Raiders' Baseball Wrap Up: After Such a Successful Season, What's Next?

The Raiders won their first Union County Tournament title this season since 2004, winning an epic 2-1, 10-inning game against Westfield at Williams Field in Elizabeth. They rallied from a 13-5 deficit to beat A.L. Johnson of Clark 14-13 in a regular-season game by scoring nine runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. They made the North 2 Group III championship game, falling 6-3 to eventual state champion John F. Kennedy of Iselin.

The Raiders also won the Watchung Conference title.

Scotch Plains-Fanwood coach Tom Baylock said the highlight of the season was beating Westfield for the county title, the school's fourth overall. The Raiders mustered just one hit off Westfield ace Chris Jenkins in nine innings, but took the lead in the 10th against reliever Aiden Scanlon on John Maxwell's single.

Junior Raider pitcher Gary Binkiewicz, the team's ace, got the win on the mound after matching Jenkin pitch for pitch through nine innings. Raider senior Jon Kosenick earned the save. He retired Westfield in order in the 10th.

"It was a very successful season,'' Baylock said. "We did a lot of good things.''

One of the best things is that the team is made up mostly of juniors, which means next season should also be a good one.

"We had a great year,'' said junior left fielder Joe D'Annunzio, who batted .494 with 43 runs scored and 30 RBIs with five homers. "We had a lot of heart, had a lot of comeback wins and we fought until the end. We fell a little short, but hopefully we can win a state title next year.''

Senior first baseman Kevin Maroney, who will play baseball at Monmouth University, and senior third baseman Nick Bonadies, who'll play at West Chester, were invaluable. Sophomore Marcus Rivera, the team's starting second baseman, earned the win on the mound in the 8-5 county semifinal win against Elizabeth. Kosenick earned the save.

"That was huge,'' Baylock said. "We really didn't know what to expect (since Rivera hadn't pitched). We thought we might need five different kids, but Marcus wound up going 4 1/3 (innings) and we had Kosenick for the rest.''

With players like Maxwell, junior shortstop Mike Ridge, junior catcher Lou Mazzella and junior center fielder Rick Shevlin returning next year to join Binkiewicz and D'Annunzio, the Raiders should have another strong year. The Raiders' junior varsity team went 15-1, losing only to Westfield in the Union County Junior Varsity Tournament. Binkiewicz, who will be the Raiders' starting quarterback in the fall, finished with a 9-1 record.

"Our pitching staff could be even deeper next year,'' Baylock said.