First Pitch: Ridgewood Baseball Opens NJ Season

The Ridgewood baseball team will finally get a chance to play a game on New Jersey soil Wednesday when they travel to Passaic Tech in Wayne. But they don’t mind.

Despite being more than a thousand miles away from home, the team started to add to their resume that will hopefully included a bid to the Bergen County Tournament and a state sectional title this season.

The Maroons won all three of their games while in Cocoa Beach, Florida last weekend, which is added to the regular season record.

"I think playing for four days in 80 degrees is a big advantage for us," said Ridgewood head coach Kurt Hommen.

Ridgewood finished with a 19-8 record last season that included making the state sectional semi-finals and also made it to the Bergen County Tournament for the first time in five years. "I think we made some strides last season," said Hommen. Things this season may be a bit different this go-around. "I think we need to look at it by getting by week-by-week," he said.

The Maroons defeated Madison, Ohio, 6-4, last Friday, and Madison Kentucky, 5-2 and Raceland, Kentucky, 9-3, both games on Sunday night.

"So far we have been hitting the ball well and [the] defense played well," said Hommen, in second season in leading the Maroons.

Senior Tucker Rekucki was on the mound for the win against Raceland while senior Matt Granski hurled a victory over Madison, Ohio and senior Cooper Byrne got the win on the mound over Madison, Kentucky.

The pitching staff also includes Granski, junior Will Herzog, junior Blaise Martinez along with sophomore Kevin Skettini and sophomore Nick Purritano. All are righties except for Granski. The starting pitchers are Byrne, Will Herzog, Granski and Rekucki.

That group of arms will need to make up for the losses of two of Ridgewood's top pitchers from last season in Alec Fenstermacher and Mark Lowy. Fenstermacher won both of the state victories last season. "I think baseball comes down to pitching that will be the key this season," said Hommen.

Assistant coach Phil Schnieder added that they're stressing work on the changeup this season. With such a tough division, hitters will feast on fastballs. A change of pace is needed, Schnieder said. "We have to be able to throw off speed [pitches] in fastball counts."

Offensively there were several Ridgewood players who had big Florida weekends. Senior third baseman Doug Licitra went 4-for-4 against Madison, Ohio along with a two-run home run to win the game. Senior outfielder Frankie Paleno crashed a home run against Madison, Ohio to tie the game and hit over .400 for the long weekend.

The team expects to play a lot of small ball this season. "We're light on power hitters," Schneider said, but with good speed and contact guys, the bases "won't be clogged" this season, he said.

In addition, senior shortstop Tyler Welence hit over .450 and led the team in RBI while playing quality shortstop. Senior catcher/outfielder Russell Tanner also had a good weekend in Florida, Hommen reported.

The infield this season has junior Kurt Hommen, son of the head coach, and senior Tyler Welence at second base and shortstop, respectively. On the corners are Licitra and Byrne at third and first base. The team has high expectations for Welence, who Schneider called the team's "best defensive player" that also has a strong arm to be utilized on the mount.

Paleno anchors the outfield at center field and has for the last three years. On each side of Paleno, there is junior Mike Conigle and senior Tanner at left field and right field, respectively.

Three players could see time at designated hitter in junior Mike Johnson, senior Justin Schaefer and senior Yuki Kawahara.

The catching situation will be a platoon to start the season with Russell Tanner and freshman Nick Coppolla splitting time. The pair has big shoes to fill in replacing graduated senior Christian Rota.

With a new season comes a new league as the Maroons are part of the Big North. Ridgewood is part of a very competitive division with the likes of county powerhouse Don Bosco along with Paramus, Hackensack, Teaneck and Bergen Tech.

Overall, Hommen called the Florida trip a success and gave credit to the Ridgewood Baseball Association for helping to fund and organize the trip. "It takes a lot of planning and behind the scenes work for the trip," said Hommen.

Ridgewood baseball schedule is as follows:

(Games at 4:15 p.m. unless noted)

April 6         at Passaic Tech
April 8         Teaneck
April 11        at Don Bosco Prep
April 12        Clifton
April 14        Bergen Tech
April 15        at Paramus
April 18        Northern Highlands
April 20        at Hackensack
April 21        West Milford
April 23        at Ramapo, 11 a.m.
April 25        at Old Tappan
April 27        Fair Lawn
April 29        at Teaneck
April 30        Waldwick, 11 a.m.
May 2            Don Bosco Prep
May 4            Paramus
May 5            at The Frisch School, Westwood Field, 6 p.m.
May 6            Demarest
May 9            at Bergen Tech
May 10            Hackensack
May 14            St. Mary, 11 a.m.

With additional reporting by James Kleimann