Matteo Pandolfini slides home with Allentown’s only run in the third inning.
By Rich Bevensee
As a pitcher, Ben Annese seems like a patient guy, expressing faith that his defense will make plays behind him while waiting for the offense to eventually come alive.
That patience was tested on Monday evening when Annese, a right-hander who took the mound for Flemington American Legion Post 159, was locked in a one-run game with Allentown Legion for four arduous innings.
Annese, who was enjoying his best game of the fall season, had his patience rewarded when the offensive floodgates opened in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Sparked by a pair of unearned runs and fueled by Andrew Fisher’s two-run double, the Flemington offense awoke with an eight-run outburst and walked off the game with a 10-1 decision in the Diamond Nation High School Fall League on Monday night in Flemington.
“I know my offense at some point would click and get something moving,” Annese said. “I’m not worried about the score. I’m focused on throwing it in the zone, trying to get soft contact, and doing that helps me block out that it’s a close game. I’m more efficient that way.”
Annese, a 6-foot, 215-pound junior at Hunterdon Central, scattered three hits and four walks over his five-inning, complete-game effort and struck out four.
For a guy who said he didn’t feel all that confident about his pitches in the bullpen, he pitched well enough to keep a solid Allentown offense at bay the entire night. He also stranded four Allentown runners in scoring position.
“I was hyped for today and I went in the bullpen and I was like, ‘Oh no, it does not feel good.’ What am I gonna do?” said Annese, who abandoned his slider but eventually gained control of his four- and two-seam fastballs, curveball and changeup. “As the game went on I was able to settle into a groove.”
Flemington won its fourth straight and improved to 6-1 overall. Allentown dropped to 2-3.
After Annese retired Allentown in order in the fifth, his teammates went to work. But not before Allentown helped get the rally started with two key miscues.
With the bases loaded, Allentown reliever Will Marshall induced a grounder but a throw home to get a forceout was wide, allowing Flemington’s Mike Parillo to make it a 3-1 game. Then an errant back pick throw to first allowed Nick Doyle to score from third.
From there Flemington piled on with offense until the mercy rule came into effect. Fisher roped a two-run double into the left-center gap to break open the game.
After an outfield error and a walk, Mason Jaquich drove in a run with a groundout. And after an infield error, Allentown’s fourth of the inning, Parillo (2-for-3) ended the game with a two-run double.
Fisher, one of Flemington’s leading hitters this fall, went 2-for-2 with a walk and is now batting 6-for-13 this fall with two triples, a double and nine RBI.
Flemington’s Andrew Fisher rifles a two-run double in the fifth inning.
Fisher, a 6-3, 180-pound junior at Hunterdon Central, was a swing player between JV and varsity this past spring.
“I’ve been hot since June because whenever I got put on JV I would just smash balls,” Fisher said. “I think something just clicked. I wasn’t getting many reps on varsity and whenever I got on JV I was trying to show the coaches I could hit the ball.”
Until the bottom of the fifth, Allentown was keeping a lid on that explosive Flemington offense, which has scored 59 runs in seven games.
The credit for that goes to Allentown righty Yousef Farraj, a junior at Allentown who surrendered only one run in his four innings of work despite yielding seven walks and one hit. He left the game after throwing 82 pitches and was relieved by Marshall.
“He did himself no favors in terms of he wasn’t throwing first pitch strikes effectively,” Allentown coach Sahil Thakur said. “He was falling behind pretty much every batter but he was battling for us the whole time. He was competing. He understands that even without his best stuff he can find a way to compete and that’s what he did.”
“I thought he had a good secondary pitch and he threw a lot of strikes with that,” Flemington coach Chase Moskowitz said. “He was missing with his fastball and a lot of kids would just continue to throw it, but he’d come back with a curveball and get a strike there.”
Both teams received some excellent defense in keeping the matter a one-run game.
In the top of the fourth inning, Allentown had two on and one out with Henry Conway representing the tying run on third. Marshall blasted a grounder up the middle but Flemington shortstop Nick Bott made a diving stop behind the bag, scrambled to his feet to get the force at second and made the throw to first to complete an impressive inning-ending double play.
“If I pump strikes I know my fielders are going to make plays,” said Annese, who has a 1.93 ERA over 14 innings this fall. “It feels great to know every single person out there can make a play, especially the double play up the middle. Nick Bott, man, that’s the best play I’ve seen all fall. It keeps us up by a run and gets us out of the fourth inning.”
Allentown returned the favor in the bottom of the fourth. Flemington’s Brady Sponzo represented an insurance run at third with two out when Alan Pepe rocketed a line drive back to the box. Farraj snared the line drive inches above the ground to end the threat.
Flemington seized a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second when Fisher walked, took second and third on a passed ball and wild pitch, respectively, and scored on a Sponzo sacrifice fly. Two batters later Jacquish walked and soon scored on a passed ball.
Allentown sliced its deficit in half in the third with two out and Janniel Hernandez at first and Matteo Pandolfini at third. Hernandez initiated a double steal and Pandolfini managed to score before Hernandez was eventually tagged out at second.