Allentown hitters pound out 12 hits to power Redbirds over Hamilton in CJ3 opener (2024)

Allentown ace Eddie Werse did not have his best stuff on Thursday but that didn’t seem to bother him or the rest of his teammates, as the 4-seed Rebirds pounded out 12 hits at the plate and got two and two thirds innings of scoreless relief from Tim Welsh, to defeat 13-seed Hamilton 10-2 in the first round of the Central Jersey, Group 3 Sectional Tournament.

The win moves Allentown into a quarterfinal game next week against the winner of Friday’s first round game between 5-seed Brick Memorial and 12-seed Hopewell Valley.

“We didn’t pitch great today,” Allentown coach Brian Nice said after the win. “Honestly, Eddie and Timmy both didn’t have their best stuff, but they kind of battled through it. They made pitches when they had to make pitches. We made a play or two when we had to make a play or two.

“The offense kind of bailed us out today. We didn’t pitch great, we didn’t play great defense but offensively, we scored 10 runs. That certainly takes a lot of stress off the defense and the pitching. We don’t have to play perfect.”

For all of the troubles he might have struggled through, Werse’s problems didn’t show up in his stat line. He threw 76 pitches over four and a third innings, giving up five hits, a pair of walks and only a single earned run. Still, Allentown’s ace admitted afterwards that he would need to be sharper as the sectional tournament wears on.

“Today was not my sharpest day,” Werse said of his outing. “I’ve got to be better, that’s the bottom line. Because that’s not going to fly the further along we go.

“I didn’t have a great feel for my cutter today. I threw a couple of good ones but, overall, I didn’t have a great feel on my curveball, which I normally can go to as an out pitch. It wasn’t really there for me today. I threw a couple of good ones, they just didn’t bite and they didn’t bite at them in two strike counts.

“I got a couple of guys off balance and I was able to get my fastball just to get me enough of the way through it. I felt off. I don’t know if there’s any way else to put it. But hey, we only allowed two runs and we scored 10, so we’re moving on to the next round and we’re going to be better that round.”

Hamilton would take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Andrew Maddalena reached on a fielder’s choice and then came home on an RBI single by AJ Zuccarello. The Hornets would also later score a run in the third when starting pitcher Bryce Bolognini walked, stole second and scored on a single by Adrian Byra. But the writing was already on the wall when Allentown scored two runs in the bottom of the first to take the lead back for good.

The Allentown hitters were absolutely brutal on Hornet pitcher Bolognini, forcing him to throw 37 pitches in the inning as the Redbirds brought eight hitters to the plate. Dom Inzilla drove in the first Allentown run when he singled to drive home Max Kleinz, who had led off the inning with a walk. Later in the inning, catcher Anthony Lino would draw a bases loaded walk to score the second run.

It was a pattern that the Redbirds would repeat throughout the game. They would bring eight men to the plate again in the bottom of the second, knocking Bolognini out of the box after just one full inning pitched. Allentown would then bat around the order in the third, blowing the game open by scoring four runs and taking a 9-2 lead.

“Bolo had 37 pitches in the first inning,” Nice said of the way his hitters worked the counts. “We certainly got his pitch count up and got him out of the game early, which certainly helps us out. Then we drove (Hamilton reliever Tristan) Bonilla’s pitch count up too.

“That’s one thing we’ve really done well lately. We’ve grinded out at bats. We’ve got guys up in pitch counts. We’re fouling off pitches with two strikes and getting ourselves good hitter’s counts a lot of times. That’s been a good approach offensively.”

Having taken a 2-1 lead after the first inning, Allentown would score three in the second. Grant Howlett got the scoring started when he squeezed home Anthony O’Rourke from third. O’Rourke had a big day from the number nine spot in the order, reaching base three times, on two singles and a walk, and scoring three runs.

Kleinz, who had reached on an infield single, scored on a single by Inzilla for the second run, while Howlett got the final run when he raced home from third on a passed ball.

After Hamilton had scored its second run in the top of the third to cut the Allentown lead to 5-2, the Redbirds put the game away when they batted around the order in the bottom of the inning. Anthony DiMaggio started the half inning with a walk, and, after a bunt single by O’Rourke and a balk by the pitcher, Howlett plated the first run on a sacrifice fly to left.

Another walk to Howlett, an RBI single by Jack Sweeney, and a walk to Inzilla preceded Lino’s single that scored two more runs and gave the Redbirds a 9-2 lead. Allentown would score a final run in the fourth when O’Rourke singled, stole second and then came home on a single by Howlett.

Allentown catcher Lino not only drove in three runs while reaching base safely four times, he also had a front row seat to the effective, if not quite peak, pitching performances of Werse and Welsh. And he was impressed with the way his team rallied and regained momentum to pick up the win and advance to the next round.

“For us it’s really big,” he said. “We used to have a momentum problem but we always worked on that. Today we did a really good job of keeping the momentum throughout the game and hitting back early, which is what we struggled in early this season.

“We were really loud and we were really annoying,” he laughed. “That’s what we usually do and it really worked today.”

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Michael Holcombe can be reached at hssports@njadvancemedia.com