Wallkill Valley's baseball team didn't earn any style points for its 8-6 win over Hopatcong on Wednesday.
Nonetheless, coach Kevin Lukich's team kept its slim title hopes alive with the victory at Harold Sisco Field.
Despite seven errors, the Rangers (13-10, 6-3) handed Hopatcong just its second loss in the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference Freedom Division standings.
"This is what happens when you haven't practiced in awhile," said Lukich, whose team had been idle since a 6-0 win over Newton on May 7. "The last time we hit ground balls and did defensive drills was two weeks ago. I kind of expected this a little bit. We came through when we needed to."
In fact, Wallkill came up with one of the defensive plays of the game to seal the win. Closer Tommy Sweller got into a seventh-inning jam as a walk and two errors loaded the bases with one out. But Sweller got Hopatcong's Ricky Prestifilippo to line out into a 6-4 double play to end the threat. Wallkill shortstop Jake Konopka snared the liner and flipped to second baseman Brian Niedergall to force Dave Testa, who strayed too far from the second-base bag.
Konopka was the offensive hero with his two-run single in a four-run fifth that gave Wallkill an 8-6 lead. Five straight Rangers reached base to start the inning, four via walks. Brandon Grabkowski singled in a run and Brendan Drexler drew a bases-loaded walk off reliever Scootie Fischer, who came on for starter Hunter Guard after Grabkowski's single.
"Jake's had a great year and has come up huge for us," Lukich said. "He was down on himself after [going 0-for-2 in three previous plate appearances] and just had to refocus."
Reliever Rob Stecher picked up the win, while Sweller got the save. Starter Casey Jervis only gave up two earned runs in four innings, but ran into trouble in the fifth after giving up a leadoff homer to Guard and walking Frank Fendrock. Stecher (2-0) allowed a sacrifice fly to Testa that gave Hopatcong a 6-4 lead, but otherwise, was solid in not allowing a hit with two strikeouts in two frames.
"I felt like my pitches were good today. I tend to try and stick with my fastball to overpower people," said Stecher, a junior. "We're a really good team, despite some bad games, we've been in the thick of things."
Konopka, who had struck out and flied out to left before executing a sacrifice bunt, was happy to redeem himself and keep the Rangers alive for a share of the division title.
"It's a great feeling," Konopka said. "I knew it was a big at-bat. As soon as I saw the ball come in I knew I was going to hit it. When games come down to the wire, this team has a lot of guts. This is not the first time we've done this. We just had to dig deep."
The Chiefs (11-7, 6-2), playing its first game of the month, weren't much better in the field with four errors, showing the kind of rust you'd expect from a team that had last taken the field in a 3-2 win over Lenape Valley on April 30.
Hopatcong erased a four-run deficit with a four-run fourth as Fischer delivered the big blow with a bases-clearing double that left fielder Brandon Moore lost in the sun. Wallkill also kept the inning alive when catcher Drexler and Jervis let Fischer's pop-up behind home plate drop between them.
Wallkill Valley tagged Guard, who dropped to 5-2 with the loss, for four runs in the bottom of the first as Eric Blain plated two with a double to the left-center field gap. Grabkowski also tripled in a run to cap the frame.
Coach Chris Buglovsky's team, which battled back from a 4-0 first-inning deficit, still controls its own destiny in the Freedom race. A win at Newton on Thursday would give the Chiefs a share of the title and a victory over Kittatinny on Wednesday would clinch the program's first conference title since the late 1990s when it won the Sussex County Interscholastic League crown under former coach Toby Richards.
Wallkill Valley needs some help to force a three-way tie for the championship, along with Kittatinny, which is also 6-3 in the division. The Rangers need to beat Lenape Valley on Thursday and hope that either Newton or Kittatinny can knock off Hopatcong. But first thing's first.
"We need to win our game against Lenape," Lukich said.
Hopatcong (11-7) 000 420 0 -- 6 7 4
Nonetheless, coach Kevin Lukich's team kept its slim title hopes alive with the victory at Harold Sisco Field.
Despite seven errors, the Rangers (13-10, 6-3) handed Hopatcong just its second loss in the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference Freedom Division standings.
"This is what happens when you haven't practiced in awhile," said Lukich, whose team had been idle since a 6-0 win over Newton on May 7. "The last time we hit ground balls and did defensive drills was two weeks ago. I kind of expected this a little bit. We came through when we needed to."
In fact, Wallkill came up with one of the defensive plays of the game to seal the win. Closer Tommy Sweller got into a seventh-inning jam as a walk and two errors loaded the bases with one out. But Sweller got Hopatcong's Ricky Prestifilippo to line out into a 6-4 double play to end the threat. Wallkill shortstop Jake Konopka snared the liner and flipped to second baseman Brian Niedergall to force Dave Testa, who strayed too far from the second-base bag.
Konopka was the offensive hero with his two-run single in a four-run fifth that gave Wallkill an 8-6 lead. Five straight Rangers reached base to start the inning, four via walks. Brandon Grabkowski singled in a run and Brendan Drexler drew a bases-loaded walk off reliever Scootie Fischer, who came on for starter Hunter Guard after Grabkowski's single.
"Jake's had a great year and has come up huge for us," Lukich said. "He was down on himself after [going 0-for-2 in three previous plate appearances] and just had to refocus."
Reliever Rob Stecher picked up the win, while Sweller got the save. Starter Casey Jervis only gave up two earned runs in four innings, but ran into trouble in the fifth after giving up a leadoff homer to Guard and walking Frank Fendrock. Stecher (2-0) allowed a sacrifice fly to Testa that gave Hopatcong a 6-4 lead, but otherwise, was solid in not allowing a hit with two strikeouts in two frames.
"I felt like my pitches were good today. I tend to try and stick with my fastball to overpower people," said Stecher, a junior. "We're a really good team, despite some bad games, we've been in the thick of things."
Konopka, who had struck out and flied out to left before executing a sacrifice bunt, was happy to redeem himself and keep the Rangers alive for a share of the division title.
"It's a great feeling," Konopka said. "I knew it was a big at-bat. As soon as I saw the ball come in I knew I was going to hit it. When games come down to the wire, this team has a lot of guts. This is not the first time we've done this. We just had to dig deep."
The Chiefs (11-7, 6-2), playing its first game of the month, weren't much better in the field with four errors, showing the kind of rust you'd expect from a team that had last taken the field in a 3-2 win over Lenape Valley on April 30.
Hopatcong erased a four-run deficit with a four-run fourth as Fischer delivered the big blow with a bases-clearing double that left fielder Brandon Moore lost in the sun. Wallkill also kept the inning alive when catcher Drexler and Jervis let Fischer's pop-up behind home plate drop between them.
Wallkill Valley tagged Guard, who dropped to 5-2 with the loss, for four runs in the bottom of the first as Eric Blain plated two with a double to the left-center field gap. Grabkowski also tripled in a run to cap the frame.
Coach Chris Buglovsky's team, which battled back from a 4-0 first-inning deficit, still controls its own destiny in the Freedom race. A win at Newton on Thursday would give the Chiefs a share of the title and a victory over Kittatinny on Wednesday would clinch the program's first conference title since the late 1990s when it won the Sussex County Interscholastic League crown under former coach Toby Richards.
Wallkill Valley needs some help to force a three-way tie for the championship, along with Kittatinny, which is also 6-3 in the division. The Rangers need to beat Lenape Valley on Thursday and hope that either Newton or Kittatinny can knock off Hopatcong. But first thing's first.
"We need to win our game against Lenape," Lukich said.
Hopatcong (11-7) 000 420 0 -- 6 7 4
HOPATCONG (ab-r-h-rbi) -- Fischer ss-p 3-0-2-3, Frace 3b-rf 4-0-0-0, Guard p-3b 4-1-2-1, Fendrock c 3-0-1-0, Bishop cr 0-0-0-0, Bongiovanni pr 0-0-0-0, Annett 1b 1-1-0-0, Colabella 2b-ss 3-1-0-0, Testa rf-2b 3-1-1-2, Prestifilippo lf 4-1-1-0, McLagan cf 3-0-0-0. Totals: 28-6-7-6.
WALLKILL VALLEY (ab-r-h-rbi) -- Konopka ss 3-0-1-2, Sweller 2b-p 3-1-1-0, Penque 3b 4-1-1-0, Blain 1b 3-2-2-2, Moore lf 3-2-1-1, Grabkowski dh/Castellucci rf 2-1-2-2, Jervis p 2-0-0-0, Stecher p 0-0-0-0, Niedergall cr 0-1-0-0, Drexler c 2-0-0-1, Law cf 3-0-1-0. Totals: 25-8-9-8.
E -- Frace 2, Testa, Annett; Drexler 3, Konopka, Sweller, Niedergall, Moore. DP -- Hopatcong 1 (Colabella-Testa-Annett); Wallkill Valley 1 (Konopka-Niedergall). LOB -- Hopatcong 8, Wallkill Valley 6. 2B -- Fischer; Blain. 3B -- Grabkowski. HR -- Guard. Sac -- Annett; Konopka. SF -- Testa.
Guard, Fischer (5) and Fendrock. Jervis, Stecher (5), Sweller (7) and Drexler. W -- Stecher (2-0). L -- Guard (5-2). SO-BB -- Guard 5-4, Fischer 4-2; Jervis 4-2, Stecher 2-1, Sweller 0-1. PB -- Drexler. HBP -- Fischer (by Stecher).
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