Dwight Morrow ends 55 year title drought by Bob Shwalb special to The Record
ENGLEWOOD – The last time the Dwight Morrow baseball team won a championship, none of its current players were even born.
Scratch that. Most of their parents weren’t born.
On April 30, the Maroon Raiders ended one of the longest droughts in Bergen County high school sports by beating Dumont to win a share of the Big North American Division championship. Their last title came in 1963 when they won the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League (NNJIL) crown.
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“This is a gift for the kids,” Dwight Morrow coach Mario Lugones Jr. said. “This shows them that hard work really pays off.
“It’s baseball … but it’s more than baseball.”
On April 30, Dwight Morrow recorded its biggest victory in 55 years as it topped Dumont, 9-7. The win highlighted an incredible reconstruction job by Lugones, who took over a long-downtrodden program three years ago.
Before Lugones took the coaching reins, the Maroon Raiders had won just 10 games in their previous five seasons combined. Now they’re 10-6 and heading toward their first winning season in roughly 40 years.
“Coach Lugones means everything to us,” junior Jonathan Taylor said. “He’s the heart of the team … our leader. He always puts in extra time with us … batting practice, ground balls, everything. This victory is for him and all the other coaches who help us to be better student-athletes and better men.”
Looking back, Dwight Morrow was in the same situation last year, needing a split of its home-and-home series with Dumont to clinch a share of the division crown. The Maroon Raiders were swept last spring but this time they were ready.
On the game’s first pitch, Dwight Morrow second baseman Taylor made a spectacular diving grab of a pop foul down the right-field line.
“I don’t know how I got it,” Taylor said. “I just dove out and saw it go in my glove. But I feel like that set the tone for the team. Everyone was excited after that.”
The buzz carried over to the bottom of the frame as Taylor drilled the opponents’ first pitch into left for a single. Sophomore Orlando Sosa (3-for-4, two doubles, homer, six RBI) followed with a rocket double to left and, after a walk loaded the bases, junior Alex Rodriguez smacked a two-run single to left.
“Their pitcher was throwing pretty much straight fastballs and we jumped on him,” Sosa said. “We’re an aggressive team on offense … always ready to swing the bat.”
After a throwing error by Dumont’s pitcher allowed another run to score, Dwight Morrow senior co-captain Charlie Sorbanelli poked one just inside first base and down the line for a two-run double, giving his side a 5-0 lead.
In the second inning, Dwight Morrow tacked on a solo run as Sosa doubled into the gap in left-center and scored on sophomore Matt Victoria’s single. In the fourth, freshman David Moreno and Taylor stroked back-to-back doubles for another run.
Meanwhile, Dwight Morrow senior co-captain and pitcher David Vasquez was cruising along, allowing just four hits and three runs (two earned) in his first six innings of work. The Maroon Raider infielders made five errors on the day, but Vasquez never flinched.
“David is our guy … our ace,” Taylor said. “He never gets down when we make a mistake behind him. He’s everything you need to be a leader … hardworking, dedicated … just a great person, in school and out.”
In the sixth inning, Sosa launched two-run bomb over the left-field fence to make it 9-3 and provide what looked like the icing on the cake. Sosa said he “knew it was gone” and “looked back at my teammates to enjoy their reactions.”
Then things got crazy.
“I never thought that was going to be the game-winning hit,” Sosa said. “I thought the next inning would be 1-2-3.”
Instead, Dumont loaded the bases in the top of the seventh on an infield error, a single and a walk. Victoria came on in relief and walked the next batter to force in a run. After a strikeout and a lineout, Dwight Morrow was one out away. But the next batter slammed a double into the right-field corner to plate three runs and make it 9-7.
The Maroon Raider fans breathed a collective sigh of relief when the next batter hit a routine grounder to short. First baseman Sorbanelli dug out Moreno’s low throw for what appeared to be the final out.
The Maroon Raiders started to storm the field but then realized the first base umpire had inexplicably called the runner safe. A furious Lugones came out to protest but the home plate umpire, after conferring with his mate, refused to change the call.
“That whole inning was very nerve-racking,” Taylor said. “But I was never really worried. I was like, ‘Let’s keep our heads up and get the next one.’ We just had to make one more play.”
Sosa made it as Dumont’s final batter flied to the center fielder. This time, the Maroon Raiders stormed the field for real.
Afterward, Lugones said he planned to talk to athletic director Richard Suchanski about adding “Big North American 2018” to the baseball banner in the school’s gymnasium. Taylor said the win “meant everything to us … not just for the team, but for the school and for Englewood.”
“When we got the last out, the past four years flashed before my eyes,” Vasquez said. “Watching Dwight Morrow celebrate on the field … it made me cry. I got emotional because this is everything I’ve wanted since I came here as a freshman.”