Extending the baseball season a little longer
Hudson’s baseball teams seek state championship titles
The final week of May has turned into the first week of June. The scholastic sports season is drawing to a close. Many athletic programs have collected the uniforms and the equipment, putting everything securely in a storage room for the summer.
However, don’t dare try to close the door on the baseball season in Hudson County just yet. For several local teams, there are more fish to fry, more morsels left on the plate, more games to play, more goals to attain and achieve.
Incredibly, the NJSIAA state baseball tournament still features several local teams.
St. Peter’s Prep is a semifinalist in the North Jersey Parochial A bracket.
Hoboken will face Dumont for the North Jersey, Section 1, Group II championship. Weehawken will knock heads with long-time nemesis Becton for the North Jersey Section 1, Group I title.
That’s three teams in the circulation area of The Hudson Reporter Newspapers who are still battling for their respective state championships.
Add in the mix that the North Jersey Section 1, Group IV championship will be decided among two Hudson County teams (out of our circulation area) in Bayonne and Kearny, then it means that five baseball teams from Hudson County hit the final week of the season with a legitimate hope of winning a state crown.
"It’s a totally new feeling for me," said veteran Weehawken head coach Tony Colasurdo, whose team is playing for the school’s first-ever state sectional baseball title. "It’s brand new. We’ve never played a game after Memorial Day before. I wonder if my wife realizes that the season’s not over, but I’m basking in it."
"I think a lot of counties look down upon us," said St. Peter’s Prep veteran head coach Joe Urbanovich, who is also seeking his first-ever state sectional crown. "But with the percentage of teams still going in Hudson County, I think we’re doing OK."
Hoboken head coach Buddy Matthews knows the feeling. He’s won a state sectional at Hoboken in Group IV (1990 and 1992) and in Group III (1994), so he knows what it takes to win.
Last week, Matthews had to make a tough decision. With his pitching staff somewhat depleted by the loss of ace Tirrell Ortiz to academic ineligibility, Matthews knew he didn’t have a plethora of pitchers needed to win both the HCIAA and the Group II championship.
"We looked at our chances of winning both and decided that we had a much better chance in Group II," Matthews said. "It was more attainable. It might have been different if we didn’t have the shortage of pitchers. We play in a league that is Group IV dominated, so it made sense to try to go for the Group II state championship."
Matthews said that playing the tough schedule all season long helped the Red Wings to peak at the right time and enabled Hoboken to get the chance to play for the Group II crown.
"I think it made us better and better each time, knowing each game was a fight for our lives," Matthews said. "We played much better competition throughout the season and that had to prepare us for the state tournament."
The Red Wings upset Hawthorne, which won the Passaic County Tournament championship, 2-0, then hammered Ramsey, 10-0, to get to the sectional finale.
Matthews was asked if he thought it was fitting that after winning a Group IV and a Group III state sectional, that it was only proper that the Red Wings should add a Group II crown to their collection.
"I hope it’s only fitting," Matthews said. "I know the level of competition got us ready. If we play the way we have the last two weeks, then we’re going to be hard to beat. We’re playing with a lot of confidence right now."
Because the Red Wings were shooting for the state title, Matthews chose to pitch junior Jason Blanks in the HCIAA semifinal against St. Peter’s Wednesday afternoon, a game won by the Prep, 5-2. But the lefty Blanks held his own and showed that he has a lot of promise. He will also be the starting quarterback for the Red Wings in the fall.
"It was only Jason’s second game of the season," Matthews said. "He did a fine job for us."
Hoboken will now have a fully rested Chris Lugo and a capable Jude Bracken ready for the state tournament.
The Marauders have had an interesting season, beginning a year with such promise as one of the top-ranked teams in the state, then losing five games early, then bouncing back with a vengeance as the season wound down.
Unlike Matthews, Urbanovich has two titles in mind – the HCIAA championship game against Memorial and the state playoffs. But the Marauders already gained a sense of revenge in eliminating Immaculata in the state playoffs and will now get a chance to turn the tide on Seton Hall Prep, which defeated the Marauders, 9-2, in the second game of the season.
"I think the kids always understood that they had a chance to get back in it," Urbanovich said. "They just hit the stride at the right time, knowing that they had to bear down just a little bit more."
The Indians of Weehawken will also have some revenge on their minds in facing Becton, a team that beat the Indians earlier in the season and also knocked the Indians out of the state playoffs with a thud a year ago.
"I remember sitting and watching the state sectional championship game last year," Colasurdo said. "Now, we’re in it. I thought about what it would be like and now we’re there. No one wants the season to end."
It’s just the Hudson County way to keep it going for as long as possible. No one wants to put the uniforms in the storage closet, throw the bats and balls on the floor of the locked room for the rest of the summer just yet.
Here’s to hoping that there’s more baseball to write about next week. It’s called the overall state championship games in Toms River and East Brunswick. North Bergen had a chance to experience that excitement last year, playing for the Group IV title. It’s only fitting if we have some sort of Hudson County representation this year.
Guess what? The chances look pretty darn good. Just look at the teams left standing.
"Hudson County baseball is outstanding," Matthews said. "We have so many teams vying for state championships. That should say it all."
You know what? It does.
CAPTION
IMPRESSIVE OUTING – Hoboken junior Jason Blanks gave it his all during Wednesday’s 5-2 loss to St. Peter’s Prep in the HCIAA semifinals. But not all is lost in the mile-square city, as the Red Wings will face Dumont for the North Jersey Section 1, Group II championship, one of three area teams still fighting in the state playoffs.