New Providence Junior Legion Falls in Quarterfinals

Sometimes you can play pretty well and still end up not winning.

That case could have be made for the New Providence Junior American Legion baseball team on Saturday in the four and final quarterfinal playoff game against Union.

Contested at Rahway’s Veterans Field, fourth-seeded New Providence received outstanding pitching and errorless defense, but couldn't overcome Union's lone run due to an RBI on a 6-4-3 double play in the top of the first inning.

The 1-0 Union victory propelled them to Sunday’s semifinals and ended New Providence's fine season at 8-5-1 overall. The Pioneers finished fourth in the regular season standings with 17 points.

Union faced ninth-seeded Rahway Sunday morning, while third-seeded Watchung Hills played second-seeded Roselle Post 229. The championship game will be played at 5:15 p.m. Monday in Rahway.

In their regular season meeting, Union defeated New Providence 5-3 at Union’s Teener Field on July 2. This time head coach Chris Brodeur – this year’s Union County Coach of the Year – had his two best pitchers on the mound, lefties Miller Gorny and Dean Bogdanovic.

Gorny pitched the first five innings, giving up just the one run on three hits, while striking out six and walking four. Bogdanovic struck out five of the seven batters he faced and retired the last six in two hitless, scoreless frames.

“Gorny has been great for us all year long,” Brodeur said. “He doesn’t have blazing speed, but he usually hits his spots. He was a little wilder today, but squeaked out of some jams.”

Two of Union’s three hits came from two of the game’s first three batters. John Siniscal led off the game with an opposite field single to right, Pete Szarek walked and then Denzell Boyd singled to center to load the bases with nobody out.

Cleanup batter Marcelle Woolridge hit a ball to New Providence shortstop Bryan Sherman, who started the 6-4-3 double play that enabled Siniscal to score from third. Woolridge did not receive an RBI, but Union took a 1-0 lead. Gorny struck out Tyler Shaw looking to end the inning.

Union’s other hit, a leadoff single up the middle in the fifth, was produced by Shaqir Sims. He also made two fine plays at third base, the second a catch and throw to first base for a 5-3 inning-ending double play to end the bottom of the fifth.

Gorny pitched perfect innings in the second and fourth, and Bogdanovic in the seventh.

Union right hander John McTernan tossed a four-hit shutout that included four strikeouts and four walks. He also pitched a perfect seventh inning, retiring the first two batters he faced on ground balls to second and the third on a strikeout swinging.

Before that, New Providence did have a few chances to score runs.

In the bottom of the first, New Providence had runners on second and third with one out after an opposite field double hit to the right-center gap by Bogdanovic and a walk to Jeff Doran. However, McTernan came back to get the next two batters to ground out to third and short to keep New Providence scoreless.

New Providence, after two Union errors, had runners on first and third with one out in the second before McTernan got the next two batters to ground out to short.

New Providence’s best chance to score came in the third. With Bogdanovic, who walked to lead off the inning, on second with two outs, designated hitter Chris Mendez singled to center.

Union center fielder Boyd ran in and charged the hit, quickly coming up with the ball. He then fired a one-bounce throw to catcher Michael Bevan, who applied the tag on Bogdanovic for the inning’s final out.

Brodeur does not coach third base. Instead, he lets his players.

“It’s part of what they learn during the summer,” Brodeur said.

Mendez, who was 2-for-3, produced the final hit of the game, which was a single up the middle to lead off the bottom of the sixth. McTernan then retired the next three batters on a strikeout swinging, a ground ball to second and a fly ball to right.

“We focus on squaring up and trying to hit the ball to the middle of the field,” Brodeur said. “The ball didn’t drop where we wanted it to today.”

Although New Providence’s season came to an end quicker than the team wanted it to, there was plenty that was gained from the two-month campaign.

“In my four years of coaching during the summer, we progressed the most and not just because we won games,” Brodeur said. “We taught our pitchers to think about batters and had catchers calling pitches. It was a great learning experience.”