By Wayne Witkowski
Middletown Intermediate’s magical run to the state championship game came to an end July 17 against Vineland at Veterans Field in Kearny.
Vineland won, 14-1, to advance to the region tournament this week. Colin Dowlen had two hits, and Robert Gonzalez took the mound loss.
Vineland came out of the losers bracket and forced a winner-take-all showdown when it hammered out an 11-1 victory over Middletown the previous day. The game was stopped in the fifth inning by the 10-run rule. In that game, Vineland pitcher Chase Petty held Middletown to one hit — a run-scoring single by Matt Maguire in the first inning. Vineland collected 13 hits and three home runs, including a solo shot by Andrew Simone in the fifth inning. Xavier Vazquez, who had three hits, brought an early ending to the July 16 game with his second run-scoring single.
Petty struck out eight and did not walk a batter, as he got stronger by the inning and lowered his pitch count each inning. He threw 60 pitches and did not walk a batter to raise his record with Vineland this summer to 4-0. Middletown, meanwhile, struggled with an uncharacteristic four errors.
“They’re a good fastball-hitting team, and you have to come prepared to play,” Middletown manager Mike Altilio said after the 11-1 loss. “We didn’t come out to hit. It’s not like us.”
Dowlen came in for starter Gonzalez as the first of four relievers when Vineland struck for three runs.
Middletown’s hitting slump continued when it came back July 17 looking for the magic it had in the Section 3 tournament when it beat heavy favorite Jackson. Last summer, Jackson’s 12-year-olds had advanced all the way to the regional finals. Most of the players on that team moved up to Jackson’s Intermediates that had beaten Middletown in the championship round to force a second winner-take-all game that Middletown won at the champs’ Bodman Park Campbell Field. Middletown had sent Jackson into the losers bracket early in the section tournament.
In the state tournament, Middletown had sent Vineland into the losers bracket July 14 with a 7-4 victory, as Gonzalez led it off for Middletown with a home run. In the sixth inning, Maguire belted a two-run homer — his second homer of the game — and Dylan Wanagiel followed with a two-run blast to open up a 6-1 lead. Maguire went the distance for the mound win.
“In the first game [when we beat Vineland], we came out hungry. But today, we came out flat,” Gonzalez said after the first loss to Vineland in the championship round, as he and his team were hoping for a replay of the section championship when it took the field for the finale July 17.
Vineland hitters came out aggressive, swinging early in the count in the weekend championship round games.
“We were swinging at bad pitches in the first game, but we were disciplined at the plate in the games after that,” Vineland manager Miguel Vasquez said. “Our pitcher hit his spots on [July 16] and had good command with a good breaking ball. He starts ahead [in the count] and stays ahead.”
It carried to the finale for Vineland.
“I’m really proud of our boys. These kids worked real hard over the past few weeks,” Altilio said. “We beat a very talented Jackson team in the sectionals and came within one win of a state championship. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of young men to coach. I give tons of credit to Vineland. They took it to us in the last two games. We only scored two runs in those two games. You can’t win with that kind of productivity.”
Gonzalez also led off the game with a home run when Middletown beat Ridgewood, 9-5, in its state tournament opener July 13, and he stole home an inning later. Pat Marinich collected three hits and drove in a run. C.J. Miranda, Dowlen and Wanagiel also batted in runs.
