Marchionda's Five RBIs Sends Mustangs to Second Round of States

On Monday afternoon, the No. 1 seeded Mustangs boys baseball team won a rainy, overcast first round of the NJSIAA North 1, Group III state playoffs against No. 16 seeded Pascack Valley in Montville, 9-1, led by Anthony Altieri's pitching and John Marchionda's bat.

The only run scored by Pascack Valley came from the first at-bat of the game.

But giving up a lead off, solo home run doesn't hurt so much when your teammate hits a three-run dinger to take the lead shortly after. Especially when that lead-off home run is the only run you give up while pitching a complete game.

"Once we had the lead I knew we could hold it," Altieri said.

And the Mustangs held that lead easily behind Altieri's seven strikeouts and six shutout innings. Marchionda's three-run home run in the first would have been enough to win the game alone, but he tacked on two more RBIs with a third inning double as well.

"I ended up hitting it harder than expected, said Marchionda. "It was good to get those runs back for Ant."

Marchionda has been hitting well since the beginning of the season, said Mustangs head coach Joe Cardinale, but he is also coming off a recent injury, and on Monday the coach said he saw Marchionda get his timing back.

Cardinale also praised Altieri's focus after giving up the lead-off home run. 

"Ant's a competitor; he threw up zeros the rest of the way," Cardinale said.

Montville will face the winner of Old Tappan and Sparta on Friday, in Montville, for the next round of the state tournament at 4 p.m.

Notes from Monday's game:

• Altieri scored three runs, went 1-for-1 and walked three times.
• Ryan Karl scored two runs, walked twice, and went 1-for-2 with a single.
• Jordan Gajdos had three RBIs with two sacrifice fly balls and a double.
• Marchionda went 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, and five RBIs.