Pine Barrens starts season with a win

The Pine Barrens Phantoms scored three runs in the fifth inning and began their season with a 4-2 decision over Mount Laurel.  Ron Krankowski singled the first run home for Pine Barrens in the fifth and an error on the play allowed Chris Delle Monache to score. The Phantoms’ earlier run came on Eric Sellitto’s double in the second inning.  Matt Baer worked the first four innings for the win and Mike Kondrath saved it by striking out the side in the fifth, after which the game was called (darkness).

Cinnaminson 14, Burlington Township 4

A balanced attack boosted the Reds (3-0). Martin Evans had three hits, Bob Osborne and Joe Sirolli had two apiece, and the trio combined for six RBIs.  Brett Miller recorded the win, pitching five innings and allowing one earned run. Burlington Township’s T.J. Lovenduski had two hits.

Mount Laurel, Cinnaminson winners

Trevor Sotell pitched six innings and received help from Mike Tobia in Mount Laurel's 4-2 win over Delran.  Tobia struck out the side in the seventh to save the win for Sotell, who allowed four hits and struck out four.  Kevin Diamond and Justin Ely had two hits each for Mount Laurel (2-0). Ryan McFadden had two hits for Delran.

Cinnaminson 9, Riverside 1:

Ryan Varga went the distance (six innings) and struck out six as the Reds improved to 2-0.  Greg Gilbert tripled and doubled among his three hits, drove in three runs and scored twice.

Szukics, Mount Laurel open RVL season with a win

Matt Szukics pitched a three-hitter with six strikeouts as Mount Laurel opened its Rancocas Valley Baseball League season with a 7-0 win over Riverside at Kenney Field.  Kevin Diamond was the big hitter, with three hits — a single, double, triple — and two RBIs. Connor Hall knocked in a pair of runs, and Paul Meagher and Trevor Sotelle each had two hits.  Third baseman Mike Tobia and shortstop Meagher made things easier for Szukics, with several outstanding plays.  Brett Knazek started for Riverside and took the loss.

Delran 5, Burlington Township 2:

Sean McChesney and Eric Gertie combined on a two-hitter as Delran rallied to win at Viereck Field.  McChesney went five innings, allowing one hit, striking out seven and two unearned runs. Gertie finished up under the lights.  Dan George had a two-run single for the key hit off loser Phil Dunbar. Brian Murtaugh pitched 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.

• Sunday night’s Willingboro at Cinnaminson game was rained out.

Burlington tops Riverside 3-1 behind Babula

Shaun Babula allowed four hits and struck out nine as the Burlington Mets improved to 2-0 in the Rancocas Valley League with a 3-1 win over Riverside Thursday at Kenney Field.  The Mets took a 1-0 lead against lefty Kevin Lovitt in the top of the fourth on Jon Reiner’s two-out single, which scored Paul Guerrieri. Garrett Mull delivered a double.  For Riverside, Frank Cerami had two hits, including an RBI double, and Josh Sabol added a double.

Cinnaminson edges Riverside in 8 innings

Mike Wasco singled to score Martin Evans in the bottom half of the eighth inning, lifting Cinnaminson to a 1-0 win over Riverside.  Evans walked to lead off the eighth, followed by a Mike Osborne single and an intentional walk to Geoff Gilbert. With bases loaded, Wasco delivered.

Ryan Varga got the win, pitching the final four innings after Nick Melchiorre went the first four. They combined for 14 strikeouts and allowed three hits total, countering the strong joint effort of three Riverside pitchers.

Burlington edges Willingboro 6-5

Vinny James was 3-for-3, with a double and one RBI, to lead the Burlington Mets to a 6-5 win over the Willingboro Baseball Club Tuesday at the Kennedy Rec Center field.  John Harvey, who tied teammate Shaun Babula for the league lead last summer with eight wins, earned the pitching win, striking out seven, with Sean McNeil coming in to get the save.  Mark Stumpf had a double and scored twice for WBC. Craig Ricks took the loss.

Vincentown 19, Burlington Township 2

Sam Pepper picked up where he left off last summer, pitching the Merchants to their second win.  Greg Miller had a double and a home run while Johnny Bujanowski delivered a grand-slam homer in the bottom of the sixth.

Vincentown wins RVL opener over Delran 3-1

Defending league playoff champion Vincentown opened the 2013 Rancocas Valley Baseball League season with a 3-1 victory over Delran.

Delran visits Vincentown as RVL opens 67th season

The Rancocas Valley Baseball League kicks off its 67th summer of men’s semipro baseball Monday night — weather permitting — when Delran visits Harry Thompson Field to take on defending champion Vincentown in a rematch of the 2012 playoff finals.  This is also the start of the 116th consecutive summer of baseball in the county, starting with the Burlington County League, which existed from 1898 to 1952.  

There are always roster changes in this type of league, and that’s again the case in the RVL this year. Taking over for the retired Rocky Petrone at Delran will be a combination of veteran pitchers Eric Gertie and Jason Ronca.  Two other changes will see former coach John Veterano trade jobs with former manager Gerry Lamola at Pine Barrens, and Mike Hynes and Matt Mann are now in charge of Riverside, in place of Gabe Mastrangelo Sr.

The nine-team league will again play a 32-game regular season, with each team facing the others four times, twice at home and twice on the road.  Following the regular season in early August will be the playoffs to decide the 2013 RVL champion. The eighth- and ninth-place teams will play a play-in game, with the survivor meeting the regular-season champs in a best-of-3 quarterfinal series. The other quarterfinal pairings are second place vs. seventh place, third vs. sixth, and fourth vs. fifth.

The Burlington Mets were regular-season champions in 2012. But they were upset in the semifinals by the Vincentown Merchants, who then swept Delran for their 13th RVL playoff championship.

Here are the 2013 opening-day rosters (in order of 2012 finish):

Burlington Mets

Manager: Keith Babula

Home: Life Center Academy, Florence

Roster: Keith Babula, Shaun Babula, Vince Corbi, Brandon Elliott, Matt Fischer, Dan Graham, Paul Guerrieri, Kevin Gunter, John Harvey, Vinny James, Lucas Jones, Dave Jost, Mike Kerns, Josh Limon, Mark McCouch, Sean McNeil, Garrett Mull, Anthony Perez, Pedro Perez, Jon Reiner, Kyle Semmel, Carl Taylor, Dan Torres, Jeff Vitale.

Comments: Last year’s regular-season champs (27-3-2) return pitchers Shaun Babula, Harvey, Taylor, Pedro Perez and McNeil, and added Gunter and McCouch. Infielder Dave Jost returns after a year’s absence. Guerrieri hit .487 with 20 RBIs.

Cinnaminson Reds

Manager: Brett Miller

Home: Memorial Field, Cinnaminson

Roster: Cameron Bahr, Craig Carroll, Casey Donahue, Martin Evans, Vince Gares, Geoff Gilbert, Greg Gilbert, Jim Goodwin, Pat Graham, Matty Janulis, Chris McManus, John Meadus, Nick Melchiorre, Brett Miller, Dennis O’Hanlon, Bob Osborne, Mike Osborne, Greg Santora, Frank Sirolli, Joe Sirolli, Ryan Varga, Mike Wasco, Tim Wasco.

Comments: This was an offseason of major changes for Cinnaminson, although the club’s brotherly base — the Osbornes, Gilberts, Sirollis and Wascos — will keep them near the top. Goodwin topped the staff in 2012 with seven wins.

Delran

Manager: Eric Gertie, Jason Ronca

Home: Notre Dame Field, Delran

Roster: Mark Anderson, Kyle Ballay, Mike DeLellis, Mike Forgash, Dan George, Eric Gertie, John Iacovelli, Bobby Isopi, Dave Kittle, TJ Maiorino, Chris Maull, Justin McFadden, Ryan McFadden, Kevin McMenamin, Sean McChesney, Kevin Milley, Max Newill, Rocky Petrone, Jason Ronca, Adam Tussey, Matt Ulmer, Mark Wickersham, Rex Workman.

Comments: Always a team to be feared, with solid veteran pitchers like Ronca, Gertie, Newill, Maull, Wickersham and DeLellis. And CF Ryan McFadden can track ‘em down with the best.

Vincentown Merchants

Manager: Harry Thompson

Home: Thompson Field, Vincentown

Roster: Joe Argow, Zeke Boren, Jack Bujanowski, John Bujanowski, Kevin Carty, Todd Davison, Mike Ferrara, Troy Foster, Andrew Gager, Adam Goldstein, Dan Hayduk, Stefan Kancylarz, Ed Moore, Greg Miller, Jesse Pappler, Sam Pepper, Vern Powell, Bryce Sonberg, Ian Thomas, Billy Thompson, Harry Thompson, Damon Valloreo, Danny Williams, Ryan Williams.

Comments: There hasn’t been a repeat playoff champion since Delran in 2007-08. But the Merchants have a history of making their championships back-to-back — 1953-54, 1967-69, 1972-73, 1997-2000. Pepper is coming off a summer when he hit .416 with 13 extra-base hits.

Mount Laurel

Manager: Dean Johnson

Home: Babe Ruth Field, Delanco

Roster: Brandon Barnes, Brian Black, John Burns, Mike Cooper, Ryan Derry, Kevin Diamond, Mike DiCiurcio, Justin Ely, Ben Fadool, Shane Fox, Connor Hall, Dean Johnson, Jeff McGarry, Paul Meagher, Austin Papp, Cole Pewor, Andrew Schaefer, Trevor Sotelle, Matt Szukics, Mike Tobia.

Comments: If you were looking for a sleeper to break up the RVL’s “Big Four,” Mount Laurel has basically the same team as last summer, plus they added p-1b Ely. Kevin (Meat) Diamond slugged .452 last summer, while Barnes was at .427 and Tobia .379.

Willingboro Baseball Club

Manager: Mike Stumpf

Home: Kennedy Rec Field, Willingboro

Roster: Tyler Bayley, Nick Berarducci, Justin Binder, Frank Caruso, Anthony DiVincenzo, Kevin Faber, Mike Gulli, Devon Hedgepeth, Dan Hill, Mike Juckett, Eddie Kaminski, Cameron Lung, Jose Martinez, Matt Moceri, Craig Ricks, Jamie Schwantes, Dan Sieracki, Rich Stronski, Mark Stumpf, Mike Stumpf, Paul Tessein, Jared Turner, John Walls, Jon Wetzel.

Comments: The WBC had some significant offseason losses, but also added some good players. As always, they will be in the hunt. Hill, who hit .433 last summer with a 4-3 record and 1.24 ERA pitching, has become a bonafide two-way threat.

Pine Barrens

Manager: John Veterano

Home: Bowker Field, Tabernacle

Roster: Rob Antoniewicz, Connor Arsenault, Greg Brooks, Matt Baer, Josh Brown, Frank Canuso, Chris Dellemonache, Ryan Derry, Shaun Flynn, Bob Henderson, Nick Henderson, Brian Henry, Dylan Johannink, Mike Kondrath, Ron Krankowski, Mike Lamola, Dan Lawrence, Rob McCabe, Rich Powelson, Eric Sellito, JT Triantos, Tyler Veterano, Doug Veterano.

Comments: The Phantoms are another team that could break through this summer. Krankowski (4-4, .387) and Powelson (.342) had solid 2012 campaigns.

Riverside

Manager: Mike Hynes, Matt Mann

Home: Kenney Field, Riverside

Roster: Bryan Bessinger, Jeff Briggs, Jim Capparelli, Frank Cerami, Kodi Doyle, Buey Garafalo, Joe Gutowski, Mike Hynes, Kevin Joo, Tim Kemmerle, Brett Knazek, Joe Knazek, Matt Leith, Kevin Lovitt, Matt Mann, TJ Mann, Gabe Mastrangelo, Jonnie McGugan, Eric Oliver, Jacob Reeder, Jason Sabol, Josh Sabol, Jake Still, Tyler Wolf.

Comments: In its fourth year, Riverside keeps getting better and better. Most of last year’s team returns, led by Oliver (.481) and TJ Mann (.405).

The team will hold a fundraiser June 1 at Throwbacks Bar and Grill on Route 130 in Delran. Cost is $12 for all the wings (soda included) you can handle between 4 and 6 p.m.

Burlington Township Pirates

Manager: Ed Eifert

Home: Viereck Field, Burlington Township

Roster: Al Antuzzi, Dan Callahan, Steve Colangelo, Phil Dunbar, Brian Eifert, Ed Eifert, Eddie Eifert, Wayne Feret, Eddie Hoffman, Matt Klish, Charles Lavin, Chris Liberatore, TJ Lovenduski, Mike Lynch, Eric McGillivray, Ryan Murtaugh, Joe Parzyck, Dom Perillo, Tom Taggart, Andrew Velzy, Zach Wallace, Mike Zier.

Comments: The first-year Pirates were scrappy all last summer and look to improve during their second season. Feret proved to be a solid center fielder and hit .397, with just three strikeouts in 78 at-bats.

Photos Courtesy of Mark Fletcher, Tri-County Sports Online


Sam Pepper, Most Valuable Player

Winning championships never gets old. And for anyone that believes otherwise, all one had to do was look at the effervescent grin on Harry Thompson?s face last night for proof. Behind a dominant outing from starter Joe Argow and another well-balanced offensive onslaught, Vincetown rolled past Delran 12-1 at Harry W. Thompson Field to sweep the best-of-five series en route to claiming the 13th title in program history and the first since 2003. ?This is just as important to me as the first one was,? Thompson, ever spry at 82 years young, said shortly after getting doused with champagne by his players. ?These are the greatest group of guys,? Thompson said. ?I couldn?t have asked for anything more from them this season. This is one of the greatest ball teams that we put together.?

Argow, who was ineligible to pitch in last season?s playoffs because he didn?t register the minimum amount of appearances, was in complete control from the outset, using both sides of the plate while mixing in his off-speed stuff well. ?They played great defense behind me,? said Argow, a Lenape High School graduate who will be a senior at Washington College (Md.) in the fall. ?I had just the two strikeouts so I relied on those guys big time tonight. My catcher Troy (Foster) called a great game behind the plate and did a great job blocking balls. It gave me a lot of confidence to throw my breaking stuff.?

Argow, as has been the case throughout the playoffs, was the beneficiary of great run support. John Bujanowski Jr. scored an unearned run in the second before the Merchants broke the game open with a six-run third inning.
Mike Ferrera led off with a single, and Dan Williams and Sam Pepper (who took home MVP honors) followed with walks. Greg Miller followed with a two-run single, Pepper scored on an error and Bujanowski put an emphatic stamp on the frame with a two-run single. ?All throughout the playoffs the offense has made my job a lot easier,? Argow, who threw 75 of 114 pitches for strikes, said. ?All I have to do is go out there and throw strikes.?

Stefan Kancylarz launched a three-run homer over the scoreboard in right field for insurance runs in the fourth and spearheaded the near-flawless defensive effort from his spot at shortstop, highlighted by a nifty 6-3 double play to end the sixth inning. ?Stef, he?s exceptional,? Thompson said. ?If you go by the series, Stef has to be the Most Valuable Player. Sammy Pepper has carried us the last four weeks. He?s hit balls up over the scoreboard and up over the trees. He?s another guy who will do anything you ask. Just one of the greatest kids we?ve ever had.?

Kancylarz added an RBI single in the sixth and Bujanowski rounded out the scoring with a sacrifice fly later in the inning. Kancylarz finished the evening 2-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs scored while Bujanowski finished with three RBIs. Williams went 2-for-3 with three runs, Miller was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Pepper scored a pair of runs.

Vincentown?s sixth straight victory not only allowed it to atone for last season?s loss in the championship but an up-and-down regular season in which healthy bodies were hard to come by at times. The Merchants came in as the fourth seed with an 18-12-1 record but went 7-1 in the postseason to finish 25-13-1.

It also allowed them to deliver their manager his 11th league title. ?He got his 1,000th win this year so we?ve been talking about it being Harry?s year all season,? Argow said. ?We?re just happy to get it for him.?

Thompson said if the nucleus of the team stays together, he believes they have a decent shot at making a run similar to the one they strung together to close out the 1990s when they won four consecutive titles from 1997-2000. ?It?s very possible,? Thompson said. ?I?m going to stay here as long as God gives me the breath to breathe and allows me to walk out to the mound. I love it. Just the greatest bunch of guys to play with. It?s just fun being here. It gives me something to look forward to.?