Baseball: Phillipsburg Shuts Out Immaculata 10-0

PHILLIPSBURG, NJ - Felix Matos and Nick Stettner each drove in two runs as did Eddie Weindel, who pitched a two-hitter for his first victory of the season, to lead Phillipsburg High School to a 10-0 victory over Immaculata in a Skyland Conference cross-division baseball game on a brisk Saturday morning at the Phillipsburg Athletic Complex.

The game was stopped in the fifth inning due to the mercy rule when senior centerfielder Kevin Burgess, who had five steals in the game, stole second and third on consecutive pitches and scored on a throwing error to third base.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE FREE TAPINTO.NET NEWSLETTER

Phillipsburg improves to 7-4 overall while Immaculata lost its third straight game after a 9-0 start.

“Immaculata’s pitching staff is a little banged up right now but, yes, it was a good win.” P’burg’s second-year coach Mike Ciavarella said. “We still had to play good baseball to win today.  We took advantage on the base paths and we were aggressive. Small ball is part of our DNA. They gave us some things and we took them and capitalized.”

Weindel, a senior righthander, retired the side in order three out of five innings in posting his first career shutout. The only hits he allowed, both singles, were on back-to-back pitches to the first two batters in the fourth inning. He walked two and struck out three and was backed by a solid defense.

“The fastball was really there for me today,” Weindel said. “With the natural sink that I have I got a lot of ground balls. I really trust Nick out there. Curveball was a little off but I threw a couple good ones when I needed it. We did a great job of producing runs today. It was a good game.”

DOWNLOAD THE FREE TAPINTO APP FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS. AVAILABLE IN THE APPLE STORE AND THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE .

“When Eddie is on his game and pounding the strike zone like that and we’re playing good defense we’re really tough to beat.” Ciavarella said. “He’s done a good job for us all year long. We have so much confidence in him.”

P’burg played flawless defense led by catcher Garrett Bobrowsk and shortstop Stettner. Bobrowski easily threw out a runner attempting to steal and Stettner fielded all eight of his chances including a long run to get a pop up down the left field line when the Spartans threatened to score in the fourth inning.

“I feel like defense is one of the strengths of our team,” Ciavarella said. “That and pitching. Today was another example of that. Stettner played outstanding defense and really helped us out. Especially in some big spots.  Garrett played well. Felix played well at second base. We have great defense up the middle.”

The Stateliners sent 17 batters to the plate when they scored three runs in the third inning and five more in the fourth thanks in part to six base on balls. Both of Matos’ RBI came on ground outs, and Weindel knocked both of his runs in with a high fly double to deep center field.

Stettner’s two RBI came on a ground out and a bad hop single over the third baseman’s head. Dylan Wayne and Bobrowski also delivered run-scoring singles. Burgess stole home on the back end of a successful double steal with Wayne.

“It was a great outcome for us,” Stettner said. “We played small ball and that’s what we preach. We dropped a couple games we shouldn’t have but we’re playing better and cleaner in the field. We have to be strong behind our pitchers and Eddie pitched great today.”

Phillipsburg has four games next week, culminating with a contest against arch-rival Easton on Friday at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown. P’burg will try to win its season-high third straight game for the third time this season when it hosts a very good Ridge (8-4) team at 4 p.m. on Monday,

“We’re looking to keep up the momentum,” Ciavarella said after P’burg’s sixth win in its last eight games. “We’ve had three winning weeks in a row now, and we want to keep it rolling. “

IMMACULATA (AB-R-H-RBI) – Kassai rf 2-0-0-0, Capindiga cf 2-0-1-0, Ja. Labrador 3b 2-0-1-0, Rabosky lf 1-0-0-0, Ferguson c 1-0-0-0, Thompson 2b 2-0-0-0, English p 2-0-0-0, Diaz 1b 2-0-0-0, Ju. Labrador ss 2-0-0-0. Totals 16-0-2-0.

PHILLIPSBURG (AB-R-H-RBI) -- Burgess cf 2-4-1-0, Matos 2b 3-1-0-2, Wayne 3b 2-2-1-1, Bobrowski c 2-0-1-1, Michalski cr 0-1-0-0, Weindel p 2-1-1-2, Stettner ss 2-0-1-2, Bracco rf 3-0-1-0, LaBella lf 3-0-0-0, Kisselbach 1b 2-1-0-0. Totals: 21-10-6-8.

Immaculata 000 00 – 0 2 3

Phillipsburg 103 51 – 10 6 0

LOB Immaculata 4, Phillipsburg 4. 2B – Weindel. SB –Kassai, Rabosky; Burgess 4, Wayne.

For more local news, visit TAPinto.net