Bryce Fremgen delivers to the plate for Nottingham. Photo by Michael A. Sabo.
By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
Apr. 7: The Nottingham High baseball team is being counted on to do some big things this year with the nucleus back from a Central Jersey Group III championship team.
That doesn’t mean the Northstars can just show up and play the game, however, as they learned Friday in a 13-3, five-inning mercy-rule loss at Steinert.
“I think we learned a lesson today,” coach Jim Maher said. “We’re very experienced on the mound, but we have some new guys playing, and they have to figure out the level to play at, to be a state contender. We’ll see how we bounce back (Saturday at Pennington), we’re gonna throw our freshman, (Pat) Luckie.”
Nottingham (2-1) appeared to be working on a potential, hard-fought, quality win on the road today when it rallied from a 2-0 deficit and took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth on Tommy McParland’s two-run double.
Up to that point, Bryce Fremgen had done a solid job keeping Nottingham in the game. The Stars No. 3 starter had allowed three hits, two runs, two walks and a hit batsmen through four innings. When Ryan Mostrangeli greeted him with a leadoff single in the fifth, Maher turned to McParland.
“One of the things I tried to tell them, is that for four and a half innings we outplayed them,” Maher said. “Fremgen pitched ahead and did a heck of a job for his first really big spot against a good ball club, a top 10 team in the state. He did everything we asked.”
When Fremgen left, the roof fell in. McParland got a quick out when he forced Joey Sacco to pop-up on a sacrifice bunt attempt. But the Spartans got second anyway on a wild pitch, and Jake Beyer walked.
What followed next was a single, two walks, four straight singles, a triple and an RBI fielder’s choice to cap an 11-run uprising.
“After they don’t get the bunt down, you can’t throw a wild pitch,” Maher said. “You gotta field the ball back to you at the mound. You gotta throw the guy out at second (trying to steal). Our shortstop is in front of the bag and can’t make the (tag) play. Then they get four or five bloopers and a walk, and the next thing you know, you get 10-run ruled.
“We’ve got to learn to be what I want us to be. To play every pitch, play every at-bat. You can’t get picked off second base (which Nottingham did), you can’t strike out with guys on second third (which Nottingham did). You can’t walk lead off hitters (which. . …well, you know).”
Maher felt this was the perfect game for the younger Northstars to understand what he expects of them. Steinert is young, but it’s still Steinert and will make teams pay for costly mistakes.
“We just have to learn,” Maher said. “I know I have five or six guys who are going to bring it every day, but we have to get these other guys to figure out what it means, how to handle yourself, how to do things to be a state contender. When we figure that out, we’ll be all right.”
Even in defeat, Maher maintains wit.
In discussing the ludicrous new rule this year in which only wins against teams in your division count toward a division title in the Colonial Valley Conference, Maher noted that a tremendous rivalry game like Steinert counts as nothing more than power points for state tournament rankings. Neither team can try and play spoiler to the other in their quest for a division crown since Nottingham is in the Valley and Steinert is in the Patriot.
“Now, playing Steinert is like playing…..Morris Knolls,” Maher said. “It’s stupid! It makes no sense. You play six league games that count, and that’s it.”
Lets hear it for the Morris Knolls Spartans.
