Tag: Chris Banos

by Mike Pavlichko

Spotswood takes a trip to Torpey as Chargers and Somerville meet for first time in 17 years

The last time Spotswood and Somerville met on a baseball diamond, it was a thriller: a 1-0 game played in Branchburg that gave the Chargers the Central Jersey Group 2 championship. It was the best season in Spotswood history, and they had to beat the Pioneers’ ace, Nick McNamara to do it. Closer Mike Hohman finished it off on the mound.

Fast forward 17 years later, the Chargers are still coached by Glenny Fredricks, and Chris Banos is in his 10th season as coach of Somerville. The two know each other even longer than that, back to their days coaching American Legion ball for posts in Milltown (Fredricks) and Edison (Banos).

Spotswood (6-0) and Somerville (2-2) will meet up Monday afternoon at 4 pm at Torpey Athletic Complex in Bridgewater for a non-conference matchup that can be heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio. Mike Pavlichko has the call with pregame at 3:40. Click here to listen.

The Chargers are ranked No. 5 in this week’s Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten. They have a pair of wins each over Metuchen, North Plainfield and Piscataway, sweeping their Blue Division home-and-homes. They have scored ten runs or more in four of those games, outscoring their opponents 68-13, and pumping out 46 runs in the last three games.

Of players with at least ten at bats, junior and Seton Hall commit Carter Cumiskey is leading the team, hitting .556, knocking in 13 runs already. He had two home runs, but if you count preseason scrimmages? Coach Fredricks says he’s hit it out of the yard six times already. Cumiskey will be on the mound Monday, where he’s thrown 10 2/3 innings in two games, striking out 18, walking two, and giving up exactly zero earned runs.

Somerville, meanwhile, is still trying to get in a groove at the plate. Ajay Cray – who’s expected to be the DH today for starting pitcher Ryan Ciesla – leads the team with a .429 batting average, and the coach’s son, C.J. Banos, leads the team with for runs batted in, but no one else is hitting above .300 yet.

Chiesla won his first start, a going the distance in a 4-1 season opening win over Voorhees (Glen Gardner).

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with both head coaches!

Spotswood head coach Glenny Fredricks
Somerville head coach Chris Banos
by Mike Pavlichko

Somerville bats come alive, Akins stymies Rutgers Prep in relief for 12-8 win

For the kind of game that was played Thursday afternoon in Somerset, a 12-8 Somerville win over Rutgers Prep, it would figure that the deciding factor may have just come down to a pitcher.

After the Argonauts (1-5) went ahead 7-6 in the fourth, the Pioneers (3-2) scored six straight runs over the next three innings – two apiece – and reliever Ty Akins limited Prep to just a single run on three hits over the last three innings of the ballgame to hang on for the win, in a game heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

The game was a back and forth affair early on. ‘Ville opened the scoring with two runs in the top of the first, but the Argos came right back to tie it 2-2 in the bottom half. Somerville scored four times in the third, and Rutgers Prep evened it up in their at bat, 6-6.

But after Prep went ahead 7-6 in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by starting pitcher Zach Fronio – whose day was done after three innings – that was all they could must until their last whacks in the seventh. But by then, Somerville had added six runs to take a 12-7 lead.

Akins – who started the game at first, but was about to take the mound for the bottom of the fifth – knocked in two runs with a two-put single in the top of the inning. In the sixth, Andrew DeAngelis knocked in a run with a single, and a Chase Koplitz walk brought in a second run. Then in the seventh, Ed Duffy knocked in a run on a ground ball to short that was thrown out of play, while a DeAngelis ground ball to third scored Duffy.

All the while, Ty Akins – who in 2 and 2/3 innings coming into the game had a 7.88 ERA, allowing three earned runs – was locking down Rutgers Prep.

Akins allowed a leadoff single in the fourth, but got a strikeout, ground out and flyout to strand Cody Rullo. In the sixth, he gave up a two-out single to Andrew Parisi, but got Fronio to ground out to short to end the inning.

He only encountered some trouble in the seventh, allowing back-to-back one-out doubles to Cody Rullo and Joey Dwek – who knocked in Rullo – but both were more a function of fielder positioning than anything else. Akins stranded Dwek on second to end the ball game by getting a strikeout and a line out to short.

Dylan Hornick got the win in relief for Somerville in his first appearance of the season, while Peter Wheeler (0-1) took the loss in relief for Rutgers Prep.

Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Somerville senior 1B/P Ty Akins
Somerville’s Ty Akins. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
Somerville Head Coach Chris Banos
by Mike Pavlichko

Somerville’s Banos fitting new players into new roles as Pioneers look to get over .500

For Somerville baseball, the storyline in the early part of the season has been how new varsity players fit into the team – and how some returnees are taking on new responsibilities.

Some of that is by design, some not.

Where it’s not is on the pitchers’ mound, where Pioneers’ head coach Chris Banos has the unenviable task of trying to find some tentative help to fill-in for the recently-injured Kolbie Stellpflug. He may miss a few games, but even missing a pitcher of that caliber for a week or so in such a condensed season as 2023 will be impactful.

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When Somerville travels to Rutgers Prep Thursday afternoon, the Pioneers will have a new face on the mound in Kyle Giacobello. After not playing baseball at all in the last two seasons, the football player will return for his first-ever varsity start.

He’s only worked one inning so far this year, throwing 13 pitches, striking out two, allowing no runs and no hits.

You can hear Thursday’s game on Central Jersey Sports Radio beginning with pregame at 3:40 pm, and first pitch at 4 as Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas call all the action. Click here to listen.

Others also have taken on new roles.

Ty Aikens and Chase Wengryn were exclusively on the mound last year, but now find themselves stepping up to the plate to make up some of the production that graduated last year.

Some of the other key returnees from last season include catcher Karson Wengryn, who is in his third varsity season and provides a threat both defensively and with the bat.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Chris Tsakonas preview Somerville’s game at Rutgers Prep with Pioneer head coach Chris Banos:

by Mike Pavlichko

Somerville offense has Banos feeling Pioneers can make a run at SCT title

When Somerville (10-7) faces Rutgers Prep (12-2) in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals Monday at TD Bank Park in Bridgewater, Pioneers’ head coach Chris Banos has a really good feeling about his team.

The ‘Ville has scored a lot of runs this year, and even when they give up a lot, that’s helped them win a good number of games.

Click the logo above to learn more about baseball training and more at Zoned Sports Academy in Bridgewater!

It’ll no doubt come in handy against a Rutgers Prep team that can swing the bat, and has lost only twice all season.

The teams used to play each other year, being in the same division. But due to the COVID year and a move, they haven’t faced each other since 2018. Still, there’s a lot of familiarity between the two, and Banos knows to beat a team lead by veteran coach Larry Santowasso, who recently reached the 300-win milestone: fundamentals.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will broadcast Monday’s game live, with pregame beginning at 3:40 and first pitch at 4:00. Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas will call all the action from TD Bank Park in Bridgewater; click here to listen.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko preview Somerville’s semifinal game against Rutgers Prep with Pioneers’ head coach Chris Banos:

by Mike Pavlichko

Somerset County Tournament semifinals set, as Ridge, Somerville, Rutgers Prep and Bridgewater clinch trips to TD Bank Park

Three of the four higher seeds won Saturday in the Somerset County Tournament quarterfinals, setting up the matchups at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater for the semifinals on May 9th.

Top-seed Ridge, second-seed Somerville, and fourth-seed Bridgewater-Raritan were the higher seeds to move on, while 6th-seed Rutgers Prep knocked off third-seed Montgomery.

The Argonauts’ 8-3 win over the Cougars was an upset by seed, but Prep had come into the game at 9-2, while Montgomery was 5-5. Yet Rutgers Prep did lose to Monty earlier in April, 9-1 on the second day of the season. And both games were at Montgomery.

Nick Baldev went 2-for-2 and Andrew Parisi 2-for-3, with a double and 2 RBI each as Prep took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first and never looked back. Starting pitcher Zach Fronio got the win, scattering five hits over five innings of scoreless ball, striking out eight.

AUDIO: Rutgers Prep head coach Larry Santowasso on Prep’s “revenge win”:

In the semifinals, Rutgers Prep will face Somerville (9-5), which beat 7-seed Pingry 9-8. The Pioneers lead the game 7-0 after two, but the scrappy Big Blue clawed back throughout, despite playing its fourth game in as many days. Down 8-3 going into the sixth inning, they scored four times to cut it to one, and once more in the top of the seventh to tie the game at eight.

But Somerville won it in the bottom of the seventh as Tyler Stone reached on a two-out, three-base error, and then Devin McKinley smacked a 1-2 pitch back up the middle for a walk-off single.

AUDIO: Somerville head coach Chris Banos talks about the Pioneers’ dramatic win:

On the other side of the bracket, top-seed Ridge was a 13-3 winner over 9th-seed Gill St. Bernards, as the Red Devils (13-1) picked up their 12th straight win, while they continue to rise in the statewide rankings. Though Gill took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, Ridge exploded for six in the bottom of the inning, and led 11-1 after three. Eight Ridge hitters knocked in runs in a balanced attack, with none driving in more than two runs in the game. Julian Keilb and Andrew Shawah each had triples in the game, and Ridge continued its aggressive base-running – a season-long trademark – stealing seven bases in the game.

Click the logo above to learn more about baseball training and more at Zoned Sports Academy in Bridgewater!

Ridge will face fourth-seed Bridgewater-Raritan, as the Panthers (8-7) beat 5th-seed Watchung Hills 5-3. Since losing four straight in mid-April, Bridgewater has turned it around, winning four of their last five, and three-in-a-row against Somerset County Competition. The Warriors jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two innings, but BR held them after that, and chipped away, taking a 5-3 lead in the fifth on the strength of a four-run inning, fueled by a three-run homer by Frankie Verano, his first of the season.

In the May 9th semifinals at TD Bank Park, Rutgers Prep and Somerville will square off in the 4 pm game, while Ridge and Bridgewater-Raritan will play in the 7 pm game.

You can hear both on Central Jersey Sports Radio with Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas calling all the action. The games are brought to you in part by Bellamy & Son Paving, and Zoned Sports Academy in Bridgewater.

by Mike Pavlichko

Somerville jumps out to big lead, hangs on to beat feisty Bridgewater-Raritan, 9-7

Before sending a single batter to the plate in their Skyland Conference Delaware Division game Thursday afternoon, No. 3 Bridgewater-Raritan found itself down 5-0.

They would pick up a run in the bottom of the inning, and Somerville would add a few more to make it an 8-1 game through four-and-a-half, a seemingly comfortable lead, until the Panthers finally broke through against Kolbie Stellpflug in the bottom of the fifth.

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The Panthers would score three against the fourth-ranked Pioneers’ starter to cut the lead in half, then two more in the bottom of the sixth off right-hander-turned-reliever Tyler Stone to cut it to 8-6.

But Stone gave himself one more run to work with in the seventh, with a sac fly to left in the top of the inning to make it 9-6. And he almost needed it.

After striking out Matt Fattore, his brother Michael singled, and Joe Spirra flew out to centerfield. Frankie Verano walked, and both advanced on a wild pitch to go to second and third with two down. DH JR Rosado – who pitched only one inning to start the game and came out with an apparent injury but stayed in the batting order – beat out an infield hit diving into first base, driving in a run to make it 9-7.

But on the first pitch he saw, Devin Goldberg skied one to center, a can of corn for Matty Wright of The ‘Ville, which came away with the 9-7 win.

Stellpflug picked up the victory to move to 3-1, while Stone earned his fourth save for the Pioneers (6-3). Rosado fell to 2-1 with the loss for B-R (4-5).

Click below for postgame reaction with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

Somerville OF/RP Tyler Stone
Somerville head coach Chris Banos
by Mike Pavlichko

In a tight Delaware Division, Somerville and Bridgewater-Raritan get set to battle

It’s their first meeting this year, and their final one won’t be until the Somerset County Tournament is over.

Thursday afternoon, No. 3 Bridgewater-Raritan and No. 4 Somerville will square off in a juxtaposition of opposites. The Pioneers (5-3) are a mostly veteran club that can hit, while the Panthers (4-4) are still working things out, trying to find the right combination on a team filled with youngsters.

But like they say in rivalry games, throw out the records, and let the chips fall where they may.

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You can hear Thursday’s game on Central Jersey Sports Radio with Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas calling all the action at 3:45 pm, with pregame at 3:30. Click here to listen live, and for free.

The ‘Ville can score a lot of runs, but has been a bit of an enigma this season. They blanked a very good Montgomery team 13-0, but lost 18-8 to Hunterdon Central, a team that started the year in the statewide Top 20, but now is battling it out in the division with Somerville (both are 4-2 in the Division) and B-R (which is 4-3). Somerville also has a good 5-1 win over Monroe, but lost to Skyland Conference Delaware Division-leader Ridge 14-7.

Bridgewater, on the other hand, though just 4-4, has two of those losses to South Jersey teams in Rancocas Valley and Egg Harbor Township, the latest coming Wednesday, 5-2 to EHT.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk to both head coaches ahead of Thursday afternoon’s divisional contest:

Somerville head coach Chris Banos
Bridgewater-Raritan head coach Max Newill
by Mike Pavlichko

Somerville explodes, Stellpflug stymies Spartans as No. 6 Pioneers top Immaculata 15-4 on Opening Day

Every coach at the beginning of every season has expectations as to how his or her team will be, and what parts of the game will need work, and what parts are going to be A-OK.

The Somerville bats will be just fine for the Pioneers’ baseball team. So will the baserunning.

Click above to find out more about Freedom Martial Arts, with locations in Bridgewater and Hillsborough.

The 6th-ranked Pioneers sent 31 batters to the plate in the first four innings of a 15-4 Opening Day win over “home team” Immaculata at Diamond Nation in Flemington, as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

The Somerville pitching wasn’t bad either, as junior Kolbie Stellpflug threw five innings of four-hit ball, allowing four runs, though two were unearned, coming on a two-base throwing error in the third. He struck out four, but did walk six on a chilly day where both starters struggled to find control with temps in the low 50s and brisk, gusty winds making it feel much colder.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Stellpflug after the game:

But it was the bats that were in mid-season form, banging out 14 hits to get the Pioneers 15 runs. Senior third baseman Tyler Stone hit a solo home run in the seventh and went 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored. Senior DH Garret Koplitz was 2-for-4 with with two runs scored and an RBI double in the fourth.

Every player in the lineup scored at least one run; six scored twice. And everyone got to hit.

The one through three hitters got to the plate in each of the first four innings. Six men came to bat in the first, seven in the second, eight in the third, and ten in the fourth, before the Pioneers’ went one, two, three in each of the next two innings, then added three more runs in the seventh.

Click below to hear Somerville head coach Chris Banos with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko after the game:

by Mike Pavlichko

Opening Day! No. 6 Somerville and Immaculata square off in longstanding rivalry

To walk from the front door at Somerville High School to the front door at Immaculata High School, or vice versa, is only about 3,000 feet. As the crow flies, it’s even closer.

Friday, they will be on the same baseball field at the Torpey Athletic Complex in Bridgewater as they face each other in Game One of the 2022 season, the first truly normal year in three seasons in the sport.

Click above to find out more about Freedom Martial Arts, with locations in Bridgewater and Hillsborough.

There was no season at all in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and even last year, though there were state playoffs, there was no Somerset County Tournament.

Immaculata had an uneven 2021 campaign, finishing 8-13, but making a run to the Non-Public South B semifinals, where they lost to eventual group champion Holy Spirit. Somerville went a terrific 20-4, and made it to the North 2, Group 3 semifinals, where they lost to Cranford, which then lost to Millburn in the sectional title game.

Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas will call all the action of today’s Opening Day ballgame at Torpey, with pregame set for 3:45 and first pitch set for 4:00. Click here to listen to the game for free, with no paywall.

Click below to hear preview interviews with both head coaches:

Somerville head coach Chris Banos with Mike Pavlichko
Immaculata head coach Kevin Cust with Chris Tsakonas