Mahwah Bats Fall Silent Against Top-Ranked Team

The Mahwah Thunderbirds (13-10) gave the number one baseball team in the State of New Jersey, Don Bosco Prep (20-0), all it could handle Saturday afternoon in the second round of the , but the Thunderbirds’ inability to cash in with runners in scoring position cost them any hopes of pulling off the upset in a 9-3 loss.

“We certainly had opportunities,” said Mahwah head coach Jeffery Remo. “We left guys on second and third just about every inning. We battled, but we couldn’t come up with the big hit.”

Mahwah, who advanced to the second round off the heels of an 8-4 victory over Midland Park, couldn’t deliver the big hits when they needed them the most, and the team left 12 men on base against Don Bosco.

Nevertheless, early in the contest, Mahwah had a great opportunity to jump all over the top-seeded Ironmen.

In the top of the first inning, a one out single by Adam Hanig and a walk to Brandon Block set things up nicely for the Thunderbirds, but credit Don Bosco pitcher Tom Burns, who bore down and struck out the next two batters to get out of trouble.

Trailing Don Bosco 1-0, the second inning was filled with controversy. Mahwah was in good shape to either tie or take the lead after a walk to Chris Baldi and a single by Kyle Morgan, all with one out.

C.J. Musumeci laid down a terrific bunt to move the runners over, but the umpire ruled Musumeci had run into the ball; he was out, forcing both runners to remain at first and second.

Once again, Burns struck out the side in the second, keeping the Ironmen up 1-0 and making things very difficult for Mahwah.

 “Burns is a fierce competitor,” said Don Bosco Coach Mark De Menna. “He’s been like that all year; he’s our bulldog who never gives an inch.”

Walker Larson put forth a yeomanly effort on the mound for the Thunderbirds, keeping Mahwah in the game as long as he possibly could; before the seventh inning, Larson had surrendered five runs on seven hits against one of the top offenses in the State. Whenever he got into trouble, he found ways out to avoid further damage.

“He really pitched well for us today; he just missed a couple of pitches,” Remo said.

 The biggest mistakes Larson made came in the third and fourth innings. With runners on first and second with two out, Larson needed only a ground ball to get out of the third inning. He got the ground ball, a line shot down the first baseline by Matt Dacey; however, Dacey got enough power behind the ball to push it past a diving first baseman, and the ball trickled down the line allowing both runners to score giving Bosco a 3-0 lead.

After Mahwah scratched out a run in the top of the fourth to cut the deficit down to 2, Mike Mecca cracked a two-run homer to center field to give the Ironmen a seemingly insurmountable 5-1 advantage.

Even though they scored a run in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Greg Razor, Mahwah had the bases loaded in that inning with no one out but were unable to do anything with it as Burns struck out two batters to avoid further trouble.

The fifth inning was more of the same. A leadoff single by Musumeci and a double by Razor put two on with no one out for Mahwah, yet, again, Burns pulled a Houdini act, getting out of the inning with a ground out and two strikeouts.

“Even though it was 9-3, we know that if we get a couple of hits here and there it’s a different ball game,” coach Remo added.

Mahwah did cash in on a great opportunity in the sixth inning when they scored two huge runs off the bat of Brandon Block who smashed a two-out double to right off reliever Jordan Gross, bringing Mahwah back to a 5-3 deficit.

However, the Ironmen would not yield under the pressure. Three straight base hits by Zach Gross, Carter Toth and Mecca opened up the floodgates; the Ironmen took advantage of a tiring Larson to put up a four spot in the seventh inning, all but ending any comeback hopes for Mahwah. 

 Mahwah is still alive for a State tournament berth.