Power Plugged: Reliever Shuts Down West Essex

A depleted West Essex Under-17 baseball team could not overcome a six-run third inning in the opening round of the Under 17 Summer Baseball playoffs.

Third-seeded Scotch Plains sent 10 batters to the plate in that single inning, en route to a 14-3 victory Wednesday night over sixth-seeded West Essex, which brought about 12 players to the field after having only eight available for a regular-season game against Livingston on Tuesday.

With the win, Scotch Plains advanced to face the winner of Livingston and Hanover in the semifinals on Friday night.

Michael Spaeth was instrumental in helping Scotch Plains advance by shutting down West Essex (4-7-1). He relieved starting pitcher Mike Tufaro and connected on a big double during the Raiders' long third inning.

"He came in when we gave up three runs and shut them down," Scotch Plains coach Rob Howarth said. "That was critical and then he got a couple of RBIs on a key double."

After West Essex erased a 3-0 lead with three runs in the top of the third inning, Scotch Plains responded with six runs and added five more in the fifth to put the game away.

After connecting on a key two-run double to left-center field that scored Matt D'Appuzio and Eddie Lopez during the big third inning, Spaeth took care of the rest on the mound.

"I threw a lot of fastballs," Spaeth said. "I was trying to get my curveball over, but it was hitting the dirt."

His coach has seen the impact of his pitch combination.

"I think he's most effective when he is using a good combination of fastballs and curveballs," Howarth said.

In addition to Spaeth, Ryan Haggerty had a couple of key at-bats, going 2-for-4 with a pair of triples and four RBIs. John Howarth, the coach's son, and D'Appuzio each went 2-for-2 .

For West Essex, second baseman Dave Pignataro was 2-for-2 with an RBI, while Cliff Brockmann was 2-for-3 and Mike Fritz went 1-for-3 but reached base twice.

Coach Anthony Angelo credited his team for coming out strong.

"We really came to play and had them on their heels," he said. "But then after that it unraveled. We had a burst of energy [early on] and thought we could win the game."

But after the Raiders seized a 9-3 lead in the bottom of the third, they put the game out of reach in the fifth when Haggerty smacked a bases-clearing triple and then scored on a Howarth base hit.

West Essex relief pitcher Anthony Romito finished the inning before the game was halted because of the 10-run rule.

Scotch Plains opened the scoring when Steven Loshaivo scored on Connor Thompson's infield hit and a West Essex error. Thompson later scored on Haggerty's first triple of the game over the center fielder's head before Howarth brought home Haggerty with a base hit between second base and shortstop for a 3-0 lead.

West Essex responded in the top of the third when Pignataro drove home Jason Russo with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 3-1.

With two outs in the inning, Brockmann, Jim Ernst and Fritz each singled to tie the game at 3.

Angelo commended the players who remained dedicated to the team the entire season.

"The players here made a commitment all season long," Angelo said. "We expected the players to commit to this [summer] program as much as the high school program. It's the No. 1 [high school] program in the state and you can't get more exposure than to play for West Essex."