Kristhan Roman had the go-ahead RBI single in the third inning for Montgomery Superior.
By Rich Bevensee
Very few teams figured out how to beat the Goon Squad of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, last season in the High School Fall League at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
The Goons – an all-star team of players from the three Bucks County high schools – developed a reputation as a rowdy bunch that liked to chirp, make fun of each other, and mostly play very good baseball. They rode that approach all the way to the Diamond Nation league championship.
The Goons have returned to defend their title, but this fall could be very different. On Wednesday evening at ‘The Nation,’ Montgomery Superior figured out a way to quiet those Goons – hit the ball with men on base. It sounds simple, but very few teams were able to do so last fall.
Kristhan Roman capped a four-run rally in the third inning with a go-ahead RBI single and Montgomery added some more offense to quiet the Goons en route to a 9-4 victory.
Just before Roman came to bat, Dylan Ianiero drove a two-run single into left to tie the game at 4-4 with two out. But that didn’t quiet the Goon Squad. Roman said he didn’t hear a thing when he stepped into the batter’s box.
“It’s just me and the pitcher up there, focusing on nothing else,” said Roman, a 6-foot, 230-pound junior at Dunellen. “That’s just noise, nothing important.”
Roman’s at bat was a perfect example of what Montgomery did to solve the problem of quieting the Goon Squad. The lefty-hitting Roman knocked an outside fastball into left to give Montgomery the lead for good.
In that key third inning, Montgomery Superior was 3-for-3 with men in scoring position. That’s how to beat the defending champions.
“Half the team I do know, the other half we’re trying to figure it out,” Montgomery coach Zoran Milich said. “So I told them, the first four games, let’s go out there and swing the bat. We’re really not going to have you bunt and all that stuff. Let’s keep it simple and get the rust off. Yesterday we scored two runs and today we had nine. We did a great job of putting the ball in play.”
Chase Pasmore had an RBI single to spark the rally before Ianiero’s two-run rip and Roman’s go-ahead single.
Montgomery may have taken the lead but it didn’t deter the Goon Squad, which loaded the bases with one out in the top of the fourth.
This is where Montgomery shortstop Aaron Corcoran made the first of his two sparkling defensive plays. With one out and the Montgomery infield playing in, Tyler Muzsi hit a sharp grounder toward the hole on the left side but Corcoran snagged it and made a pinpoint throw home to get Chris Schmidt on the force out. Montgomery reliever Dalton Carman induced a fly out to retire the side.
Carman, a 6-2, 180-pound senior at Somerville, pitched two shutout innings for Montgomery, allowing one hit and no walks and striking out one.
“I do my best to shut them out,” Carman said. “People are going to chirp as much as they want, but you have to shut them out and throw strikes and stuff happens when you do that.”
The Goon Squad’s Sean Hill races to first with Montgomery’s Chase Pasmore taking the throw.
Michael Dow added a sacrifice fly in the fourth to increase Montgomery’s lead to 6-4, but the Goons were always lurking to bounce back.
In the top of the fifth, Pasmore came on to relieve Carman and gave up a double to John Trefz and he walked Evan Lemay to open the inning. Pasmore got a strikeout for the first out before Corcoran flashed his glove again.
Caden Fitzpatrick, one of the original Goons from last season, hit a laser-like grounder to the shortstop side of second base but Corcoran was there to snag it and begin an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
With time ticking down in the bottom of the fifth, Montgomery added some more offense and denied the Goon Squad another at bat.
Mason Neufeld doubled to lead off the inning and scored on a Brandon Shimp single. Dylan Ianiero reached on an infield throwing error and Daniel Ianiero drove in Shimp and his brother with a two-run single up the middle for the final score.
Shimp, the Montgomery starter, allowed four runs on three hits and two walks with two strikeouts in two innings.
The Goons scored all their runs in the top of the second after falling behind, 1-0.
Muzsi, a Central Bucks East senior and a Gettysburg College commit, belted an RBI triple to the right-center field wall, and later stole home on a double steal with Caden Vacca taking second for a 2-1 Goons lead.
Trefz added an RBI groundout before the Goons pulled another double steal, with Lemay swiping home when Brendan Keizer attracted attention trying to advance from first to second.
The Goon Squad doing Goon things: taking a knee while relief pitcher Cooper Weiss warms up.
Before Montgomery got rolling in the third inning, Goons center fielder Caden Vacca, a senior at Archbishop Wood in Warminster, Pa., contributed a defensive gem of his own. Neufeld singled up the middle and Vacca came up throwing and nailed Dow at the plate for the inning’s first out.
The Goons returned just three players from the league championship team of a year ago – Hill and Anthony Niro, senior teammates at Central Bucks East, and Fitzpatrick, a senior at Central Bucks West.
For the Goons, Jason Albert pitched 2⅓ innings and allowed four runs on five hits and three walks with three strikeouts. Cooper Weiss pitched two-thirds of an inning and permitted two runs on two hits and one walk with a strikeout. Sean Hill pitched the final 1⅔ innings and yielded three runs (two earned) on three hits and no walks with two strikeouts.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Milich, the only head varsity football coach Montgomery High School has ever known, was honored Friday evening when the school renamed its football field in Milich’s honor.
Milich coached the Cougars for 23 seasons and reached his 100th career win in 2023. This past January, Milich announced he was stepping down as varsity football coach due to health concerns.
A “Milich Field” sign for the top of the scoreboard will be unveiled at the team’s Oct. 3 home game against Linden.