End of The Road for Miller Baseball

The Millburn baseball team saw its playoff run ended against Paramus in the Group 3 semifinals on Tuesday at William Paterson University, 11-1, in a six inning mercy rule.

In the end, it was the Miller hitters’ inability to catch up with Frank Colasante’s fastball and the hitting of Paramus’s top four batters which led to the lopsided loss for Millburn. The first four hitters for Paramus went nine-for-15 at the plate (.600 batting average), scored nine runs and drove in six. The Paramus No. 3 hitter, Nick Henriquez fell a single short of the cycle, going three-of-four, with a double, triple and homerun with three RBI.

“Their top three or four guys were outstanding, as good of a top four as we’ve seen this year,” said Millburn head coach Brian Chapman. “That three hitter, we certainly didn’t have the answer for him. There might be an answer on how to get him out, but we certainly don’t have it.”

Colasante wasn’t using much trickery with the Miller hitters, he was just throwing very hard. The Paramus pitcher scattered five hits, struck out five and walked three.

“He said here it is, hit it,” Chapman said. “He basically threw his fastball, he wasn’t getting his curve over for a strike very much. He just came at us with the fastball and we weren’t able to do too much with it.”

Paramus struck early, getting a run in the top of the first inning off of a triple from Henriquez that bounced off of the right field wall. In the third inning, Henrique reached on a first base error, allowing Tyler Garguilo to score. Later in the frame, Joe Szorentini knocked in two more to put Paramus up 4-0.

In the fifth, Henriquez doubled off of the centerfield wall to drive in another run, and Chris Covello drove him home with a triple to center, chasing Millburn’s starting pitcher Danny Frischman from the game, trailing 7-0. Later in the inning, with Dave Talpalar pitching, a first baseman error again allowed another run to score and an RBI single dunked into right put Paramus up 9-0. Henriquez tacked on a run in the sixth with a solo homerun to left and Szorentini followed with an RBI triple to put Paramus up 11-0.

“This is a very good offensive team that is sort of hitting their stride right now and they were better than us today,” Chapman said.

Talpalar got Millburn on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning, knocking in Frischman.

The Miller hitters had trouble all game and had very few opportunities. They managed to get five runners in scoring position, but only got one hit in those situations. Meanwhile, the Paramus lineup was relentless, pounding out 12 hits and bat .385 with runners in scoring position. Paramus, which improved to 25-4, moves onto the Group 3 finals on Saturday against the winner of Seneca and Middletown South.

“You have to give a lot of credit to Paramus,” Chapman said. “They really hit the ball, their pitcher did a great job and they made all of the plays. They were pretty good today.”

The Millers completed a fantastic turnaround season, going from back-to-back springs under .500 to a state sectional championship, second place finishes in both the county tournament and the conference and finished with a 24-7 record.

“This loss stings all of us, a loss hurts anytime you lose a ball game,” Chapman said. “I’m sure when we sit back and we’re able to reflect a little bit more, we’ll recognize that we accomplished some good things this season. But right now, you obviously never want to lose, so it’s disappointing.”