Pascack Hills hits early, often at Dumont by Greg Mattura of The Record
DUMONT – Pascack Hills requested a special early-morning batting practice and it contributed to a late-afternoon string of runs.
The Cowboys remained undefeated by knocking off previously unbeaten Dumont, 12-2, in six innings Monday in Big North interdivisional baseball.
Pascack Hills (8-0) followed its 7 a.m. batting practice with a fast start and nine total hits to trigger the 10-run rule against Dumont (6-1). A regular lunchtime workout also helped.
“Our team has been really hot with the bats, and it really showed today,” sophomore Julian Bulzomi said after producing two hits and five RBI.
“These kids are all about baseball right now,” said Pascack Hills coach Kevin Kirkby, who was happy to oblige on the extra batting practice, “and it’s making my life easy.”
Pascack Hills, No. 9 in The Record Top 25, delivered six runs in the first two innings and tacked on four more in the fourth for a 10-1 lead against No. 11 Dumont.
That made life easier for Cowboys sophomore right-hander Brandon Siegenthaler, who earned the win after allowing two runs over five innings.
“They’re picking up every pitcher, helping us out,” Siegenthaler said of the hitters. “The guys picked me up with the bats, put up 12, [against] a good, solid team.”
Bulzomi was 2-for-5 and was credited with a first-inning home run. Senior Christian Piantino was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, leading off the four-run fourth with a homer over the fence in right. Billy Siegenthaler, the senior leadoff hitter, had two hits, two walks and two RBI.
“We came out and we got hits when we needed to, we threw the ball pretty well for the most part, and our defense was pretty good,” Kirkby said. “I’m happy with the way the kids are playing.”
Brandon Siegenthaler is a control pitcher who allowed six hits, three walks and struck out three. Sophomore lleft-hander Ryan Ramsey tossed a scoreless sixth.
“He didn’t have his best stuff, but he battled,” Kirkby said of Siegenthaler. “He came up with big pitches when he needed to.”’
Dumont hurt itself in the early innings with mental errors that opened the door for Pascack Hills’ 6-0 lead. A ground-rule double by Bulzomi, for instance, was ruled a homer because an outfielder stepped around the fence where it ends in left-center and touched the ball before the umpire could officially rule it dead.
“It’s all about focus. We collapsed a little bit at the beginning,” said Dumont coach Jason Cannici, “and they gained a lot of momentum.”
Pascack Hills and Dumont will do it all over again Tuesday in Montvale with their aces on the mound. Junior Jack Brodsky will start for the Cowboys and the Huskies answer with senior Dan Raglievich.
“I think we’re going to see a little bit of a different team out there from them [Tuesday],” Kirkby said.
”The good news is we can put this behind us,” Cannici said, “and [Tuesday] is a new day.”