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BERNARDS – Ridge High School’s baseball team arrived at two big milestones Tuesday afternoon with great timing.
Ridge’s 6-1 win over Hunterdon Central sealed at least a share of the Skyland Conference Delaware Division Title. The win was also coach Tom Blackwell’s 300th and the program’s 990th since its birth in 1962.
And it happened on a day that senior righty and winning pitcher Aidan Stieglitz (6 innings) and junior Jake Dolan (1 inning) combined to throw a no-hitter.
More: Baseball April roundup: Results, analysis, links for GMC, Skyland and area Union County
More: Vote: Central Jersey Area Readers’ Choice Baseball Player of the Week poll for Week 4
“Being a player here as well, it just means a lot to me as well,” Blackwell said. “I told the guys that in 10 years or whatever, they’ll be proud to have played for Ridge just like I am. I’ve very proud and honored to be part of the tradition. There were two guys before me (Pete Hall and Bill Giglio) who won a lot of games.”
Ridge, which has won six straight, is 12-2 overall and 7-2 in division play. Central is 8-4 and 5-4 in the division. Immaculata (7-4) is 6-3 in division play and could gain a share of the division if the Spartans finish a sweep of Hillsborough Thursday and Hunterdon Central beats Ridge at home. Immaculata and Ridge split their games earlier this month.
Tuesday, Ridge had just two hits, but did the most with them and took advantage of sloppy Central defense.
Stieglitz was masterful. He struck out 10, walked two and allowed an unearned run in the sixth. Dolan had a 1-2-3 in the seventh. Stieglitz credited the players around him but he was the major reason.
“Aidan was as dominant as he’s been all year,” Blackwell said. “He’s thrown a couple of one hitters and then a combined no-hitter today – he’s been dominant with his fastball, slider, curveball and change. He’s thrown all four for strikes and when you throw as hard on top of that he’s tough to hit.”
Ryan Luo led off the first with a single and scored when Kieran Callahan reached on an infield error. Callahan scored on Quinn Dashefky’s RBI groundout to second. Dashefsky’s groundout in the third scored Dolan who’d walked.
Callahan, who scored three runs, had his second on a passed ball to give Ridge a 4-0 lead. Callahan had reached on an infield error.
“We try to be aggressive and the guys did a great job of not striking out in big spots, put the ball in play and score runs,” Blackwell said.
Central coach Kevin Cuozzi said his team has shown the ability to quickly put poor games behind them. The Red Devils are the top seed in the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament. They’ll need a much better performance than the one they showed against Ridge to back to a title.
“We just fundamentally broke down and their arm did a great job, he controlled every aspect of the game today,” Cuozzi said. “Yeah, tough one today for sure. There are days we can play with the best out there, and then there are days like today when the fundamentals break down and we struggle to get going. They are a resilient group, though, they move on quickly and will be ready for next game.”
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Baseball: Ridge clinches a share of the Skyland Delaware title
Continue reading...
Ridge’s 6-1 win over Hunterdon Central sealed at least a share of the Skyland Conference Delaware Division Title. The win was also coach Tom Blackwell’s 300th and the program’s 990th since its birth in 1962.
And it happened on a day that senior righty and winning pitcher Aidan Stieglitz (6 innings) and junior Jake Dolan (1 inning) combined to throw a no-hitter.
More: Baseball April roundup: Results, analysis, links for GMC, Skyland and area Union County
More: Vote: Central Jersey Area Readers’ Choice Baseball Player of the Week poll for Week 4
“Being a player here as well, it just means a lot to me as well,” Blackwell said. “I told the guys that in 10 years or whatever, they’ll be proud to have played for Ridge just like I am. I’ve very proud and honored to be part of the tradition. There were two guys before me (Pete Hall and Bill Giglio) who won a lot of games.”
Ridge, which has won six straight, is 12-2 overall and 7-2 in division play. Central is 8-4 and 5-4 in the division. Immaculata (7-4) is 6-3 in division play and could gain a share of the division if the Spartans finish a sweep of Hillsborough Thursday and Hunterdon Central beats Ridge at home. Immaculata and Ridge split their games earlier this month.
Tuesday, Ridge had just two hits, but did the most with them and took advantage of sloppy Central defense.
Stieglitz was masterful. He struck out 10, walked two and allowed an unearned run in the sixth. Dolan had a 1-2-3 in the seventh. Stieglitz credited the players around him but he was the major reason.
“Aidan was as dominant as he’s been all year,” Blackwell said. “He’s thrown a couple of one hitters and then a combined no-hitter today – he’s been dominant with his fastball, slider, curveball and change. He’s thrown all four for strikes and when you throw as hard on top of that he’s tough to hit.”
Ryan Luo led off the first with a single and scored when Kieran Callahan reached on an infield error. Callahan scored on Quinn Dashefky’s RBI groundout to second. Dashefsky’s groundout in the third scored Dolan who’d walked.
Callahan, who scored three runs, had his second on a passed ball to give Ridge a 4-0 lead. Callahan had reached on an infield error.
“We try to be aggressive and the guys did a great job of not striking out in big spots, put the ball in play and score runs,” Blackwell said.
Central coach Kevin Cuozzi said his team has shown the ability to quickly put poor games behind them. The Red Devils are the top seed in the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament. They’ll need a much better performance than the one they showed against Ridge to back to a title.
“We just fundamentally broke down and their arm did a great job, he controlled every aspect of the game today,” Cuozzi said. “Yeah, tough one today for sure. There are days we can play with the best out there, and then there are days like today when the fundamentals break down and we struggle to get going. They are a resilient group, though, they move on quickly and will be ready for next game.”
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Baseball: Ridge clinches a share of the Skyland Delaware title
Continue reading...
