, RP         2 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 K, 1 BB, 36 pitches (19 strikes)