Tag: Larry Santowasso

by Mike Pavlichko

Crossover battle in Basking Ridge Saturday as No. 1 Red Devils entertain Rutgers Prep

The Ridge baseball team is No. 1 in the Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten this week. Rutgers Prep is unranked, but after two wins this week to up their record to 6-3, they very well could be next week.

A win Saturday afternoon would go a long way to putting them back in the rankings.

Ridge will have a lot to say about that, however.

The two will meet Saturday afternoon at 2:30 in Basking Ridge in a game you can hear on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with a lot on the line. Most importantly, it’s a big crossover that could heavily influence the county seeding meeting, which happens Monday, May 5th.

Mike Pavlichko and Dylan Allen will bring you all the action, with pregame starting at 2:15. Click here to listen.

Ridge is 5-2 on the young season, and split this week with Bridgewater-Raritan, the defending Somerset County Tournament and state Group 4 champs, who have struggled early. The Red Devils beat them 12-0 Tuesday, then fell 9-5 at home Thursday.

Jake Dolan has been a beat at the plate. The junior is hitting .640 and leads the team with nine runs batted in, with one home run. Aidan Steiglitz has the other. He’s been outstanding on the mound, allowing one hit through 6 2/3 innings in Tuesday’s win over the Panthers, striking out 14.

Senior Connor McLauughlin will get the nod Saturday. He’s 2-0, with his only start coming against Montgomery, an 11-2 win back on April 5th. He struck out five and walked four, but allowed no hits in four shutout innings. He also threw a third of an inning against Bridgewater Tuesday, after Stieglitz hit his 110-pitch limit.

Ridge, by the way, will be “playing two” Saturday, as the Red Devils play an 11 am game against Pingry in nearby Martinsville before facing the Argonauts at 2:30.

Rutgers Prep also can hit the ball, and score runs, too. In their six wins, they’ve scored 11 or more runs five times. The scary part? Only one regular hits over .400, senior Cody Rullo, who’s 14-for-28 in the first nine games, with nine runs batted in. Only one regular is hitting under .300, and that’s junior Matt Bilmes, hitting a very respectable .290, meaning the Argonauts are balanced.

And then there’s the pitching. Li Perez will make his fourth start of the season. He’s 2-1, and has struck out at least ten batters in all three starts.

In the season opener at Manville on March 29th, he threw a five-inning no-hitter Prep won 10-0, striking out ten. At Bernards on April 3rd, he struck out 13 and allowed just one hit and one unearned run, taking the loss. In his last outing against Del Val on the tenth, he went the full seven, allowed one hit, no runs, and fanned 17.

Simple math says: 17 innings, two hits, one unearned run and 40 strikeouts.

Click below to hear pregame interviews with both head coaches ahead of Saturday’s game:

Ridge head coach Tom Blackwell
Rutgers Prep head coach Larry Santowasso
by Mike Pavlichko

Rutgers Prep finding its way early, but faces a Montgomery team Friday that’s had its number

Rutgers Prep’s 2023 season didn’t get started the way they wanted. They began with three losses, and were 2-6 when they opened up play in the Somerset County Tournament.

And yet, by the time they figured it out? They won the Somerset County Tournament, beating second-seed Ridge 1-0.

This year, the Argonauts are off to a 2-1 start. despite losing some key players to graduation, and two bonafide stars to transfer, one to his home district, the other closer to home.

And it’s been the veterans who have helped.

There’s Max Treonze, a true pitcher who also plays first base, in order to get the most out of his athleticism. There’s Maddox Chu, who has established himself as the starting catcher. Evan Laub is hitting the ball hard. So is Ethan Nepomuceno.

That and some newcomers who are getting into their roles has Rutgers Prep off to a 2-1 start heading into Friday afternoon’s game against Montgomery. You can hear that game on Central Jersey Sports Radio with Mike Pavlichko calling all the action. Pregame is at 3:45; click here to listen.

The Cougars – a large school compared to Prep, a small non-public – have had the Argos’ number of late. Having not played at all from 2018 through 2021, Montgomery has taken three of four in the series the last two years, sweeping a pair of games from Rutgers Prep last season.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Rutgers Prep head coach Larry Santowasso:

by Mike Pavlichko

Santowasso’s Rutgers Prep will have drastically new look as Argos’ look to defend SCT crown

Many predicted the NJSIAA’s new transfer rule – essentially allowing most student-athletes one free transfer in their high school careers, regardless of whether they move or not – would result in mass transfers.

It didn’t happen as much as some predicted, but it did hit some schools harder than others. And the Rutgers Prep baseball team was one of them.

In addition to graduating seniors like speedy outfielder James Jackman, gone are two players who had been playing as freshmen, contributing significantly, and still had two years left with the program: catcher Andrew Parisi – who’s now at Ranney – and pitcher Zach Fronio, who’s back home at North Hunterdon.

Both would have been juniors, but head coach Larry Santowasso – thankful for the time he and the rest of his team had with them – is looking forward with the group he has.

Key talent is back, especially on the mound, with Max Treonze – the starter and winning pitchers in last year’s 1-0 Somerset County Tournament final win over Ridge – as well as sophomore Li Perez, and others like Evan Laub and Cody Rullo, players limited on the mound last year, even though they played in the field, due to arm injuries.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk to Rutgers Prep head coach Larry Santowasso about the upcoming baseball season:

by Mike Pavlichko

From 1-6 start to SCT Champs: Rutgers Prep’s Santowasso named 2023 CJSR Coach of the Year

Any good coach will tell you the job he or she has done is all about their players. Larry Santowasso of Rutgers Prep – who’s been the Argonauts’ head coach for nearly three decades – will say the same thing.

But his efforts to help bring his team back from a 1-6 start to a 14-15 finish – with trips to the Prep B and Non-Public North B finals, and a Somerset County Tournament Championship in the mix – have earned him Coach of the Year honors from Central Jersey Sports Radio for 2023.

With the SCT seeding meeting just two weeks into the season because of the way the event had to be scheduled to fit the semifinals and title game in at TD Bank Park, working around the Somerset Patriots’ schedule, Prep was just 1-6 when all the coaches gathered at Immaculata High School in Somerville to seed the tournament.

Bridgewater-Raritan, at the time, was a no-brainer top-seed, and a vote wasn’t even held; everyone agreed. Then, the coaches lobbied on behalf of their teams. Santowasso knew they wouldn’t be a high seed, but basically said “We’re not a 1-6 baseball team.”

Turns out they weren’t.

They won five straight to win the Somerset County Tournament, with junior Max Treonze outdueling Ridge’s Connor Byrne, to beat the defending champions, a team they’d lost to in the finals in 2022.

They also reached the Prep B final, losing to Pennington, and a pitcher named Bryce Meccage, who Santowasso thinks may be the best in the state. And then they went all the way to the Non-Public North B final in the state tournament, where they lost on a walk-off single at St. Mary-Rutherford.

His team never quit at 1-6. And while it takes the players’ to execute the vision, Santowasso had the vision, and his team was rewarded.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Rutgers Prep head coach Larry Santowasso, as well as juniors Max Treonze (P/1B) and Evan Laub (2B) about their comeback season:

by Mike Pavlichko

Rutgers Prep takes St. Mary-Rutherford to the brink, falls 4-3 in Non-Public North B final

On a day when Rutgers Prep and St. Joseph of Metuchen played separately for state titles, and it was a former Falcon who figured decisively in a defeat for the Argonauts.

Xavier Arana – who transferred after last year from St. Joe’s to St. Mary of Rutherford – scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh and got the win in relief for the top-seeded Gaels in a 4-3 walk-off win over third-seed Rutgers Prep in Saturday’s Non-Public North B title game up in Bergen County.

St. Mary (20-9) will go on to face the winner of Saturday’s South B title game between second-seed and defending champ Ranney and top-seed Gloucester Catholic.

Right from the get-go tensions were high, with both benches highly vocal in a back-and-forth affair throughout.

Rutgers Prep head coach Larry Santowasso started with his sophomore ace Zach Fronio, who’s committed to Maryland, and he cruised through the first three innings, only allowing two baserunners, striking out five. It was the fourth inning that started to give Fronio trouble. He allowed three consecutive singles, including an RBI single from St. Mary’s catcher Kyle Watson that put the Gaels out in front 1-0. 

Gaels starter Blayze Conte was also cruising along in the game, allowing just one hit and a walk through four innings. It was in the fifth inning that Conte got himself into trouble, allowing back-to-back singles to Max Treonze and Nick Pizzie, walking James Jackman to load the bases, and then a 2 RBI double for shortstop Cody Rullo.

With still two outs in the inning, Gaels Head Coach Nigel Archibald kept Conte on the mound to try and get the final out. But Rutgers Prep freshman catcher Ethan Nepomuceno hit a double of his own, scoring Rullo and giving Rutgers Prep a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth. That’s where Conte’s day ended, and Archibald put in relief pitcher David Anderson to get the final out. Anderson got Zach Fronio to ground out to shortstop to stop the bleeding for the Gaels.

Conte ended up with a no-decision, went 4 2/3 innings, gave up three runs on five hits, struck out four, and walked two. 

With the Gaels down two going into the bottom of the fifth, they knew they had to start a rally. They did just that, with the nine-hole hitter Arana roping a single to right field to get the ball rolling for St. Mary. Leadoff hitter Tyler Giordano legged out an infield single allowing Arana to advance to second. The Gaels had runners on first and second with one out, when Fronio struck out Jason Rosado for the second out, but the Gaels didn’t give up. Blayze Conte hit a single to center to load the bases, and third baseman Jacob Herrera hit a two-run single to center to tie the game at three apiece. 

It was crunch time. A game tied at three with two innings left. The Gaels took out pitcher David Anderson – who recorded one out in the fourth – and put in the lefty Arana. 

Fast forward to the top of the seventh inning. With Arana still on the mound, he worked a 1-2-3 inning, retiring Rutgers Prep to go to the bottom of the seventh tied at three. Santowasso pulled pitcher Fronio – who had reached over 100 pitches – and put in Li Perez for the seventh.

But the Gaels wasted no time getting runners on base. Arana again led off the inning, and this time was hit by a pitch. Perez then walked Tyler Giordano to put runners on first and second with nobody out. The stage was set for St. Mary’s second baseman Jason Rosado, who walked off the Argonauts, sending a ball into shallow left-center field which scored Arana from second for the 4-3 final.

Fronio finished the day with six innings pitched, giving up 3 runs on eight hits. He struck out 12 and walked one. Perez, who didn’t record an out, took the loss.

Arana earned the win for St. Mary with two innings of relief, allowing just two hits and striking out one.

Click below for postgame reaction sponsored by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Rutgers Prep head coach Larry Santowasso
St. Mary-Rutherford’s Blayze Conte (in the cowboy hat) and Kyle Watson celebrate their Non-Public North B title. (Photo: Dylan Allen)
St. Mary-Rutherford reaction from head coach Nigel Archibald, pitcher Blayze Conte and Jason Rosado, who had the game-winning hit.
by Mike Pavlichko

Rutgers Prep only worried about Rutgers Prep heading into Non-Public North B final at St. Mary

Forgive Larry Santowasso, the veteran Rutgers Prep coach, if he doesn’t know a lot about St. Mary-Rutherford.

The Gaels are the top-seed in Non-Public North B, but don’t get a lot of ink – or webspace – down here in Central Jersey.

But it’s not much of Santowasso’s concern. He’s just interested in his team. Has been from the very beginning of the season, when they were 1-6 to start the year, and seeded 12th in the Somerset County Tournament.

He knew his team was better than that, and that Bill Parcells’ wisdom didn’t apply to the Argonauts.

As it turned out, they weren’t what their record was, and they still may not be what their record is, which is 14-14 as they head into Saturday’s 12 noon sectional final as the second-seed against St. Mary.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will have updates of the game on Twitter via reporter Dylan Allen, and you can follow him by clicking here.

Rutgers Prep will throw Zach Fronio (2.2, 1.75 ERA) in the game, after Max Treonze pitched five scoreless Thursday against Gill St. Bernard’s in a 9-0 semifinal win, and Li Perez got the save.

It’s unknown if Andrew Parisi will be back in the lineup. He’s been a bit dinged up the last couple of weeks and hasn’t played since a May 16th loss to Ranney. Cody Rullo, who’s also been banged up, returned to to play on Wednesday.

Rutgers Prep will be playing for its first state title since 2013, when the Argonauts won the Non-Public Group B state title. Their last appearance in a sectional final came in 2014.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Rutgers Prep head coach Larry Santowasso:

by Mike Pavlichko

Treonze, seven-run first inning put Rutgers Prep in first sectional final in nearly a decade

Larry Santowasso may have been the Rutgers Prep head coach since before any of his players were every born – Sorry, coach! – but this game was a big one, and with all his experience, he was worried.

Rutgers Prep got its first win of the season after an 0-3 start against Gill St. Bernard’s on April 10th, 25-0. Three touchdowns, a two-point conversion and a field goal.

“When you beat someone convincingly and then you see them in a win-or-go-home game, it brings a lot of nervousness for a coach,” Santowasso said before the game.

Well, he didn’t have to worry for too long.

Third-seed Rutgers Prep scored seven times in the first inning against Gill starter Colin Chou, and chased him before he could even get an out. That was all the Argonauts needed to beat the seventh-seeded Knights 9-0 at Diamond Nation in Flemington Wednesday – as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio – putting them in Saturday’s Non-Public North B sectional final.

Rutgers Prep (14-14) will visit top-seed St. Mary-Rutherford at 10 am Satuday for the title.

It’s the first trip to a sectional title game since 2014, when the Argos lost to St. Joseph-Hammonton, a year going all the way to win a state championship.

Cody Rullo led off the game getting hit by a pitch, Evan Laub singled, and Ethan Nepomuceno walked to load the bases before Zach Fronio hit a sharp single to right to drive in two runs. Maddux Chu also got hit by a pitch, then Li Perez reached on an E3 to make it 3-0. Max Treonze walked to force in another run to make it 4-0. Nick Pizzie grounded to first for the first out, and Chu beat the tag at home to make it 5-0. Then, Rullo – in his second at bat of the inning – hit a two RBI single to make it seven-zip.

After a 1-2-3 first, and with a 7-0 lead, Treonze nearly faltered in the second, allowing a leadoff double and a one-out single, but he ended up striking out the side to keep Gill off the board. He threw five scoreless innings, allowing just three hits, striking out 11 to get the win. He’s now 6-0, with his ERA dropping to 0.17 on the season, allowing just one run in 41 innings pitched.

Prep added a run in the third on a sac fly to center by Laub, and got another in the fourth on a 4-6 fielder’s choice by Perez.

Perez came in to pitch the last two innings, allowing two hits, and preserving the shutout.

Click below for postgame reaction presented by SportsPlex at Metuchen!

Rutgers Prep pitcher Max Treonze
Rutgers Prep head coach Larry Santowasso
by Mike Pavlichko

Fronio’s 11 Ks help advance Rutgers Prep into North B semis with 6-1 win over Morris Catholic

Just like Rutgers Prep’s season on the whole, obstacles had to be overcome in order to come out on top.

Sophomore Zach Fronio struck out eleven while Ethan Nepomuceno and Li Perez each drove in two runs to get the third-seeded Argonauts past 6th-seed Morris Catholic Friday in a Non-Public North B quarterfinal game in Somerset.

Fronio picked up his second win of the year (2-2) when it mattered most, in the state tournament, after a 15-day layoff since his last start, a 2-0 loss to Pennington in the Prep B Tournament Final.

But that wasn’t all. The injury bug has been nipping at two starters – Andrew Parisi and Cody Rullo, and neither played today. That put Maddox Chu behind the plate, and he and Fronio worked together masterfully.

Prep scored first in the bottom of the second inning on an RBI single by Nick Pizzie.

Then, after Morris Catholic tied it in the top of the fourth on a sac fly to center by Nate Eckerson, the Argonauts responded with three in their half of the inning, when they sent eight hitters to the plate.

Pizzie led off with a single, and after James jackman struck out, Nepomucino hit an RBI double. Evan Laub singled, then Fronio drove in a run with a ground-out to short, and Chu singled in another run.

Nick Pizzie of Rutgers Prep drives in the first run of the game with a single in the second inning of a 6-3 win over Morris Catholic in the Non-Public North B Quarterfinals in Somerset on May 26, 2023. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

Morris Catholic got a run back in the sixth on an RBI single by Alex Kibler, who came in to relieve starter Sean Hegarty on the mound in the top of the inning, with Hegarty batting for himself in the lineup.

But Prep added two more insurance runs in the sixth to make it 6-2. With the bases loaded, Perez hit a ball deep in the hole that was fielded by the shortstop, but the throw to first was not in time and aggressive baserunning by the Argos plated a second run.

Max Treonze – who started at first, but flipped positions with Fronio to close out the game – saw his first action on the mound since getting drilled in the nose with a fastball a couple of weeks ago. He got a first pitch groundout back to him, then hit Nick Scerbak, who got to second on a wild pitch. Then after a walk to Declan Norton and a strikeout for the second out of the inning, Ryan Osterhoudt drove him in with an RBI single.

But that was all they would get as Treonze struck out Kibler to end the game.

The victory puts Rutgers Prep – which won the Somerset County Tournament as the 12-seed after starting the season 1-6 – at 13-4 heading into next week’s Non-Public North B semifinals, where they’ll face the seventh-seed Gill St. Bernard’s. The Knights upset second-seed St. Thomas Aquinas 8-3 Friday afternoon.

According to the NJSIAA state tournament schedule, that game is to be completed by Wednesday, but it could be played a day early, on Tuesday, because Rutgers Prep has its prom Wednesday evening.

Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Rutgers Prep pitcher Zach Fronio
Rutgers Prep head coach Larry Santowasso
by Mike Pavlichko

From pitchers to bunts, Santowasso makes all the right calls in Rutgers Prep’s title win over Ridge

To paraphrase the dating cliche, Larry Santowasso told Zach Fronio, “It’s not you, it’s him.”

That was the gist of the Rutgers Prep veteran skipper’s decision to go with Max Treonze in Tuesday night’s Somerset County Tournament final over Zach Fronio, the uber-talented sophomore who’s already committed to go to Maryland.

And boy, did it pay off.

Treonze pitched a complete game shutout, giving up six hits, no walks, while striking out eleven, the last of which gave Prep the county crown.

He came into the game with a 0.25 ERA, and lowered it to 0.20. He’d given up one earned run all year, a number that still stands. As wonderful as Zach Fronio may be, how could you ignore those numbers?

Well, that was only the first good call of the day by Santowasso, a decision he made no later than early this morning. And his decisions just kept getting better.

Like in the first inning, after Ethan Nepomuceno led off with a second-pitch double, Santowasso had his number-two hitter, Evan Laub, bunt. That might be a head-scratcher against any other opposing pitcher who shows signs of being a mortal, but as it turned out, it made perfect sense against Byrne.

Add to that the fact Ridge wasn’t expecting it. Luke Somelofske wasn’t too far in at third. So, when Laub pulled a bunt right out of the textbook, laying it on the grass down the line, Somelofske – who had a long way to go to get to it – had no play at first, and none at third.

So now it was first and third and nobody out, and Andrew Parisi singled to drive in the first – and only – run of the game, for either team.

Good thing, because Rutgers Prep didn’t get another runner past second base the entire game.

Oh, and back to the decision to go with Treonze over Fronio?

Well, Zach didn’t throw a pitch in the game, but he did throw a perfect strike. He was the cutoff man in the bottom of the seventh with one out on a bloop single to right by Connor Byrne. James Jackman fielded on a hop, threw to Fronio, the cutoff, who fired his only strike of the game – just not from the mound – to catcher Andrew Parisi, who turned, waited and applied the tag to the tying run for the second out of the inning, stealing the momentum from Ridge, and grabbing the trophy away from the defending champs.

Just call it a routine Win No. 321 for Larry Santowasso.

Click below to hear Rutgers Prep head coach Larry Santowasso recap and breakdown some of the key plays in the Argonauts’ 1-0 win in over Ridge in the Somerset County title game.

by Mike Pavlichko

Rutgers Prep looks to keep late-season momentum building in pursuit of SCT crown

Sitting among his fellow coaches in the Somerset County seeding meeting just two weeks into the regular season, Larry Santowasso – a veteran coach in his 27th season – knew his Rutgers Prep team was better than its 1-6 record would indicate.

The Argonauts, loaded with talent, had gotten off to (nearly) the worst start possible. With significant parts back from their run to the title game last year, they found themselves playing on the opening weekend of the tournament as the 12th-seed, with a 2-6 record heading into their first-round game at Watchung Hills.

Put that down as an 8-0 win over the 13th-seed, a mild first-round upset.

Good enough, but then Rutgers Prep would go on – after a regular season 11-10 loss at Montgomery – to win three straight in the county tournament.

They picked up revenge wins over 5th-seed Franklin, 5-4 in the second round, and over 4th-seed Somerville, 3-2 in the quarterfinals, both on the road.

Then, at TD Bank Ballpark, in the semifinals, against top-seed Bridgewater-Raritan, the Argonauts jumped out to a 4-0 lead, and hung on to win 4-3, thanks in large part to a solid pitching performance by Zach Fronio, who got in some late trouble, but made like Houdini in the end.

Now, here they are in the county final again, set to take on 2nd-seed Ridge Tuesday night for the second year in a row in the Somerset County Tournament Championship Game presented by Zoned Sports Academy of Bridgewater.

Game time is 7:00; pregame is 6:40 pm on Central Jersey Sports Radio with Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas calling all the action. Click here to listen.

Click below for a preview with Rutgers Prep head coach Larry Santowasso: