9 hours Ago
Entering Tuesday, all five of Wayne Hills’ wins this spring have been shutouts. Facing Pequannock, a team with five 10-plus run efforts through their first nine games, something clearly had to give. Wayne Hills senior right-hander Jake Donofrio just came off of the greatest start of his career on April 10 against Morristown, so he was primed for the task of stopping a solid Panthers lineup.
He threw six scoreless innings in that victory, and he learned plenty about himself in that outing. Donofrio, staying laser-focused from his first pitch to his 106th and final offering, applied his new-found mentality on Tuesday in a pivotal win at home. Striking out a career-high 10 batters, Jake Donofrio twirled a complete-game shutout for the Patriots, surrendering just two hits in the 9-0 victory.
His masterpiece is the squad’s sixth shutout of the season, which moves them above .500 in the standings at 6-5. 4/22 - 4:15 PM Baseball Final Pequannock 0 Wayne Hills 9 Mid 2 Wayne Hills 0 Pequannock 0 Jake Donofrio has 3 K’s after 2 IP for the Patriots @WHPats_Baseball pic.
twitter.com/X5DonLrI57 “I’ve become more focused on executing every pitch. It’s important to me just stay locked in from batter to batter.
I’m liking the way it’s gone for me these last few weeks,” Donofrio said. Donofrio registered three strikeouts in the top of the third inning, adding two punch-outs apiece in the second and seventh frames. Lowering his season earned run average to 0.
41 following three straight scoreless outings (15 innings), Donofrio also induced a pair of double plays against Pequannock (7-3). In the first inning, after plunking a batter, shortstop Justin Mehnert fielded a ground ball, stepped on second base himself, then fired to first base for a momentum-building double play to end the frame. Then in the fifth, first baseman Kevin Giacalone made a superb throw across the diamond to third base after registering a 1-3 putout.
That double play ended the inning, too. Donofrio managed to get the first batter out in all seven frames, including five first-out strikeouts. “Whenever there is a must-win game, our pitching comes through.
That’s for sure,” Wayne Hills’ Chris Pellegrino said. “Today, Jake was outstanding. We’re so proud of him.
” Through four innings, it was a 2-0 ball game in Wayne Hills’ favor thanks to Pellegrino’s bat. His tandem with Mehnert, who was pesky on the bases, was unstoppable on Tuesday. In the second inning, Mehnert walked, stole second base, then scored the first run of the contest thanks to a double to left field from Pellegrino.
End 2 Wayne Hills 1 Pequannock 0 Christopher Pellegrino’s RBI double down the line scores Justin Mehnert for the game’s first run @WHPats_Baseball pic.twitter.com/g46bzgi6pW Then two innings later, it was Mehnert and Pellegrino once again doing damage together.
Mehnert was hit by a pitch, stole two bases, then scampered home on an RBI groundout from Pellegrino, who totaled three RBIs. “We have great chemistry. We are the middle-infield duo, so that connection is there on both sides of the ball.
When Justin gets on base, there’s definitely a comfort there for me,” Pellegrino said. Mehnert swiped four total bases and scored three times. In the fifth frame, the Patriots bats erupted to seven runs on six hits.
Max De Lagarde got things going with a laced triple to the left-center field gap. He was brought in to score on a sacrifice fly RBI from Casey Baratta, who recorded the 90th hit of his career earlier in the game. Bottom 5 Wayne Hills 3 Pequannock 0 Max De Lagarde leads off with a triple, then scores on Casey Baratta’s sac fly RBI @WHPats_Baseball @MaxwellD28 pic.
twitter.com/6hernwdlPf Wayne Hills kept their foot on the gas - in order - with a double and run scored from Chris Cundari, an RBI single and run scored from Andrew Lynch, a base hit and run scored from Nico Delfini, a walk and run scored from Mehnert, an RBI single and run scored from Pellegrino, and a two-RBI single and run scored from Jack Kearney. Nick Kolatac had both of Pequannock’s hits, including a double in the fourth inning.
The Panthers sent Nick Werner, Tommy Koren, Austin Baum, and James Killion to the mound. For Wayne Hills, the Patriots are looking to make noise in upcoming tournaments with a high volume of competition. In Passaic County, this season’s tournament is up for grabs with teams like Top 20 juggernauts in DePaul and Passaic Tech, Passaic Valley, Pompton Lakes (reigning champs), and Wayne Valley all ready to roll.
The Patriots are also in the North 1 Group 3 section, which houses strong programs in Ramapo, Old Tappan, Northern Highlands, and Morris Knolls (reigning champs). Wayne Hills is proving that they belong in the conversation as potential contenders in both of these tournaments. It was just a matter of time before they started clicking on all cylinders.
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