Pioneers' Offensive Woes Continue Against Roselle Park

The New Providence varsity baseball team is finding runs difficult to come by recently, and the offensive deficiency has coach Chris Brodeur scratching his head. 

“I don’t know, I have no idea,” Brodeur said as to why his team has followed up a 19-run outburst with four runs in three games. “I still think we’re hitting the ball okay, I [just] think we’re hitting it at them, and I think that will even up.”

“I hope that will even up.”

Hard-hit or not, right now the balls just aren’t dropping in, and the result has been three-straight losses for the Pioneers, with the latest setback being a 6-0 loss to Roselle Park on Tuesday afternoon.

Panthers' hurler Jeremy Montanez tossed a complete-game, six-hitter in the win, while Pioneers' starter Doug Pastore was hit hard again by Roselle Park; the Panthers chased the senior after only 2 1/3 innings on April 11, and while Pastore lasted longer on Tuesday afternoon, the Panthers still were able to take some solid cuts against him.

“I think they’re a very good hitting club,” Brodeur said of Roselle Park. “I think they [have] exceptional hitting, and I think, yeah, this year they’ve had his number so far. Maybe we’ll get them in the states and we’ll see again.”

Even though Pastore didn’t give up a run over the first two innings, there were telling signs that Roselle Park might be able to drive the ball off him. His first two outs were long fly balls to left field, and after Montanez sliced a double down the left-field line, it took a running catch by Joe Meyers in left-center field to save a run. Then, Pastore’s first two outs in the second were also long fly balls.

The Pioneers leadoff hitter reached on a single in both the first and second innings, but they couldn’t muster anything further.

Roselle Park then capitalized on an error by second baseman Mike Kennedy in the top of the third. The Panthers followed the miscue with a single, an RBI groundout, an RBI single, a walk, another RBI single and another walk before Pastore got a strike out on a breaking ball to work out of a bases-loaded jam and keep the deficit at 3-0.

New Providence (4-6) got its leadoff man on again in the bottom of the third via a single, but he was quickly erased after Marc Giacalone grounded into a double play.

In the fourth, slugger Joe Randazzo crushed a ball down the left-field line, but Roselle Park’s left fielder made a spectacular running catch over his shoulder to save a sure triple and possible home run. New Providence’s tough luck continued after a man reached on an error, as Meyers grounded a ball directly up the middle. It would’ve been a single any other time, but Roselle Park’s second baseman happened to be covering second on a steal attempt, so he fielded the ball, stepped on second and tossed it to first without even having to move.

The bottom of the fourth would prove to be Pastore’s last, as he surrendered a double that scored two runs to make it 5-0 and a sacrifice fly to make the deficit six. Randazzo came on and worked out of a bases-loaded jam to keep it there.

Randazzo then tossed two more scoreless frames to end the game. But Brodeur wasn’t regretting his decision to leave Pastore in as long as he did.

“You can always second-guess,” he said. “I think Joe did a real nice job in the spot he was put into, and I’m hoping he grows from that.”

The Pioneers will host Oratory Prep on Thursday at 4 p.m.