Conor Quinn scores from third base in the sixth inning of Immaculata’s 6-0 victory over Ridge.
It’s never too early to make a statement that impacts seeding in the Somerset County Tournament.
Immaculata, No. 12 in the NJ.com Top 20, certainly did that with back-to-back shutout victories over No. 13 Ridge of Basking Ridge on Tuesday and Wednesday.
These two state-ranked teams appear headed for the top two seeds in the annual SCT. Immaculata defeated Ridge, 3-0, in last year’s SCT final.
Immaculata coach Kevin Cust, who hit 16 home runs in his senior season at the Somerville-based school and a stunning 33 dingers in his career, could not contain the smirk on his face in the post-game as his innate humor betrayed him.
“These aren’t the Spartans you’ve been following all these years,” said Cust to a reporter who also happened to witness the smash mouth baseball past of Immaculata’s glory days in the 1990s and 2000s. “It’s all pitching and defense,” smiled Cust.
The game had all the pomp and circumstance of old time slugging Immaculata games, complete with an overabundance of media coverage, steered by an NJ.com broadcast crew, photographer and videographer at the Diamond Nation baseball and softball facility in Flemington. Also on hand was Central Jersey Sports Radio.
Ryan Auten followed Tuesday’s terrific outing by fellow senior lefty Cole Raymond with a dominant two-hit shutout that included 13 strikeouts and no walks in a miniscule 83 pitches. The Marist-bound Raymond had shut out Ridge (11-3) on Tuesday on two hits while striking out eighth and walking four.
Ryan Auten of Immaculata pitched a two-hit shutout with 13 strikeouts and no walks against Ridge.
The 6-6, 215-pound Auten provided the pitching and his teammates backed him up with a clean defensive game behind him, which was glaring considering Ridge did not put forth their best defensive effort, committing four errors behind three pitchers who deserved better.
The Wake Forest-bound Auten struck out the Red Devils in order in the top of the first inning and finished just as strong, fanning five of the last seven batters and retiring the final 11 batters he faced in order.
“Everything was there,” said Auten, “fastball, curveball, slider, changeup. Coach gives us a pitch he wants once in a while, but Owen (Schilling) calls the pitches and I throw them. We’ve been doing it together for five years, so we are really comfortable.”
It would be hard to look more comfortable than Auten and his catcher Schilling, a pair of buddies who hatched their game plan in school on Wednesday. “Our plan was to attack each hitter,” said Schilling, who singled home a run in a two-run bottom of the first for Immaculata (10-2). “We were in full attack mode. And that made Ryan’s changeup and slider that much better late in the game.”
“Ryan has been great all season,” said Cust. “Unbelievable, really. He was a little sporadic last year in the strike zone. But his fastball has intent this year. We see when he gets his second wind his changeup and slider become really difficult to hit late in the game.” Auten’s fastball topped out at 93 miles per hour on Wednesday and sat comfortably at 90-91 much of the game.
Andrew Wheeler eyes a pitch he would drive into right field for a single in the sixth inning.
It was a harbinger of rough things to come for Ridge when Justin Labrador led off the bottom of the first by reaching on an error. Labrador hustled out a grounder to second base that was briefly bobbled. He then stole second – an aberration in Immaculata’s slugging heyday – and, after a walk to Luca Catanzarite, scored on Schilling’s single through the left side.
The speedy Catanzarite scored the second run of the inning when Nehemiah Diaz hit a sinking liner to left field. A charging Matt Pypcznske made a nice play to stop the shot but couldn’t hang on to the ball. Diaz reached second and Catanzarite scored as the ball squirted free.
Conor Quinn drew a one out walk in the fourth off Ridge starter Dimitri Romer and raced to third base on Andrew Wheeler’s single to right field. Jackson Lewis, the No. 9 hitter, followed with a shot to center that was deep enough to enable Quinn to tag and score from third for a 3-0 lead.
Immaculata tacked on three runs in the sixth courtesy of two Ridge errors.
A Quinn walk and a Wheeler (2-for-3) single started the rally. Lewis (1-for-2, 2 RBI) brought home Quinn when his liner to the right side was knocked down but not corralled. Schilling brought Lewis in when his soft chopper to the left side was thrown away. Schilling stole second and when the throw to the bag slipped between the shortstop and second baseman into center field, Catanzarite scored from third with the sixth run.
“We’ve got a lot of buy-in with this group,” said Cust of his charges. “The success from that is starting to show. We are trying to handle the bats better. We had just five hits but we did have a lot of hard hit balls, a couple deep shots.”
Romer permitted three runs, two of which were earned, on four hits, struck out five and walked three. The righthander gave Ridge its first hit in the second inning after Auten had struck out the first four Red Devils in the game. Romer jumped on a first-pitch fastball and drove it smartly into center field. The only other baserunner for Ridge came with one out in the fourth when Jake Dolan smacked a hanging slider into left field for a single.
The bottom third of the Immaculata order made a big contribution. Quinn, Wheeler and Lewis combined for three singles, two walks, a sac fly and two RBI. Not very much like the Immaculata in their coach’s heyday.