Ras Leads Middletown North To Opening-Round Win Over Colonia In State Tournament

Photo above: Winning pitcher Tyler Ras after Tuesday's big game

MIDDLETOWN – With the season on the line, winning pitcher Tyler Ras started an eighth-inning rally with a two-out line-drive single into centerfield and eventually came around to score the winning run on a Jake Dillon walk-off infield single and seventh-seeded Middletown North beat No. 10 seed Colonia 3-2 Tuesday in Middletown.

The Lions (14-9) now move on to face 15th-seeded Red Bank Regional - who upset second-seeded Somerville 3-1 in Tuesday’s first round -Thursday in the NJSIAA North 2, Group 3 quarterfinals.

“I was just trying to put something in play hard and put pressure on the defense,” Dillon said of his game-winning hit. “They put up a great fight, kept coming back but we won in the end – it’s awesome.”

“Jake did a great job of just putting the ball in play hard,” Lions head coach Justin Nathanson said. “In that situation we knew if we could put the ball in play hard on the ground it could find a hole and it did.”

Equally important to the Lions game-winning rally was Ras’ stolen base following his single. It eliminated the force at second and allowed him to move to third on Brendan Doherty’s infield hit when Colonia shortstop Frank Lehman held onto Doherty’s slow chopper instead of attempting a throw to first to hold Ras at third.

Patriot starting pitcher and hard-luck loser Chris Michael then intentionally walked Mike Mercier to load the bases with two outs before Dillon hit a hard grounder up the middle that was too hot for second baseman Tom Mitch to handle allowing Ras to score from third with the winning run.

At the plate, Ras finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored but just as significant to the Lions victory was his arm. The lanky right-hander went the distance for the win evening his record at 3-3, allowing two runs (0 earned runs), on five hits with four strikeouts without issuing a walk.

“Being a third-year starter for this team it was my time to come up and lead these guys to a nice state victory,” Ras said of his sensational all-around game Tuesday. “We hadn’t won a state game in my two years here prior so it was big for the boys to get a win today.”

For five innings the game was a scoreless pitching duel between Ras and Michael with both pitchers dominating – Ras with heat and Micheal keeping Middletown North hitters off balance with an array of off-speed pitches.

The Patriots finally broke through on Ras in the top of the sixth on a RBI single by Frank Lehman scoring Lou Matten, who reached on an error and moved to second on a fielder’s choice to first.

Ras tied the game in the bottom half of the inning on a one-out line-drive RBI single to center scoring freshman Ryan Rozinski, who had reached on an error and was sacrificed to second on a bunt by Nick Donato.

“I’m trying to drive the ball there of course,” Ras said of his at bat. “But I knew a base hit would do the job knowing the guys behind me would get me around.”

With Ras now representing the go-ahead run, he stole second, moved to third on Doherty’s single to left and scored on Mercier’s sacrifice fly to deep left field to give the Lions a 2-1 lead.

“He’s been huge for us all year,” Nathanson said of Ras’ heroics. “There was no doubt in my mind that he was going to come up and put the ball in play hard and give us a really good chance of getting on base there. At that point it was just a matter of getting him in scoring position for the next guy up.”

Colonia (14-12) answered with an unearned run in the top of the seventh to tie the game executing a perfect squeeze play.

Leadoff hitter Anthony Demeo reached on an error and courtesy runner Corey Comi moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Nick Michael. Nick Nielson then lined a single to right putting runners on the corners before Mitch brought home Comi on a squeeze bunt down the first base line. Ras then picked off Nielson to get out of the inning.

“You have to keep a positive frame of mind,” Ras said about giving up the tying run. “You can’t let anything get to you. You just got to come out and lead your team to victory.”

Michael (7 2/3 IP, 7H, 3R, 1ER, 7K, BB) retired the Lions in order in the bottom half of the inning and Ras did the same in the top of the eighth. With Ras’ pitch count now at 90, Nathanson was ready to bring in Garrett French if the game went into the ninth inning. But the Lions responded with a run and French will enter Thursday’s game as the starter with a full allotment of pitches (110).

“You don’t want to see your season end early,” Ras said about staying alive in the tournament. “With the season on the line you have to do anything you can to keep your team in it. You want to play up until June, up until that last day and that’s what we’re trying to do - especially after today’s nice win allowing us to move on.”

Dillon also had a double in the second inning finishing 2-for-4 with an RBI while Doherty had three hits in four at bats.

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