Pioneers Baseball Marches on to Sectional Semifinal

On Friday afternoon, New Providence's ace starter became its ace reliever, and the Pioneers’ offense took care of the rest.

The New Providence varsity baseball team pounded No. 16 Whippany Park’s pitching for 15 runs on 14 hits, Doug Pastore came out of the pen to clean up a messy situation, and the Pioneers went on to win, 15-7, in the quarterfinal of the NJSIAA North 2, Group 1 tournament. 

The Pioneers advance to play at No. 4 Roselle Park on Tuesday in the sectional semifinal. New Providence lost both meetings with Roselle Park this season, but it appears to have fully snapped out of the offensive funk that plagued it in the middle of the season.

Joe Randazzo went 2-for-3 with four RBIs and two walks, Mike Felezzola went 4-for-4 with three RBIs and Marc Giacalone had two doubles and an RBI to fuel New Providence.

“It’s a great sign,” New Providence coach Chris Brodeur said of the offensive effort. “Seeing everyone come to the plate with a really positive vibe, it’s really positive. We’re very excited when we get to the plate, it’s nice.”

“I hope, I knock on wood, from my lips to the heaven’s ears, I hope we got something going right now,” he added.

Pastore tossed four innings of one-run ball in relief of starter Michael Marchesano, who exited after allowing six runs in two innings.

“(I was trying to) just throw strikes, try and get ahead of them,” Pastore said. “[Marchesano] threw well, they were just hitting him hard, so I was just trying to get ahead and see what I could do.”

Pastore entered in the top of the third with the Pioneers trailing 6-5, and he scattered four hits and struck out two.

“He [needed] to come in, throw strikes and settle them down,” Brodeur said of Pastore. “There’s a little different speed between the two of them, and I was hoping to catch them a little off balance.”

The Pioneers, meanwhile, went ahead in the bottom of the third. After Marchesano doubled, Felezzola drove him in with a single to right, Mike Kennedy reached on an error and David Dinerman drove in two more runs with a single to make it 8-6.

No. 9 New Providence poured it on in the bottom of the fourth, taking advantage of wildness by Whippany Park to score seven runs.

Marchesano drove in two with an opposite-field double, Felezzola picked up another RBI with a single to left-center field and Joe Meyers, Stephen Zimmerman, Randazzo and Giacalone each walked with the bases loaded.

Whippany Park scored three runs in the top of the first off of Marchesano, but the Pioneers battled back and tied the game in their turn at the plate.

Marchesano then gave up three more runs in the second, giving way to Pastore to come in and stabilize the situation.

“It was an off day for him, he wasn’t locating,” Brodeur said of Marchesano. “I think he got a little frustrated because the strike zone was small, I think both teams were frustrated by that a little bit, and he couldn’t shake himself from it. But he came through at the dish so, that’s ok too.”

New Providence will play at Roselle Park on Tuesday at 4 p.m. in the NJSIAA North 2, Group 1 semifinal.