Baseball: Delbarton 3 - Montville 1 (4-21-07)

By Andrew Sidebottom for MorrisCountyVaristy.net (4-21-07)

Delbarton beat Montville 3-1, in a rain-shortened affair on Wednesday in Morris Township. This victory gave the Green Wave the inside track to the Northern Hills Conference Suburban Division crown.
This game was billed as a great match up as the #10 Mustangs visited the #5 Green Wave. The Mustangs sent their ace Chuck Matarazzo to hill and he was opposed by Darren Lang. These two all area pitchers were expected to shut down their opposition and that they did just that. Matarazzo set the tone in the bottom of the first, striking out the first two Green Wave batters. Lang was equally brilliant matching Matarazzo step for step. Montville opened up the scoring in the 4th when Jay Schwartz led off the inning with a single. The MCHSS.net Player of the Week moved to third on a double by Jimmy DeZao. Lee Gross plated Schwartz with a one-out double, making it 1-0. The Wave responded in the bottom of the fifth, when with one out, D.J. Anderson double and moved to third when Andrew Kolmar singled. Montville looked to be out of trouble when Nick Gaeta gunned downed Kolmar trying to steal second. But, Joe Bellini coaxed out a walk, giving Chuck Hager an opportunity at the plate. Hager’s fly ball had just enough oomph to clear the wall, giving Delbarton a 3-1 lead. Montville did not score in the sixth and in the bottom of the inning, the umpires called the game due to poor weather conditions.
Lang and Matarazzo were both spectacular, as they shut down two of the best offensive teams in the county. Lang, who earned the victory, went 6 innings, allowing five hits and no walks with two strike outs. Matarazzo took the tough-luck loss. He allowed five hits over five innings, with four walks, and set down three. That win helped to solidify Delbarton as the #1 seed for the MCT and helped to drop Montville down to #5.