Tag: Mike Scialfo

by Mike Pavlichko

No. 5 Colonia seeks split against No. 2 Middlesex Thursday after wacky Tuesday series opener

The sign things just weren’t going right for the Colonia baseball team on Tuesday afternoon came in the third inning. Dom Long hit a ground ball toward second when a collision between the umpire and a fielder allowed the grounder to make it to the outfield, scoring two runs.

What should have been a 1-0 game turned into a 3-0 game that ended up as a 4-0 win for the Middlesex Blue Jays, the first place team in the GMC White Division.

Sometimes, the breaks just don’t go your way.

But the great thing about baseball is there’s another game a day or two away. So for fifth-ranked Colonia, they’ll get back on the horse against No. 2 Middlesex Thursday afternoon on the road for a 4 pm game you can hear on Central Jersey Sports Radio. Pregame starts at 3:45 with Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel on the call.

The Patriots got off to a red-hot 6-0 start, but as head coach mike Scialfo explains it, the schedule got a bit more challenging, and some of their arms got a little tired. Still, all things considered, in a grueling division, they’ve held court. They’re still 9-4 (and 9-4 in the White), second place in the division behind the Blue Jays, who are 14-1 overall, 12-1 in the White.

Three-sport athlete Dylan Chiera leds the offense, hitting .455 with ten runs batted in, and he’s just six-hits shy of the century mark for his career. He was also the quarterback of the football team this year, where the team went to the North 2, Group 4 finals against Phillipsburg. And he plays point guard for the Colonia basketball team, which went all the way to the state finals for the first time ever, losing in the Group 3 title game to Ocean City.

Despite the eventual tired arms, the pitching has also been very good, with a team 2.01 ERA, and senior Tyler Chiola expected to get the ball Thursday afternoon. The Patriots No. 2 starter behind Seton Hall-bound Colin Kroner, he’s 3-0 with a 2.13 ERA, and a 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Colonia head coach Mike Scialfo:

by Dom Savino

All it takes is one: Kroner sends top-seed Colonia to North 2, Group 3 final in 1-0, 10-inning thriller

The strikeouts came in every form: swinging and staring, foul-tipped and dirt-covered, on high fastballs and buried sliders.

For an out shy of ten full innings, pitchers ruled the afternoon at Colonia High School, where the top-seeded Patriots hosted 4-seed North Hunterdon in the North 2, Group 3 semifinals.

It was only fitting that a pitcher got the last laugh, too.

With two outs in the 10th, Colonia left fielder-turned-reliever Colin Kroner lifted a single down the right-field line to score the game’s only run and punch the Patriots’ ticket to their first sectional final since 2018.

Kroner’s hit was the second for Colonia and the fourth of the entire game. The teams combined for 33 strikeouts, 13 walks, and seven fly balls into the outfield.

What was a high school baseball matchup felt, for long stretches, like a Friday night, Division 1 showdown between Colonia’s Cory Pascarella (a Monmouth signee) and North Hunterdon’s Alex Famolari, who’s pledged to attend Duke.

Coming off a 16-strikeout no-hitter in the quarterfinals, Pascarella was almost as dominant Tuesday, striking out 12 more over 7.2 innings and 114 pitches. It was the senior’s third straight start of 7 or more shutout innings.

Famolari was equally superb over six scoreless. The only hit against him rocketed through the right side of the infield, vacated on a hit-and-run.

Before Kroner’s game-winning single, run-scoring situations were few and far between. Famolari loaded the bases in the 6th after a two-out walk followed that lone hit-and-run, but his final pitch of the game — a breaking ball — notched his 10th strikeout. It was the game’s only at-bat with a runner on third base.

North Hunterdon’s best chance came in the fifth, which Zach Linzer led off with a looper over third base — the only hit Pascarella allowed. Jadon Krisanda followed with a walk. But, Pascarella locked in from there, retiring the next three batters to keep the game scoreless.

Even when the teams turned custody of the pitcher’s duel over to their bullpens, hitters were kept in check thanks to Kroner and North Hunterdon’s Hunter Brown, who each posted five strikeouts and surpassed two innings.

It’s what made Kroner’s tenth-inning single all the more striking — a timely hit, finally! With Joe Massimino on second after a walk and sacrifice bunt, Kroner sprayed the first pitch he saw inside the right-field line. The Seton Hall commit was greeted near second base by a pack of rabid Patriots, hungry for both a state championship ring and revenge after a first-round exit from the Jim Muldowney GMC Championship Tournament.

Colonia will host second-seed South Plainfield on Thursday in the North 2, Group 3 title game. The Patriots have yet to concede a run in the state playoffs, and North Hunterdon’s two hits were the first Colonia has allowed over three sectional games.

Click below for postgame reaction from Colonia’s Colin Kroner, Cory Pascarella and head coach Mike Scialfo, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Colin Kroner
Cory Pascarella
Head coach Mike Scialfo

by Mike Pavlichko

Colonia is young – again – but Scialfo looking for experience to turn into wins in 2024

With 28 players in the Colonia baseball program, 19 are freshmen or sophomores.

That’s a considerable amount of youth back for the Patriots, but they do have some experience still at key positions.

That’ll be the theme – at least early on – as Colonia looks to assert itself in the Greater Middlesex Conference White Division, coming off a 9-14 season that followed a very respectable 16-11 campaign in 2022.

Mike Scialfo, now in his seventh season as head coach, will have some figuring to do on the mound. That’s where they lost more than 80 innings to graduation between Dylan Conklin (3.20 ERA, 46 Ks to 18 walks) and Vincent Tripaldi (2.98 ERA, 14K, 4 walks).

But that’s where the return of junior Corey Pascarella will loom large. He was on the shelf last year due to injury, but threw a near-team best 47 innings in 2022 with just a 2.23 ERA. He’ll could very well be the Opening Day starter – weather permitting – when the Patriots open the season Thursday at home against Woodbridge. (Tuesday’s opener at Woodbridge was rained out.)

That’s a 4:00 start, but the teams may play a doubleheader. They plan to meet Wednesday to discuss potential times to get around the rainy weather in the forecast. (The good news is that both schools have turf fields.)

Back to the pitching, sophomores Colin Kroner and Dylan Chiera – both well-known last names in Colonia – will be next in line behind Pascarella..

Behind the plate, and at the plate, is Colonia’s “best player,” according to Scialfo. Ramapo-bound senior Casey Chiola will be a good veteran presence behind the dish. In the batter’s box, he hit .380 last season, with 15 runs batted in and four extra base hits (three doubles, one triple).

But as Scialfo sees it, even the sophomores are experienced. They went through a baptism by fire next year, and the more experience they get this year, the better off they’ll be. It’s just a matter of when it starts paying off.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Colonia head coach Mike Scialfo about the Patriots’ 2024 season:

by Mike Pavlichko

Colonia looks to stay unbeaten in GMC White in home doubleheader against cross-town rival Woodbridge

Though Colonia is just 2-2 in the early part of the 2021 high school baseball season, the Patriots have two out-of-conference losses, to Sparta and Immaculata.

That means they’re unbeaten in the GMC White Division, with a pair of wins over North Brunswick. And they’ll hope to continue that trend Saturday morning when they play a 10 am twin bill against Woodbridge, after rain wiped out their game in the third inning Thursday night.

The Patriots were leading 4-3 in the bottom of the third with Woodbridge at bat, and the Barrons had two runners on when the game was called.

The cancellation means they’ll restart that game from scratch Saturday, though the teams’ aces – who started Thursday’s game – won’t be able to pitch. Both Josh Vazquez for the Barrons and J.T. Kroner for the Patriots threw more than 50 pitches, which means two days rest is required and they wouldn’t be available until Sunday at the earliest.

WOODBRIDGE PREVIEW: Woodbridge takes four-game win streak into Colonia for twin-bill following rainout

Listen to Central Jersey Sports Radio for pregame coverage starting at 9:45 am as Mike Pavlichko will call all the action of both games. You can listen by clicking here. The game is sponsored by Woodbridge Township.

Click below to hear Colonia coach Mike Scialfo talk about his team’s season so far, and the matchup against Woodbridge: