Colonia, Father & Son in the hunt for state tourney berth
BY SHAWN LAYTON Staff Writer
With a trip to the state tournament at stake, the Father & Son Junior Legion team opened a threegame series with Colonia with an impressive 11-1 score last week but was topped by Colonia 3-1 in game two. The two teams were scheduled to play the rubber game July 21.

Starting pitcher Nick Marics went 4 1/3 innings to pick up his fifth win of the summer in the series opener for Father & Son.

"Nick established his fastball early in the game and continued to pound the strike zone," Father & Son head coach Tom D'Agostino said. "He pitched to contact, only walked one batter, and allowed his defense to do its job behind him."

Reliever Craig Leopold finished the game for Father & Son. Leopold allowed one hit and struck out two in his second relief appearance this season.

"Craig has been primarily used as a starter this summer," D'Agostino said. "When we've asked him to give us some relief innings, he's taken the ball and done an excellent job."

Third baseman Chris Luckendach led the 11-run assault with a 3-for-4 day at the dish. Luckendach smacked a pair of doubles, a triple and knocked in three runs.

Right fielder Nick Fabretti also went 3-for-4 with a pair of singles, a double, and one RBI. Teammate Kyle Paganelli drove in three runs on a double, single, and sacrifice fly.

"We got plenty of offensive production throughout the lineup," D'Agostino said. "It was a good win for us and gave us confidence heading into the second game."

Designated hitter Brandon Mendez drove in a run and finished the game with three singles.

For Colonia, the game was riddled with sloppy play and little offense, and the team could never get anything going against Marics.

"We played some really bad baseball," Colonia head coach Tom Hennessey said. "We made a ton of mental mistakes and just couldn't hit the ball. Father & Son deserves the credit because they played really well."

In game two of the best-of-three series, Colonia opened the game with four straight singles, which would prove to be the difference maker in a pitchers' duel between Colonia's Ryan Mitchell and Father & Son's Vinnie Del Fiore.

"Ryan had everything working for him," Hennessey said. "He matched up well with the Father & Son pitcher and pitched a solid game for us in a must-win situation."

Second baseman Tyler Jackson led off the game for Colonia with a base hit that was followed by catcher Anthony Caposiena's single. Center fielder Johnny Barreto made it three consecutive base hits before designated hitter Randy Pils drove in two with the team's fourth straight single.

Colonia's Delio Coutinho put a bunt down after Pils' single to execute the suicide squeeze and plate Barreto.

he three runs in the first proved plenty for Mitchell. After five innings of work, Mitchell gave the ball to Coutinho, who allowed one run in two innings of relief to notch the save.

"For us, there were no highlights aside from Vinnie's pitching performance," D'Agostino said. "After that first inning where he gave up the three runs, his changeup got better and he worked low in the zone. He did a nice job and retired the last 10 batters he faced. We just couldn't get our bats going. Mitchell had us off balance and we didn't have too many good swings."

The two teams were scheduled to meet Monday night for a chance to join South Brunswick and East Brunswick as the third area team to qualify for the state tournament.