Baseball: Hot bats, Treonze's return from injury helps Rutgers Prep advance
RARITAN TOWNSHIP – The last month has been some kind of adventure for Rutgers Prep junior righty Max Treonze.
Treonze threw a complete game shutout May 9 to beat Ridge 1-0 in the Somerset County Tournament final. Two days later he was hit in the face by a 92 mph fastball thrown by Pennington junior ace and Virginia commit Bryce Meccage. Fortunately, Treonze escaped with just a broken nose.
He returned as a starting pitcher Wednesday at Diamond Nation in a NJSIAA North Non-Public B semifinal against Gill St. Bernard’s for the first time since the county final. He did throw an inning in last week’s first round win against Morris Catholic.
His teammates were so thrilled to have him back that 11 of them batted in the first inning. They scored seven runs against No. 7 seed Gill St. Bernard’s (10-15) on the way to 9-0 win.
Treonze said he “ran out of gas,” but he looked good enough. He pitched five innings, striking out 11, walking one and allowing three hits. Freshman Li Perez threw the last two innings.
Treonze is now 6-0 with an 0.17 earned run average, allowing one run in 41 innings.
“I felt really good, I felt a little tired toward the end, that’s why I couldn’t really go as far as I normally do,” Treonze said. “I felt good throughout, my stuff was working, the defense was behind me like they have all year. I pitched to contact that’s what I focused on today.”
What does it mean
Third-seed Rutgers Prep (14-14) will play Saturday at top-seeded St. Mary-Rutherford (19-9) in the sectional final. St. Mary, which last won the section and a state title in 2019, beat No. 4 Montclair Kimberley 2-0 Wednesday to advance.
The section final berth is Rutgers Prep’s first since 2014, when the Argos lost in the South Non-Public B final to St. Joseph-Hammonton. That came a season after Prep won the overall state B title.
Gill St. Bernard’s made the North Non-Public B final last season, losing to Immaculata at Diamond Nation. Gill had a five-game win streak snapped by Rutgers Prep.
Productive First Inning
Cody Rullo led off for Prep in the first by getting hit by a pitch. Evan Laub singled, and Ethan Nepomuceno walked to load the bases. Zach Fronio followed with a two-run single to right. Maddux Chu also got hit by a pitch before Li Perez reached on an infield error. Treonze walked to force in another run to make it 4-0. Chu scored on Nick Pizzie’s groundout to make it 5-0. Rullo – in his second at-bat of the inning – delivered a two-run single and it was an early 7-0 lead.
GSB’s opportunity
Matt Park led off the second with a double and freshman Jack Markovich singled with Park going to third. Markovich stole second to make it second and third with one out. Treonze ended the rally by striking out the next two hitters to end the inning.
They said it
Prep coach Larry Santowasso on playing Gill St. Bernard’s again. Rutgers Prep got off to an 0-3 start this season, but beat the Knights 25-0 on April 10 for its first win. He said, “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. That big first inning really allowed for us to settle in.”
Gill coach David Pasquale said, “It’s tough to recover from a seven-run first inning, especially against a pitcher like Treonze. But I was proud of the way our guys battled. I like this group a lot. They’ve faced their share of adversity and have stuck together. With all but one starter coming back and a couple others returning from injury, we have a chance to be very good next year.”
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Baseball: Rutgers Prep advances to North Non-Public B final
