Nottingham’s Phil Rojek delivers to the plate against Steinert High School during the Patriot Games held at DeMeo Park. Photo by Michael A. Sabo

By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com

Apr. 30:With his No. 1 pitcher spending the night being the offensive hero, Jim Maher was happy to watch Phil Rojek make his bid to be Nottingham’s No. 2 hurler.

Rojek pitched 5.1 solid innings in the Northstars 8-1 win over Steinert at DeMeo Field tonight, moving his record to 5-0 this year and 11-0 over the past two seasons.

“Phil did a helluva job,” Maher said. “The only hiccup he had was walking the eight and nine hitters in the one inning. When you can locate your curveball in high school baseball you got a pretty good chance to win. He’s got a pretty good fastball, for the most part he throws strikes, he works fast. He’s been very good for us.”

Asked what has been the key to his success, Rojek said, “I just stay calm and I know my team is good I know they’re solid on defense and offense.”

Nick Houghton, who is Nottingham’s ace, was especially solid on offense as he collected a double, triple, three RBI and a run scored, and struck the decisive blow with a two-out, two-run triple in the bottom of the fifth. Houghton had a potential home run go two-feet foul four pitches earlier.

That helped make Rojek a winner again after he allowed five hits and three walks while striking out five.

“This was a good test for him,” Maher said. “We know we have a number one pitcher, and we gotta find that guy whose gonna win the second game. Is it (Pat) Luckie, is it (Bryce “The Scholar”) Fremgen, is it Rojek? We have as good a number one as anybody. Last year we had one and one A (with Houghton and Ronnie “Baseball” Voacolo). To win state and county tournaments you need three guys, and Phil made a big step toward that today.”

It was the second straight loss for Steinert (8-5), which played its fourth straight game without four players.

Catcher Drayven Kowalski is still out with a concussion, while three players remained suspended due to a legal issue. The players were arrested on Apr. 20 and, when the Hamilton School District and Spartan coach Rick Freeman were informed of the charges on Apr. 23, Freeman immediately suspended the players for two games. Freeman received unfair criticism for playing the players against Barnegat on Apr. 21, as he had no idea what had happened at that point.

After a meeting of higher-ups Monday, a third game was added to the suspension and the players had to sit out against the Northstars. Freeman and Steinert officials are not allowed to comment on the situation.

The night started well for the Spartans when CJ Pittaro’s RBI single gave Steinert a 1-0 lead in the third. Nottingham tied it in the fourth on Wyatt Baker’s RBI single.

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Up to that point, some stellar defensive plays were made, with three runners on each team getting thrown out on the base paths. David “The Scientist” Scott came up with perhaps the biggest, when he gunned down Michael James trying to tag up from second to third in the top of the fifth. Steinert had runners on first and second with no outs prior to that.

“He didn’t have a great at-bat the inning before and he told me that was for that at-bat,” Houghton said. “It’s always good playing next to David in the outfield. I love the kid to death.”

Scott loomed large in the bottom of the inning as well. After Rojek singled and Tom McParland was hit by a pitch, Houghton delivered his triple to give Nottingham a 3-1 lead.

“That felt great,” Rojek said. “Nick had a great hit.”

Fremgen was hit by a pitch and stole second, kind of, and Scott followed with a two-run single into right.

“It was a big two-out hit by Nick,” Maher said. “And David Scott comes up big and gives us a little length. Nick’s hit was the key.”

In the sixth, Jake Muller walked and Brendan James singled to put Spartans on first and second with one out. Fremgen entered to get five straight outs to save it.

“I went to him a batter early,” Maher said. “He sometimes struggles with his command. I didn’t want to bring him in with bases loaded. I figured if I’m gonna bring him in I gotta bring him in now.”

Nottingham put the game away by scoring three runs without benefit of a hit in the sixth.

The Northstars are back at Veterans Park Tuesday night when they meet Hamilton in another Patriots game. The Hornets dropped a heart-breaker, 3-2, in walk-off fashion to Hopewell today.