MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP – Two baseball teams on quests to find some order to up-and down and frustrating seasons met Saturday. The difference was the work of Somerville High School junior righty Ryan Ciesla.
Ciesla threw six strong innings to spark a 6-1 triumph over Montgomery in a Skyland Conference inter-division game.
The Pioneers (5-7) have won two straight for the first time this season. Montgomery (5-8) had won three in a row during the week before losing at Franklin in Friday’s Raritan Division game. Montgomery beat Immaculata 5-1 Thursday after a 2-0 win over Hillsborough Tuesday, but the Cougars have scored two runs in their last two games.
The good news for both clubs is that May beckons with the opportunity to play enough games to get on track.
Somerville had a season-high 10 hits to support Ciesla (3-1) who was coming off a complete-game 7-0 shutout of Sayreville last Saturday night. He struck out eight, allowed four hits, a walk and one unearned run. Junior righty C.J. Banos came in from third base to pitch the seventh in relief.
“His pitches explode at the end; when you're in a box it gets on you faster than when you're watching from on deck,” Montgomery coach Pete Mueller said. “He just did a nice job of working in and out, mixing speeds and using the slider. We had trouble with his breaking ball, and for whatever reason we couldn't see it, and were swinging and missing.”
Somerville had seven hits at Pingry Friday in a 7-5 win, so coach Chris Banos – C.J.’s father – is optimistic the Pioneer offense is close to breaking out.
“I think the guys have had better at bats the last couple games and given us more situations to score runs, which we obviously haven’t been doing much throughout the season,” Banos said. “I have to give the kids credit. They haven't given up; they've been sticking with it, and you know hopefully we can use this as a springboard. We have 10 or 11 games over the next two weeks for opportunities.”
Jacob Nash and Owen Melchione had back-to-back RBI hits in the second inning, and C.J. Banos and Chase Koplitz did the same in the third for a 4-0 lead.
“I trusted my team to make plays (on defense), and the fellows stepped up on offense,” Ciesla said. “We talked about changing our approach, come ready to hit and attack the baseball, and we did that.”
Montgomery played without senior first baseman/pitcher John Donohue, who hit a two-run home run and pitched five innings of relief to earn the win against Hillsborough. But Mueller said the Cougars are deep enough to get by without its standout player.
“We have the ability on our team to compete, but we did not compete today, and we did not compete yesterday,” Mueller said. “We’ve made too many mistakes both mental and physical and with our decision making.”
Montgomery scored its run in the third when Tyler Conners singled and came home on Mason Neufield’s hit.
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