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Talkin' Baseball! County & State Tourneys; WPU's Lauty & Ryan or Maddux · NorthJerseySports.com

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  We are talking baseball North Jersey sports.com original here.
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  He's talking all things baseball across North Jersey.
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  This is another A rainy day edition but happening in the
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  postseason. I am Corey Doviak being joined
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  by my illustrious panel of 1. He is the so many titles to go
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  through the Bergen County Tournament athletic director,
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  the parent of two fine high school baseball players at
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  DuMont High School. He is Joey seasons over
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  Santerra. What's going on, Joe?
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  Oh man, did you have to go there?
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  Bummer. Right.
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  You had to go there, man. That was, you know, that's below
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  the belt. I, I, I had to, I had to watch,
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  you know, you know what it is, Corey, in all seriousness, like
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  yesterday, you know, you, when you watch a chapter of your life
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  that you don't want to end yet you have no control over, You
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  know, I, I, I, I watched, you know, him pitch.
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  I watched them, you know, I watched him, you know, after the
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  6th, you know, the bottom of the sixth, they, they took him out
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  and, you know, we didn't tie it. So that was it.
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  And when they took him out, he, he just like went behind the
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  dugout and I go, all right, let me, let me just give him a
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  minute. And I was about 20 yards away
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  and I, I just leaned back and peek behind the dugout and you
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  know, he's, he's just kind of losing it a little bit back
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  there, you know, and it's, it's tough.
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  It's it's tough when, when, like I said, a, a chapter of, of your
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  life that's, you know, you've lost and, and now, you know, you
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  have no control over when that chapter ends.
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  And, and you know it, it ended yesterday and you know, he left
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  everything out there. You know, they, they both played
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  pretty well yesterday. And, and you know, we scratched,
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  we lost 62. But you know, it wasn't ever a
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  game, but you know, it wasn't ever a game where, you know, I,
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  I don't think we, I think we had maybe four hits.
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  I think Westwood had three hits. You know, both teams made plays
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  defensively. You know, I, I Westwood got the
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  timely hits. You know, with guys in, they
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  couple stack flies, the Walsh kid, you know, hit the Homer in
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  the first inning to tie it 11. And then, you know, Westwood got
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  some guys on and, and, you know, couple stack flies and a two
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  out, you know, kind of broke our back a little bit.
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  But you know, credit to them. They they, they played a great
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  game and you know, we closed out a a nice season for us too.
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  So but yes, thank you for bringing that up.
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  Thank you for bringing that up. I know bro, but it and you what
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  you say is is eloquent and correct.
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  I mean, it sucks. It sucks when that chapter is
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  over. For people that don't know
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  everything we're talking about here.
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  Joe Sottera's son, Joey Sottera fits the last game of the Do my
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  uniform in the opening round of the N 2, the North One Group 2
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  state sectional tournament against Westwood came up on the
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  short end, played well and it you know, as a, you know, father
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  of two grown daughters myself, those last moments are treasure.
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  And you know, the great thing is you'll you had a front row seat
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  to it because of, you know, able to spend a lot of time around
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  the pro in your position, so. That's it's great.
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  Lucky. A lot of people don't have that,
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  you know that. It's, it's, it's really great.
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  And you know, and it, it took away like I, I didn't miss a
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  game, you know, I, I, I didn't miss a game in, in his, in his
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  high school career. You know, I haven't missed my,
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  my son James and, and you know, I had my son Thomas coming
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  through and it's, it's when you say quality of life decision.
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  And that's what this was because there there's nothing better
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  than than, you know, walking out there and and seeing your your
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  kids play and having the the luxury of of not missing a team,
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  a pitch, nothing. So it was it was good with him.
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  Now, you know, we got James has two more years and then the
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  little guy, the little boy in 7th grade.
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  So there's some time here, but. Yeah.
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  But nobody wants to hear that anymore.
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  Let's let's talk about. Let's talk.
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  Well, we got here's the thing. We're going to have William
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  Patterson. Head coach Mike Lotahan's going
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  to join us a little bit later and you and I were talking to
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  him at the Bergen County Tournament semi finals 2 weeks
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  ago. We had a great conversation with
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  him. So I think we, I, you know, we
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  invited him on right there on the spot and we didn't get to do
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  a show last week because of everything that was going on.
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  So we re extended the invitation for this week.
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  He's gracious enough to accept and we'll talk about the state
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  tournament with him. Also some Bergen County baseball
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  history because he was a big part of it.
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  I know he was your boss, Wasn't he your boss at one time at at
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  Rutherford? Yeah, we actually, we actually
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  went, I was actually San Ferretti.
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  I don't know if that name rings about Sam.
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  Sam Ferretti was the head coach at at Rutherford and I was his
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  assistant coach and then two, Sammy was there for two.
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  I was with Sam for two or three years and then Sam left, took a
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  teaching job somewhere else. The job opened up and I actually
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  had applied for the job at the time and so did Mike.
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  You know, Mike wound up getting the job and I stayed with him
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  until, you know, I was I was fortunate enough to get the job
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  in the Milford and start start my own career.
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  But hiring? Decision.
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  What's that? Who made that hiring decision?
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  Who was the athletic director at Rutherford at.
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  The time What was his name? Frank.
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  No Mike. Michael.
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  No, Mike will remember the name of the guy, Michael.
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  He hired him. You.
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  Forgot him? Yeah, because he didn't hire me,
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  so I don't give a about the. Guy Oh all right, let me just
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  write down that bleepathon there so we're going to get there with
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  Laudie shortly, but I think before we do that, we didn't get
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  a chance with last week's show I mean you got busy.
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  I got busy it's crazy, but we didn't get a chance to talk
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  about really the final two rounds of the Bergen County
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  tournament. I think we should do that first.
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  I mean, first of all, as the tournament director, you and
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  Mike Korsich put on a great show again.
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  Finals weekend felt like old times.
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  It was a big crowd there, a lot of little kids running up and
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  down the hill chasing foul balls.
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  Yeah, throwing balls, throwing balls underneath the tent and
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  like having having a catch in the wrong direction and the
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  announcer getting pelted with baseballs was great.
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  It was great. But it it it, it felt great.
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  I mean, you know, we other than the fact that it was 25° and I
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  was wondering winter Jack Mittens.
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  It was good, you know, because I think you had the the general
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  interest of the public school that could with Pascack Valley
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  in the final against the parochial school that should
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  with Don Bosco prep being there as well.
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  You know, I think you you brought some of the neutrals in
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  who might might have wanted to take a peek either, you know,
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  see a real good Bosco team that you always say it all the time
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  and not I might have ever disagreed with you, but I don't
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  know him as well as you do. And you always sing the praises
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  of Mike Rooney, the Don Bosco prep head coach.
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  I interviewed him after the game and he's a good dude.
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  I mean, I I rail against a lot of times against the non
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  publics, but not because of the people involved.
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  I just I hate the rules. It's not like they're breaking
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  any rules. They're following the rules and
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  that's the way it goes. And.
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  You. Know, I wish it wasn't the way
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  it was, but that doesn't take away from the fact that there's
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  some good people running those programs and talking to Mike.
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  He's. All praise to his kids and a
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  really good dude. Yeah, I mean, he's, you know, I
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  do. I, I know him a long time.
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  I've gotten to know him, you know, being on the committee and
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  everything. And and they just, they do
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  things the right way, you know, everything from if you want to
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  talk, you know, fundamentals and how they teach the game, how
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  their kids play the game. Like you watch, you watch the
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  team, you know, I think in the first inning, you know, the, the
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  catcher badly strikes out to lead off the game.
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  I if I remember correctly. And then he comes over and you
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  know, he spends about 15 to 20 seconds talking to the next
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  hitter. You know, the, the way they
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  just, they're, they're, they're infield outfield, the way their
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  kids act, the way they approach the game.
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  There, there's no, there's nothing but baseball and it's
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  business and they never get 2 down.
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  They never press. You know, I, I thought their
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  approach on Saturday, on Saturday in the final against JT
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  Turiso, who by the way, that kid battled, man, he left the game
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  down three, one, I think 7, seven hits, maybe eight hits,
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  depending on. Scoring it was anywhere from
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  7:00 to 10:00, but there were a lot of close plays that could
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  have been an error or could have.
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  Been Yeah, I, I also think if I remember what I was watching
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  that that day from, from the, from behind the the the plate,
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  there was Bosco's hitters from one through 9 never expanded.
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  They never chased, they never went outside the zone.
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  You know, their approach with, with two strikes is everything
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  you try to teach your kids. And I think I might be wrong
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  here, but I think they pulled 3 balls that day.
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  I think they think they pulled, I think they pulled 2 to the
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  right side. The, the kid Hannah hit a slow,
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  a slow roll with the 1st that I, I think he beat out right.
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  And then I think they pulled 2 balls to the right side.
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  And then I think they, they pulled one, I think it was a fly
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  ball late, late in the game, But every, everything else was, was
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  up the middle or, or opposite field.
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  And you know, against a kid, like, against a kid like
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  Theresa, that, that's, that has to be your approach.
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  So I, I thought, I thought it was, it was a it was a, a, a
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  class on, on what, on, on how to approach a kid that can, that
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  can really work all three pitches and, and, and throw 3
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  for strikes. So, you know, it was a credit to
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  them for the way they did it and not to take away the kid Stello,
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  you know, saw him throw in all three games.
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  Yeah, Bosco's. Bosco's had some pretty good
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  ones. You know, that kid, that's what
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  is just a competitor. He comes at you, you know,
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  unfazed by, by anything. You know, he's got a good, he
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  controls his breathing Very, very, very, very impressed with
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  with him, you know, and rightfully so.
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  He was the pitcher of the, of the tournament.
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  So, you know, it was great. I I thought it was.
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  Also a nice yeah after the game. Again, the the interesting, not
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  the interesting thing. An aspect of this was that
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  Costello, who started, he went five innings, gave up nowhere
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  and run 6 strikeouts. And he's coming off of Tommy
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  John surgery, which he missed all of last season.
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  And then he went five. And then Dylan Henshaw came in,
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  He pitched two runs, two runs. He retired all six batters he
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  faced to pick up his save. He also had Tommy John surgery
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  last year. So that was, you know, for those
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  two kids to miss all of their junior seasons and then come
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  back and, and, and the county champ, you know, as county
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  champions, you know, a good testament to perseverance for
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  Don Bosco. And the the other thing, though,
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  when you say that they play right, play the right way, and
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  they absolutely do. I think one of the things it
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  says, though, is that there is so much competition for places
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  on those, you know, Bosco this year.
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  I mean, if you look in their dugout, it's full and they're
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  not carrying bullpen catchers. Or maybe they are.
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  But you know, there's a lot of guys there, a lot of good
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  baseball players before you get to the bullpen, catcher and
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  competition for places. If you don't take the right
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  approach, if you don't do things the right way, if you don't take
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  coaching, there's somebody there that can easily step in and
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  they're not going to take that big of a step back.
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  With a public school, you know, sometimes the coach is forced.
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  Into. Playing through some things with
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  some guys that maybe could stand to maybe, you know, watch a
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  couple at bats from the bench, but they don't have that luxury.
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  And also, I feel like this baseball format, more than any
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  other of the county tournaments in Bergen County, is the one
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  where, you know, the non publics deserve it just as much as
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  anybody else. Because as we see, as the state
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  playoffs got off, one good pitcher can carry you to to do
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  big things. And it's not like the non
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  publics have dominated the Bergen County baseball
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  tournament. Sure, it's tilted towards them,
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  but it's not like it's unheard of.
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  Like if Pascack Valley would have won that game on Saturday
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  or whatever day it was, what was it the Memorial Day weekend?
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  It would not have been the biggest upset story ever.
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  You know, it would have been wow, fantastic and beat a good
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  Don Bosco. So right, right.
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  The Burke County baseball tournament for me, you know, to
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  wrap it up, it was just a lot of fun.
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  And and that's not even we didn't even get to talk about
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  the semi finals. Now Bosco stomped on old Japan.
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  I mean, that was as bad as I've ever seen an old Japan team play
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  in my 26 years of covering them. So we'll leave it right there. 4
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  1/2 innings, 12 nothing but the other semi final was Wingfield
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  against JT Deriso and that one Rappo had the early 1 nothing
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  lead and then Pascack Valley got him late but that was high level
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  high school public school baseball.
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  Yeah, a lot of good feedback about that game.
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  You know, it, it, it was, it was a tight game, well played, well
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  pitched, you know, and Valley was able to, to get him for four
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  late, late in the game. And you know, it's, it had a
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  little bit, you know, had the drama.
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  It had the, you know, I, I, I feel honestly, you know, we go
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  back to, we go back to seatings. You know, I credit the
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  committee. We got it right.
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  I mean, we got it right. We had, we had the two one and
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  the two in the finals. And you know, you had you had
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  the five in in old Japan and you had the IT was 1/2 3 Ramapo 1235
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  in the finals. So Yep, you know, and and it
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  wasn't, it wasn't a cakewalk for any of those teams.
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  So including Bosco, because they were on the wire, they were down
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  1 nothing in the 7th. So, you know, crazy.
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  Yes, crazy that that there's a curtain here.
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  Go ahead. Sorry.
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  No, no, it was it was, it was I again.
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  It was a great, great final. And you know, on a side note
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  too, I think, you know, they don't get enough credit, but I
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  thought the the umpires in that game had some, some pretty close
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  plays. And I think everything they got,
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  they got right. They you know, it was it was a
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  very well officiated for lack of a you can't say umpired.
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  It was a a very well, it was a well done by, by the, by the
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  umpires and you know, everything was just, it was a good
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  tournament all around. It was one of the better ones in
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  recent years I think. Agreed.
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  I I thought the the umpire third base in the final was a little
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  shaky, but other than that I don't have any issues.
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  Well, they, they put him at third base, they put, they put
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  him at third because there's not a lot of, there's not a lot of
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  moving that that you got to do over there really, you know.
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  If he was the World Series, they would put him down the right
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  field line. It would have been the.
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  Third, yeah, yeah, it's like what we what we might do next
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  year is incorporate like 6 umpires and move him down like
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  the the left field lines get to stand in the corner and be
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  echoed. Yeah, you know, 'cause he does a
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  lot of he, he does a, a real a lot of trolling, a lot of
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  trolling on the Twitter. But he's but, but you know what
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  though? You know what, though?
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  Unlike, unlike, unlike our friend, Doctor Cirillo, our
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  friend. He's tough to take, I mean.
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  His son, he's, you know, I know with the tournament.
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  Oh yeah, he's going to, he's going to be calling and he's
• 16:47
  going to be, he's going to want you.
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  He's going to want you to have a drone at the Paramus team and
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  have it over his son in center field.
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  He's going to be, we're going to have to do something with with
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  Cirillo. Yeah.
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  But but with with Eddie Ahern, Eddie's always Eddie.
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  Eddie Ahern is always like he'll throw the occasional joke, but
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  did you see this text thread that we got from Cirillo the
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  other day? Yes, yeah, yeah.
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  Just like just brazen, just brazen, He's brazen, he's
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  brazen. Is the.
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  Word. I mean, the the guy, he's a,
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  he's a off notch educator. I mean, he's a.
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  Long time Superintendent of one of America's greatest high
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  school, K through K through 12 school districts in Palisades
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  Park, NJ. And now he's moving up, you
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  know, into the northern valley. I mean, the, you know, hoity
• 17:39
  toity northern Valley. So this guy.
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  That's a secret, Or is that out in the open?
• 17:44
  Is that a? Is that a secret?
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  That's how that's out in the open and.
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  Yeah, and you know that he he cheats like if I, I think, I
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  think like if, if Palisades court like knew some of his his
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  things that he did when he coached, like I, I think they
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  might have, might not have ever gotten the job like we were
• 18:03
  playing them or I, I, I think I told you this before.
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  I don't know if I've ever posted on the show, but we were playing
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  them right. It was the year I think we, we
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  went 18 and O back-to-back years in the old BCSL Olympic right,
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  And the team that finished second both years was Cal Park
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  and they're I. Think they tell the story, but
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  go ahead because. Good, good.
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  Because you know how we won? So we won the game on a diving
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  line drive by my third baseman to seal it in extra innings.
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  But so he gets he he got ejected from a games and he wasn't
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  eligible to be on our finish. So we were playing at Lindbergh
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  school and you know, remember the old Nextel radios, the
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  Nextel phones, He was in the he was in the second floor of the
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  Lindbergh school watching the game and by communicating with
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  his coaches, right. So then so.
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  Against the. Spirit ruins the integrity of
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  the game, but again. Absolutely.
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  You know, it's you know, Cirillo.
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  So Doctor Cirillo, I'm sorry, Doctor Red, but one of the
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  greatest for zipper is he goes to tell his coaches to walk PJ
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  Sapirito. He wants to communicate.
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  Put him on, put him on and his radio died and Sapirito
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  proceededed. Sapirito proceeded to hit a ball
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  on the, on the, the black top out there.
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  And we, you know, we wound up winning the game.
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  But he told me that story like, oh, I, I, I, I think it was, you
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  know, a, a long time after, after that game.
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  But we, we, that, we, we had some battles, but it was, it was
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  fun. And, and you know, that's where
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  a, a friendship, a friendship came from, from those battles
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  that we had. And there was a one time we had
• 19:55
  an umpire that wouldn't let him on the field because he wouldn't
• 19:59
  wear his baseball hat. Yeah, I, he's, he's got hang
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  ups. I mean, it is true.
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  And now I, I, you know, we're going to talk to Lord here in a
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  second, but, you know, and we'll talk more about the state
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  tournament. But I covered the Paramus game.
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  His son is a sophomore. You know he's.
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  Had a great game. Starts in left field for the
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  fight in Paramus Spartans reached Basin all four of his
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  played appearances had a double single score to run.
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  I mean, had a great game for his sophomore first ever state
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  playoff game. So this is only getting started
• 20:28
  with him now, you know. Yeah, no, it's.
• 20:31
  It's good. It's such a nice lady and and
• 20:33
  now we're going to have to, I mean, we, we're taking notes
• 20:37
  from, from doctor Joe Cirillo about, you know, content on I
• 20:40
  don't want that. I really don't.
• 20:42
  Yeah. No, no.
• 20:43
  And, and quite honestly, it could.
• 20:45
  It could. It could.
• 20:47
  It could be a black eye for the show.
• 20:48
  To be honest, it could be a black eye for the show.
• 20:51
  Yeah, as these last five minutes of heckling a guy who has no
• 20:55
  means of responding other than the mean texts, we'll get to
• 20:59
  Marco or the. Next period.
• 21:01
  What he says, oh, I didn't even get time to listen to the show.
• 21:04
  I'm so busy bop bop, bop bop. You know he listens to every
• 21:07
  word. He's.
• 21:09
  Yeah, but what was that voice? What was that voice recording he
• 21:11
  sent us? What was that?
• 21:13
  Yeah, well, that's the other thing too.
• 21:15
  You know, I interviewed his son after, and this is a polished
• 21:17
  kid. I mean, this kid, he knows what
• 21:19
  he's talking about. It was like he's been I I don't
• 21:21
  know if it was his first interview, but it certainly
• 21:23
  seemed like it was his 100th. I mean, he was composed.
• 21:26
  He was talking. About he's a good kid.
• 21:28
  Both of both of his boys are are are such good kids and and you
• 21:32
  know, it's a credit, a credit to Joe's wife.
• 21:35
  What a. Credit to the wife.
• 21:36
  Yeah, credit to the wife to. The wife to Gina?
• 21:40
  Absolutely to Gina. All right, we'll stop busting
• 21:44
  the dots chops right here as we welcome in our guest on this
• 21:48
  week's episode of Talking Baseball.
• 21:50
  He is the head coach of the Fighting pioneers.
• 21:53
  We don't get college coaches in these parts too much, but we'll
• 21:56
  make him the exception and the reach out as we welcome in
• 22:00
  Michael order hand coach. Thanks for joining us here.
• 22:03
  I'm talking baseball. Thanks for having me.
• 22:05
  It's a pleasure to be with you guys again.
• 22:07
  Yes. Corey, why do you keep?
• 22:09
  Why do you keep calling him the Fighting Pioneers?
• 22:11
  It's not their nickname. William Patterson, the William
• 22:16
  Patterson Pioneers that you said it like 15 times before Mike
• 22:20
  even came on the show and now you introduce the guy fighting,
• 22:26
  fighting. Hey, listen, I was like.
• 22:29
  You know, this, this, this, this show is about the spoken word.
• 22:33
  You know, I am allowed to take literary license with what I
• 22:37
  say. I think fighting.
• 22:41
  I mean, I'm fighting you. Know what, stupid Joe?
• 22:44
  You have A nickname of a Pioneer.
• 22:45
  Pioneers couldn't play baseball. I mean, you know, they, they
• 22:50
  didn't have baseball hats, they had Coon skin hats.
• 22:53
  So, you know, that makes no sense.
• 22:56
  All right. In the in the in the defense of
• 22:58
  Corey Doviak, Joe, we did have a French clearing brawl this year
• 23:01
  with Keystone, so there was a little.
• 23:02
  Fight in US there, There you go, there you go.
• 23:06
  So there you go. Punks, I never knew it.
• 23:07
  Love it, love it my Lord. Sorry.
• 23:13
  Yes, yeah, good stuff here. And as they first of all, I mean
• 23:16
  you have people for people who don't know you have a long
• 23:20
  allegiance and history in Bergen County high school baseball.
• 23:24
  I mean, you and I are exactly the same age.
• 23:27
  We graduated the same year from BCSL, old time BCSL schools.
• 23:32
  You went to Wallington, I went to Powell Park.
• 23:34
  You were a good athlete. I was not.
• 23:36
  But you know, and, and going going back to your Rutherford
• 23:41
  coaching days and all of that stuff.
• 23:42
  So I, I think the question is like for a, you know, local
• 23:45
  coach, I want to talk about the state tournament and your, you
• 23:48
  know, modern day stuff too, about who's playing now.
• 23:50
  But just like maybe talk about quickly, you know, where, where
• 23:57
  do you see baseball has has come like in in the last 20 years,
• 24:00
  high school baseball now there's so many changes.
• 24:02
  I used to be the Legion. We've talked about that a
• 24:04
  zillion times on the show. But as a high school, I mean as
• 24:07
  a college coach recruiting these high school players, you know,
• 24:10
  this is your bread and butter area, Bergen County, you know,
• 24:12
  North Jersey for William Patterson, you know, talk a
• 24:16
  little bit about what that is like nowadays.
• 24:19
  But, you know, it's, it's a really good situation for us
• 24:22
  because, you know, especially Bergen County, Passaic County,
• 24:24
  you know, the old North Jersey is really good baseball.
• 24:27
  So you don't have to leave the area very much.
• 24:30
  And you know, it is a little bit different in respect to the fact
• 24:33
  that, you know, when we were younger, we didn't have the
• 24:35
  luxury of all these club teams. So, you know, you basically had
• 24:39
  to try out for your Legion team. If you didn't make it, you
• 24:42
  didn't play that summer. So.
• 24:45
  You know, that's just the way that it kind of works.
• 24:46
  But you know, now with, with with all the club organizations
• 24:49
  that are out there, you can go and see these kids play at the
• 24:52
  high school level, but then you can follow up with them and see
• 24:54
  them play against some really good competition over the course
• 24:57
  of the summer. And you have places like Diamond
• 24:59
  Nation where you can go down and you can see five or six games at
• 25:02
  a time from 8:00 in the morning until 10:00 every night.
• 25:05
  So that's what, you know, I think that the game has really
• 25:08
  evolved and it's gotten more kids involved in it.
• 25:11
  And that's a it's a big thing because especially in this area,
• 25:15
  sometimes the high school teams are starting to to lack numbers
• 25:18
  because of lacrosse. You know, especially when I was
• 25:21
  at Rutherford, you know, we had some really good athletes that
• 25:24
  had to play all three in order for us to be competitive in each
• 25:28
  of them. And, you know, you might have
• 25:30
  had a kid that was a real good football player, but he also
• 25:32
  played baseball. And in order for you to be
• 25:35
  successful, you needed the best athletes in the building on a
• 25:38
  daily basis. So in that respect, things have
• 25:41
  changed too. You know, kids are starting to
• 25:43
  specialize a little bit more where they're playing, playing
• 25:45
  more year round. Sometimes we try and target kids
• 25:49
  that are multi sport kids because of the fact that there's
• 25:51
  more room for growth when you get them just doing 1 and it
• 25:54
  makes them a more well-rounded person and a better athlete when
• 25:57
  you finally get them. Yeah, it's true.
• 26:01
  You know, the and, and also like the, the contraction kind of
• 26:07
  with you seeing more co-ops, there's less, you know, less
• 26:10
  high school teams to go around too, you know, and there's, you
• 26:14
  know, with, with some of the parochial schools that have
• 26:17
  closed over the years too. It's concentrated kids who want
• 26:20
  to play, you know, not necessarily that level or kids
• 26:23
  who want to get a, you know, parochial education in fewer
• 26:26
  spots too. So, you know, I, I there, there
• 26:29
  is a lot of change, But what were your, you know, you were
• 26:33
  there, you and I were talking at the semi finals of the Bergen
• 26:35
  County baseball tournament. That was still fun.
• 26:38
  I mean, when we saw we were watching a tough one with Bosco
• 26:42
  against old Japan, but the game before that, the Ramapo Pascali
• 26:45
  game was awesome. And that brought back Joe and I
• 26:48
  were talking about it, you know, more at the beginning of the
• 26:50
  show. That brought back some old
• 26:52
  school memories of just a classic public school pitching
• 26:54
  goal, you know? Yeah, yeah.
• 26:56
  I mean, there's been a lot of good pitching in North Jersey
• 26:59
  for a very long time. And you know, it has a little
• 27:03
  bit more meaning when you're taking all the kids just from 1
• 27:06
  town and they're getting after each other.
• 27:08
  And there's there's a little bit more of a rivalry type of
• 27:10
  setting there because you know, they play against each other
• 27:12
  since they were playing wreck ball, you know, as 11 year old.
• 27:16
  So sometimes you establish those rivalries and, and there's a
• 27:19
  little more balance to them. So, you know, they get after
• 27:23
  each other and it's fun to watch them do it.
• 27:25
  And you got some really good coaches now too.
• 27:26
  So I mean that always, that always adds a little bit to the
• 27:29
  to the mix too. When you get guys like, you
• 27:31
  know, like Timmy Byron, you know that they've been doing this for
• 27:34
  a long time as well and they bring their teams ready to play
• 27:37
  against just about anybody. Yeah, yeah, no doubt about it.
• 27:41
  All right, let's get into some of this.
• 27:42
  Joe, where do you want to go here?
• 27:43
  The state tournament? What?
• 27:45
  What maybe stood out to you in the first round?
• 27:48
  But you know, it's, it's always the first round is always very
• 27:52
  interesting because you're going to see some some blowouts.
• 27:54
  You know, there's just no doubt about it because there's some
• 27:56
  really good teams out there. But the teams that end up having
• 28:00
  those upsets, the reason why they got into the state
• 28:02
  tournament is they have one really special arm.
• 28:05
  And a lot of times those top seeds are nervous because of the
• 28:08
  fact that you know, you're going to see that guy and you're going
• 28:10
  to figure out a way to get through it because maybe maybe
• 28:13
  your number 2 is just as good as your number one.
• 28:15
  But in some other places that starts to change.
• 28:17
  So it's very important that first round game that you find a
• 28:20
  way to just survive in advance because anything can really
• 28:23
  happen. So, you know, you saw it across
• 28:26
  the board, across the whole state.
• 28:27
  You know, there was, there was, there was some upsets, but you
• 28:30
  know, for the most part you, you saw some lopsided ones, but then
• 28:33
  a couple of really close ones against, you know, with teams
• 28:36
  that you wouldn't expect it to be close.
• 28:39
  Yeah, no doubt about it. Joe, how about you?
• 28:42
  Where do you want to start? You want to go through some of
• 28:44
  these brackets here? I mean, we talked about, you
• 28:46
  know, DuMont gave Westwood a good little battle in North One
• 28:49
  group too. We can start there N one group
• 28:51
  too, because yeah, there's some chance, obviously.
• 28:55
  Go ahead. Riverdale, I'll tell you,
• 28:57
  Riverdale took Pascack Valley to to the wire.
• 29:00
  I think Riverdale left like 13 or 14 guys on base.
• 29:03
  And, and, and that's not a that's not an exaggeration.
• 29:06
  They, they had a lot of opportunities.
• 29:08
  So I mean, that's just that, that's the one that that kind of
• 29:11
  stood out to me. And, and the Bergenfield, the
• 29:14
  Bergenfield win was, was a big one too, because I, I think they
• 29:17
  would have 14. But again, that, that was a team
• 29:20
  that we saw twice this year. We, we split with them and, and
• 29:24
  we saw pretty good arms in and out.
• 29:27
  That, that was a team that you know, nobody if, if you saw them
• 29:30
  and knew of them, you, you, you did not want to run into them
• 29:34
  in, in, in a single elimination tournament because you know,
• 29:38
  they, they swing it one through 9 and, and they had two or three
• 29:41
  pretty good arms. So, you know, they were able to,
• 29:44
  to go out there and get it done. And you know, it's, it's, you
• 29:48
  get those wins that just turn, turn the bracket on it's ear.
• 29:52
  And, and you know, that Bergenfield win was one and
• 29:56
  there was another one. I just, I, I can't remember.
• 29:58
  I mean, Paramus was a 12. We mentioned them beating Fort
• 30:01
  Lee the five, but it's just you know, it, it really is.
• 30:05
  And and you know, to Mike's point about that one arm, you
• 30:08
  know, you're seeing somebody's somebody's arm that that that's,
• 30:12
  you know, that's carried them throughout the year.
• 30:14
  And now, you know, it's single elimination time and and you got
• 30:18
  to find a way to get through it. So Mike, did you go to any?
• 30:21
  You didn't go to any of the games, did you?
• 30:24
  I did. I, I, I went to Rutherford, but
• 30:26
  I was in the, I was in the woods.
• 30:28
  Nobody saw that I was there. I was going to say I shouldn't
• 30:31
  have asked you that question. I know you.
• 30:32
  I know you like to hide when you when you go.
• 30:34
  So I I, I maybe I shouldn't have asked you that question.
• 30:38
  Now you did you go to Rutherford because you're, you know, you
• 30:41
  just wanted to watch. Do you have a a kid coming from
• 30:44
  Rutherford or did you just go because that's the game you
• 30:46
  wanted to watch? Yeah, well, there's a couple of
• 30:49
  guys over there that we're very interested in, but that are only
• 30:52
  juniors going into going into their senior years.
• 30:55
  So, you know, I always try and make it so that I don't make
• 30:57
  them nervous at all. They don't know that I'm going
• 30:59
  to be there. And you know, I still got a
• 31:02
  little bulldog left in me, so I'm always rooting for him just
• 31:05
  on the side. You're a fighting bulldog.
• 31:08
  Yeah, fighting bulldog. Now I'm a fighting pioneer.
• 31:13
  Yeah, but how about and you, you can't talk about the kids who
• 31:16
  are I just, you know, I don't, I want to make sure I don't make a
• 31:18
  mistake here and, you know, put you in a bad position.
• 31:21
  So can you talk about the kids that are coming to William
• 31:23
  Patterson to play next year? Right now, you know, we have a
• 31:29
  few. We have a, you know, JT Di Rizzo
• 31:31
  from Yeah, that's. What I was going to ask you.
• 31:34
  Yeah, You know, we got him coming over and we're very
• 31:37
  excited about him. He's, you know, his numbers
• 31:41
  speak for themselves, but the thing that doesn't show up in
• 31:43
  the box scores is just his mentality.
• 31:45
  You know, he sits in the middle all the time.
• 31:47
  He doesn't care who he's pitching against.
• 31:49
  You wouldn't know if he was up by 10 or down by 10.
• 31:51
  Throw him really well that day or, or, or struggle.
• 31:54
  You know, he just, he has a very good demeanor and he's very
• 31:56
  mature for his age. So we're super excited about
• 31:59
  having that because one of the areas of our, you know, we need
• 32:02
  to improve on is just, you know, from a pitching standpoint, you
• 32:05
  know, we need to, we need to strengthen that area.
• 32:07
  I think we've we've done a pretty good job in from an
• 32:10
  offensive side and the defensive side, but I think that, you
• 32:13
  know, if we can throw a few more arms in there, it's really going
• 32:16
  to help us going forward. You know, and the world of
• 32:22
  college baseball is just crazy right now with the portal, you
• 32:25
  know, so we had there's a ton of kids that we're we're still
• 32:29
  pursuing. And I mean, we're not even done
• 32:30
  with our roster for for 2026. You know, you almost have to be
• 32:36
  a year ahead of the game. And that's why I'm trying to get
• 32:38
  out and see as many juniors as I can right now because you just
• 32:42
  never know. You know, kids are starting to
• 32:43
  make their commitments a lot sooner because they're a little
• 32:46
  bit concerned about how many spots are going to be available.
• 32:51
  And are they right to have that? I'm to an extent.
• 32:55
  I mean there's just so many different unknowns right now,
• 32:57
  you know, with the possibility of Division One college baseball
• 33:01
  going to a limited 34 man roster and that's a hard number that
• 33:06
  they're talking about where you know, you can't exceed it.
• 33:10
  So you know, those recruited walk ONS you might see a lot
• 33:14
  less of at the Division One level they're talking about
• 33:17
  going to 34 full scholarships as opposed to just 11.7 which they
• 33:21
  have now. But you know, not all schools
• 33:25
  are going to be able to fully fund 34 baseball scholarships.
• 33:29
  So you know, there's a lot of unknowns as as far as, you know,
• 33:32
  what schools are going to be able to do.
• 33:35
  And you know, there's going to be guys that are on Division One
• 33:39
  rosters right now that are carrying a roster of 40 and it's
• 33:42
  going to be 6 guys from that current team that won't be there
• 33:45
  next year. And that doesn't count the
• 33:47
  recruiting class that's coming in.
• 33:49
  So it makes things, it makes things a little bit, a little
• 33:52
  bit difficult. You're going to see the trickle
• 33:55
  down effect, you know, you're going to see it at at the
• 33:57
  Division 2 levels and at the Division 3 levels.
• 34:00
  And, and the ones that are probably going to benefit from
• 34:03
  it the most are the are the junior colleges, you know,
• 34:06
  because now they can go and they can spend 2 years playing
• 34:09
  against guys that are a little bit younger, you know, and not
• 34:12
  four year schools and save some money possibly and then be able
• 34:17
  to try and get to that Division One level if it works out for
• 34:20
  them. It's almost like the old
• 34:23
  American lady. Let's bring that back.
• 34:26
  We should. We should.
• 34:29
  Really, you know, so it, you know, I want to talk more about
• 34:33
  the current state tournament too, but now they're going down
• 34:36
  this road. I mean, what does that mean for
• 34:37
  you? It's crazy the changes, you
• 34:42
  know, I didn't I asked you about changes in high school baseball,
• 34:45
  but how about high school, you know, in college like is, is
• 34:48
  your more hours, less hours, players coming in players, you
• 34:55
  know, is it, is it you got to recruit your own team?
• 34:58
  Obviously you got players coming in, you got players going out.
• 35:02
  I mean, is there formula that has figured out yet like, oh,
• 35:06
  this is how we're going to do this?
• 35:07
  Or are you really like flying by the seat of your pants kind of.
• 35:10
  And I'm not saying you're dishonest or or not, you know,
• 35:13
  but it sounds like how the hell you supposed to get a handle on
• 35:17
  this. Yeah.
• 35:19
  I mean, I don't think that you're ever going to have a
• 35:21
  foolproof plan, you know, and nothing's ever going to be set
• 35:24
  in stone. And you just try and work with
• 35:26
  what you, what you know, what the situation calls for.
• 35:29
  And you're going to make adjustments as you go.
• 35:32
  But one of the things that you've noticed that we're going
• 35:35
  to have to start doing is starting our recruiting process
• 35:38
  with kids that were a little a little bit younger.
• 35:40
  You know, usually we're not looking at kids to make a
• 35:43
  decision until. Maybe, you know, right before
• 35:46
  the season starts in March of their senior year, but you're
• 35:50
  starting to see, you know, more and more people and more and
• 35:53
  more student athletes trying to make that decision earlier so
• 35:56
  they can solidify a spot and make their commitment sooner.
• 36:00
  So, you know, the recruiting calendar for us is going to have
• 36:03
  to change a little bit where we're going to have to spend a
• 36:05
  little bit more time over the course of the summer to try and
• 36:08
  pinpoint the guys that we need to target in the areas that we
• 36:11
  need to target. And then trying and have them
• 36:14
  make their commitment. You know, they're they're going
• 36:17
  to make their commitments and maybe, you know, September or
• 36:20
  October as opposed to waiting until their seasons about to
• 36:22
  start or when their season ends in June.
• 36:25
  So, and yet I think it's, you know, like you said, we're,
• 36:29
  we're, we're going to have to recruit on a lot of different
• 36:31
  fronts. You know, it used to be that
• 36:33
  you're just really targeting those juniors and seniors in
• 36:36
  high school and your junior colleges.
• 36:38
  And now you're not, you're not just doing the juniors and
• 36:41
  seniors in high school and the junior colleges.
• 36:44
  Now you're also recruiting the portal and you're also
• 36:47
  recruiting your own guys not to leave.
• 36:50
  So you know, you've basically doubled all the work that you
• 36:53
  need to do in order to to maintain where you're trying to
• 36:56
  get to. It's crazy.
• 36:59
  It's crazy. So how much NIL money did Joey
• 37:02
  Terry Junior get to go over there?
• 37:05
  We can't disclose that right now.
• 37:09
  But you know what? It's great.
• 37:10
  I mean, again, for those who don't know, Joseph Terry junior
• 37:13
  is going to go play at William Patterson this year.
• 37:15
  And, you know, like, like Mike was saying, like Joe, he's a
• 37:19
  developmental player, you know, and he's going to get bigger and
• 37:23
  he's going to get stronger. And if I think Mike is what he
• 37:26
  does and develops him in two years, then, you know, not that
• 37:30
  you would do it, but the the temptation has got to be there
• 37:33
  to, you know, it's crazy. Everybody's bucked down
• 37:35
  everywhere else, but go ahead. No, he's, he's, he's not going
• 37:39
  anywhere. No, but you know, one of the
• 37:41
  things, I think one of the things I think that, you know,
• 37:47
  when he went through the process and and went and talked to the
• 37:49
  schools that he spoke to, you know, one of the things was, was
• 37:53
  exactly what Mike is is conveying to us on on a on a
• 37:58
  level regarding the portal and how he recruits.
• 38:01
  And you know what he keys everything from you know what we
• 38:04
  see a player where we see them now entering as a freshman.
• 38:08
  What do they project? How do they project and, you
• 38:12
  know, so on. And so it's just, I, I mean,
• 38:14
  everything that I was going to ask, you know, Mike just kind of
• 38:18
  rolled into it with, with the portal, the recruiting process.
• 38:21
  And I really, really don't think, and, and I'd like to
• 38:25
  think I'm, you know, connected enough to where I knew how you
• 38:29
  have no idea how, how complex that is.
• 38:31
  And, and it's, you know, you're juggling, you're juggling 6 or 7
• 38:34
  plates with all the different types of, of recruiting that you
• 38:38
  have to do. Because it's not just recruiting
• 38:41
  your team, it's not just recruiting a certain sub
• 38:47
  category. Like, you know, now you're
• 38:48
  looking at juniors, you're going to, to the Community Schools,
• 38:52
  you're, you're recruiting the portal.
• 38:54
  It's, it's a process, I think that the public really has no
• 38:58
  idea about until, you know, they're fortunate enough to, to
• 39:02
  be involved with it. So it's, it's definitely I, I
• 39:05
  think from the outside looking into me, it seems like it's such
• 39:08
  an uphill battle to get to where you want to build your
• 39:12
  foundation and then maintain it, you know, in the hopes that you
• 39:14
  don't lose, lose any, any, anybody.
• 39:17
  So like I, I pretty much. Yeah.
• 39:20
  How much do you hear kids talking about the portal?
• 39:22
  Like, you know, do they say you know, like when you walk in a
• 39:26
  room does is it like shut up coaches here or is it like a
• 39:28
  open? Do.
• 39:31
  You know what? I.
• 39:34
  Mean no, No, I think they're pretty open, but I mean we we've
• 39:37
  had some success with it. You know where we've got the
• 39:40
  guys that have entered and they've come in and we've had
• 39:44
  success with hopefully, you know, because of the fact that I
• 39:47
  think we run a pretty good program that kids aren't
• 39:49
  leaving. You know, I think we've had one,
• 39:52
  maybe two guys in the years that you know, so it's pretty fresh.
• 39:56
  I mean, it's only really what, 3-4 years old, you know, I don't
• 39:59
  remember. The one thing I do remember
• 40:02
  there was a, there was an outfield there from.
• 40:05
  NC State, that was a freshman that ended up leaving and that's
• 40:09
  when the portal like really started to get like it's word,
• 40:13
  you know, so it's it's pretty fresh and it's pretty new.
• 40:18
  But, you know, I think that kids are open about it.
• 40:22
  And, and, you know, we've had kids come in for visits.
• 40:24
  And he said, you know, we're basically looking to use this as
• 40:27
  a stepping stone. You know, maybe there's students
• 40:29
  develop at the vision three level and then we're looking to
• 40:31
  get someplace else. I give them credit for, for
• 40:35
  telling me, you know, but at the same time, you, you want to try
• 40:38
  and make make it a positive experience that they don't go.
• 40:40
  But you know, there are situations where that happens,
• 40:43
  you know, kids end up exceeding or, or, or or getting to another
• 40:47
  level. I mean, one of the portal guys
• 40:49
  that we had, there's a kid named Colin Lombardo from Edison.
• 40:53
  And I'm, I kid you not, you know, he's, he's a friend of a
• 40:56
  friend of mine that introduced me to him.
• 40:58
  And the whole thing got kind of rolling that way.
• 41:00
  But he hit like 180 as a senior in high school.
• 41:04
  But when we saw, we saw there was some things there were like
• 41:06
  some tools like this kid could end up being something.
• 41:09
  And he had a great mentality and he was he fit into our culture.
• 41:13
  And the kid ended up being a two time all American for us and
• 41:16
  then had an extra year because of the Kovic situation.
• 41:20
  And he came to me and he said, listen, you know, I'm, I already
• 41:23
  graduated, I already got my MBA. I really don't need any more
• 41:27
  education. Do you think it would be OK if I
• 41:29
  entered the portal to see if there would be any interest in
• 41:31
  some Division One schools because of the success that I
• 41:34
  had? And I told him, I said, I think
• 41:35
  it's a great idea and I'm going to help you do it.
• 41:38
  And I remember setting him up. For the, you know the whole
• 41:40
  portal. Thing and he ended up going down
• 41:41
  to Winthrop and playing for a year.
• 41:44
  So we got that Division One experience, but he earned it,
• 41:46
  you know, and it was a kid, like I said, high school senior year
• 41:49
  was hitting 180 and ends up being the two time all all
• 41:52
  American at the D3 level and then gets a scholarship to play
• 41:55
  at the Division One level at the end.
• 41:57
  So there's a lot of benefits to it as well.
• 42:00
  I think it's just a matter of making sure that us as coaches,
• 42:03
  we do the best by the kids. You know, that's what it's
• 42:05
  really all about. What happened to the jerk who
• 42:08
  said, hey coach, stopping by here on my way to Division One?
• 42:11
  Where's the C now? Was this the?
• 42:14
  One that came in what? Happened to the What happened to
• 42:17
  the jerk that said I'm using you as a stepping stone, That's what
• 42:20
  he. That was probably one of the
• 42:23
  quickest things we. Have I have spoken about, and,
• 42:29
  and I say this, I say this all the time to, to any kids that I,
• 42:32
  I have the opportunity to speak to Mike just said something that
• 42:36
  was, was, it couldn't be, it couldn't be more real and it
• 42:39
  couldn't be more true because you know, you, you look at a
• 42:42
  kids number at, you know, he's hitting 180.
• 42:44
  You look at a kids ERA that you know, he, he might be, you know,
• 42:48
  3.9 in high school. You look at these numbers and
• 42:51
  and it's like so many kids get and so many parents get caught
• 42:55
  up in chasing results. And you know, chasing that day
• 43:00
  that you know is you have that kid that's old for three and,
• 43:04
  you know, put three good three good at bats on it and they just
• 43:08
  squirt a ball up three times. And then you have that, you
• 43:11
  know, that kid that might have two infield singles and, and if
• 43:14
  you're chasing results, you know, you're looking at the 2
• 43:16
  for three kid. But what the college guy is
• 43:19
  doing and, and obviously Mike can speak to this better than he
• 43:21
  has already. You know, he's going there and
• 43:23
  saying exactly what he just said about this kid.
• 43:26
  He hit 180. But we saw something in him.
• 43:28
  We, we saw that he fit our program, you know, and, and we
• 43:31
  were going to develop them and, and look at what he amounted to.
• 43:33
  So these kids, Mike, get so hung up on on their numbers and you
• 43:39
  know, the parents get so hung up on stats and percentages and
• 43:43
  stuff. I mean, speak a little bit more
• 43:45
  to that about like, you know, as a college guy, what of course
• 43:49
  you want to see some numbers, but ultimately your your
• 43:52
  complete package when you go when you go see a kid.
• 43:56
  Yeah, I mean, I'm looking at different things.
• 43:58
  And, you know, that's what the the great thing about baseball
• 44:00
  is. There's so many different
• 44:01
  variables, you know, that you're not going to see.
• 44:03
  They're not going to be seeing the same exact picture.
• 44:05
  You know, you, like you just said, you could have a kid that
• 44:08
  goes 3 for four, but he was facing a kid that was thrown 62
• 44:11
  miles an hour, you know, where, you know, was.
• 44:14
  What did he look like? What did his takes look like?
• 44:17
  Did he have good takes? You know, he didn't even swing.
• 44:19
  I remember going to see Chris Liriano from Bergenfield.
• 44:22
  As a matter of fact, you were talking about them before his
• 44:25
  first three at bats, he got got hit by the first pitch and he
• 44:27
  walked twice. I didn't even see him.
• 44:29
  He took two swings the entire time I was there.
• 44:31
  So I had to go back and see him again, You know, so, but there's
• 44:34
  different things that you can see and you, you know, if
• 44:37
  there's a foundation there, then what our job is, is to develop
• 44:40
  them and see how much better you can make them a little bit at a
• 44:43
  time. And you know, for us at the
• 44:45
  Division Three level, a lot of time we're getting those kids
• 44:47
  that are just late bloomers. So you got to have your eye open
• 44:50
  and say, all right, you know what, not yet, but you know, two
• 44:53
  years down the road this could be something.
• 44:55
  And you just never know and you don't want to be the guy.
• 44:58
  That missed them. Right Is, you know, and it's
• 45:02
  funny because I watched the game in the exact opposite way.
• 45:04
  I'm looking for the key that goes 2 for three because I want
• 45:06
  the story, you know what I mean? Like.
• 45:09
  Well, we all have more different jobs.
• 45:11
  Yes, you know, so I'm like, wow, that kid doesn't even swing the
• 45:15
  bat. I ain't interviewing him, but it
• 45:20
  is crazy how you know, and and we're all we were standing in
• 45:23
  the same spot doing the same thing the other day.
• 45:25
  So it really is great. And high school baseball is such
• 45:27
  a a treat. High school sports are such a
• 45:30
  treat. And it just drives me crazy
• 45:32
  that, you know, people always worrying about what comes next.
• 45:37
  And I had a great conversation. I was telling Joe earlier, I had
• 45:39
  a great conversation with Mike Rooney after Bosco won.
• 45:42
  He said we always tell their all the kids to, you know, don't
• 45:46
  always think about what comes. Don't don't think about what
• 45:48
  comes next. Be where your feet are and you
• 45:51
  know, it's worth it. Those moments like yesterday, I
• 45:55
  went to see Paramus against Fort Lee in the first round of the
• 45:59
  state tournament and Chris Matesic, the senior, and he's
• 46:02
  he's going to Montclair State like he's going to be a problem
• 46:04
  for you. Because even I who watches the
• 46:08
  world. Not if the portal.
• 46:14
  That's true. What is the game for?
• 46:16
  The story knows when a ball darts when when it starts
• 46:20
  straight and then falls off a table or when it starts straight
• 46:22
  and then makes a hard left turn before it gets to the batter's
• 46:25
  box. And it looks like some of that
• 46:26
  was happening yesterday. But you know, those type of
• 46:29
  things to have that moment, you know, he was saying metastatic.
• 46:36
  When I talked to him, he was saying like as a sophomore, he
• 46:39
  came in Paramus's last state tournament win was in the first
• 46:44
  round of the 23 playoffs and he came in and closed as a
• 46:48
  sophomore. And then this was his, you know,
• 46:51
  they, they didn't win a game or didn't make.
• 46:52
  I don't know what the case was last year.
• 46:54
  And then, you know, this year to come in and have a dominant
• 46:56
  starter's performance and just like to hear the kid talk about
• 46:59
  what it meant to him to have those type of high school
• 47:02
  moments. You know, we all had them in our
• 47:03
  own way too. You know, you didn't have, you
• 47:06
  don't even have to be a great player to have great high school
• 47:09
  moments. I can attest to that.
• 47:10
  And I just I I just wish more people would accept high school
• 47:15
  sports for what they are, not for what they can give you,
• 47:17
  because they really shouldn't give you anything.
• 47:19
  You should give to them. I mean, that's that's the way I
• 47:21
  feel. But but anyway, two things
• 47:23
  before I let you go. IA great story about what you
• 47:28
  know, Division Three and Jack New Jersey public school
• 47:32
  baseball can mean to a player and anybody who says I want to
• 47:39
  be D1, I wanted this go first of all, go watch an NJAT game and
• 47:43
  see the level of talent that goes on there.
• 47:44
  I mean, that's high level baseball from no, no matter how
• 47:49
  you slice it. Go see it before you start
• 47:51
  talking about and you know, maybe you're a Division One
• 47:54
  player, but you should go see if you could be a Division Three
• 47:56
  player first because that's real good baseball.
• 47:58
  But Mike, the story of Steven D Geralamo quickly, if you can.
• 48:04
  All right, so Steven D Geralamo was a a a DuMont High School
• 48:08
  player. He's with us for, for five
• 48:10
  years. And the reason it was 5 was
• 48:13
  because of the fact that he was one of the COVID kids.
• 48:16
  So he had lost some, some years with, you know, with us having
• 48:19
  our season shut down. So at the Division Three level,
• 48:22
  they were actually allowed, they gave him two years back.
• 48:25
  So, you know, if you were a freshman when COVID hit, you had
• 48:28
  you were able to get six years of eligibility.
• 48:31
  So Steven, a very, very bright kid.
• 48:34
  He was an academic All American for us for two years, a
• 48:38
  tremendous outfielder. I mean, played five seasons with
• 48:40
  us, didn't make an error in college, didn't make an error at
• 48:43
  all. Not one.
• 48:48
  But. He.
• 48:51
  Steven was, you know, coming back to do a master's program
• 48:55
  and with that extra year and, you know, calls me in August and
• 49:01
  he says I got an issue, so what's the matter?
• 49:04
  He said, I just got through my internship at William Patterson.
• 49:08
  I was able to to get a, a full time positions with Morgan
• 49:13
  Stanley starting at a pretty good number.
• 49:15
  He said I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do.
• 49:18
  And I basically told him, I said, as much as I'd love to
• 49:20
  have you out in the center field, we you have to take this
• 49:23
  opportunity. It's not going to be something
• 49:25
  that you can pass by and you're such a good person and you're
• 49:27
  such a good student and you're going to end up benefiting that
• 49:30
  company so well. They're going to end up paying
• 49:32
  for you to go back and get your masters later on.
• 49:34
  So you have to take advantage of this opportunity.
• 49:37
  So he took the job and he didn't play in 2022, decides that he
• 49:41
  wants to pursue another degree and then realize that with his
• 49:46
  work schedule he might be able to work it out where he would be
• 49:49
  able to work full time, go back to get his second degree and at
• 49:55
  the same time play baseball. And he said if I if I can find
• 49:58
  the time to. Do this, would you?
• 50:00
  Be OK with it. And I obviously said yes.
• 50:04
  So, but there were days like he had to organize himself.
• 50:07
  We had to make sure that the schedules all worked out and
• 50:10
  everything was structured. But I mean, there were days
• 50:12
  where, you know, we had a practice at 2:00 and he would
• 50:15
  tell me before practice and say, hey, listen, at 2:30 I got to go
• 50:18
  on, jump on a call and he would literally run into the locker
• 50:22
  room. He was put on a shirt and tie,
• 50:24
  leave his baseball pants on, do his Zoom meeting and then come
• 50:27
  back out and he would take BP. So, you know, again, that's a
• 50:32
  special kid. And you got to make sure that,
• 50:34
  you know, that you can do you, you have the ability to balance
• 50:37
  everything. But, you know, he really
• 50:40
  understood that he wasn't going to make $10 million and play at
• 50:43
  Yankee Stadium anytime soon. And, you know, pursuing his
• 50:47
  degree, getting the opportunity to be around all of his buddies
• 50:50
  and compete like you're talking about with the high school kids.
• 50:53
  You know, it's the moment. It's what's happening now.
• 50:55
  And he was, he was smart enough to understand that once it went
• 50:58
  by, you're not going to be able to get it back.
• 51:01
  So, you know, it was a great situation and I got a really
• 51:04
  great kid. And that's what Division 3
• 51:08
  baseball is all about. Yes, it's an illustration of
• 51:11
  like using the game for your purposes.
• 51:13
  You know it. It's great.
• 51:15
  All right, Last one from me is, you know what's going on at
• 51:19
  William Pat. I mean, I know, great history of
• 51:22
  success. This year was a little bit
• 51:23
  rougher, you know, but I know you got some good things going
• 51:27
  on on campus and, you know, give us the state of the state of
• 51:30
  William Patterson baseball. Now I think, you know, we're
• 51:32
  getting back on track and, you know, the record really didn't
• 51:34
  dictate how how far away we were.
• 51:36
  You said it before and Jack, baseball is a grind and it's
• 51:39
  extremely competitive. You know, we had five teams, you
• 51:42
  know, five teams made the NCAA tournament this year, which is
• 51:46
  like unheard of. It's like the SEC at the
• 51:48
  Division One, you know? And, you know, at the same time
• 51:52
  now, you still have two that are still playing.
• 51:54
  You know, we had two that made it through the Super Regionals
• 51:56
  and they're on opposite sides of the bracket at the College World
• 51:59
  Series. And there's a possibility that
• 52:01
  they can be playing each other in the national championship
• 52:04
  game. So, you know, that's just really
• 52:07
  good baseball. And we weren't there this year,
• 52:10
  you know, but our, again, our, you know, the record really
• 52:13
  didn't dictate how close we were.
• 52:16
  You know, we had a lot of very close.
• 52:18
  You know, we had 9-9 or ten games in April that were decided
• 52:21
  by two runs or less and you know, if we were able to flip
• 52:25
  half of them over, we would have been right in the mix and it
• 52:27
  just didn't work out that way. But we are doing some things up
• 52:30
  at school. You know, we just put a
• 52:32
  $2,000,000 strength and conditioning room for for
• 52:35
  athletes that was just in there. We hired a full time strength
• 52:38
  and conditioning coach. So I think those are some of the
• 52:41
  things that are going to start to benefit us a little bit.
• 52:44
  You know, the field has always been beautiful and you know,
• 52:47
  we're still doing upgrades to that every chance that we can
• 52:49
  get. So, you know, and the education
• 52:53
  is quality. I mean, you know, your mom is a
• 52:55
  professor over there, so you can't get better teachers than
• 52:58
  what we have. So, you know, so there's a lot
• 53:03
  of schools that are. Legit Business School too a
• 53:06
  legit Business School like a. Good school is great, you know,
• 53:11
  and that's what we tell kids all the time, you know, between our
• 53:13
  alumni base, which is extremely strong, you know, with baseball
• 53:16
  program and the culture that we have.
• 53:18
  And you know what coach Alby started and my job is to make
• 53:20
  sure that it continues and, and the family, along with the
• 53:23
  professors and the internships that they have connections with.
• 53:27
  You're getting a quality education at a pretty good price
• 53:30
  and you're getting an opportunity to play the game
• 53:31
  that you love while you're doing.
• 53:33
  And, you know, the culture is a real important piece of the
• 53:36
  puzzle for me, you know, because again, Coach Alby's was, you
• 53:40
  know, a whole Hall of Fame coach and develop this, you know,
• 53:45
  family based on basically North Jersey, all North Jersey
• 53:49
  players. And, you know, we're continuing
• 53:52
  to make that grow in the right direction.
• 53:54
  And we're still doing some special things and we're hoping
• 53:57
  that we can get back to that national level again real soon.
• 54:01
  Very cool, Joe. Anything else?
• 54:04
  No, I mean I. Sleep and you know, fell asleep
• 54:06
  10 minutes. Ago.
• 54:07
  No, he's just, you know, he's wondering how much of A check he
• 54:10
  has to write. I told him, yeah, I don't know
• 54:14
  what the hell he's talking about.
• 54:15
  At a pretty reasonable price. I mean, I, I feel like I, I hit
• 54:18
  over the head every other damn e-mail I get is you need 750 for
• 54:23
  this, 800 for. He hasn't even set foot on the
• 54:25
  campus yet, right? I just want one time.
• 54:29
  Like I, I just want Mike. I just want Mike to admit that
• 54:34
  back in May of 1990, he would have been out at second base if
• 54:39
  my shortstop got there to to take the throw.
• 54:42
  That's all I want. That's all I want.
• 54:44
  He was out. He was out.
• 54:45
  For those of you that don't know.
• 54:47
  And I'll tell you what I got when he stole that face, right?
• 54:49
  So the ball goes into center field.
• 54:51
  Mike winds up on 3rd. We go to the we, we, Sorvino
• 54:55
  comes out of the dugout and he's ripping me because I was giving
• 55:00
  our pitcher at the time the sign to throw over, throw over,
• 55:04
  throw, throw over. My steals ball goes into center
• 55:08
  and it was my fault, but the pitcher didn't.
• 55:11
  The pitcher didn't throw over, but you know, it was probably.
• 55:15
  Probably main names. Who was it?
• 55:18
  The the the pitcher was John Diadetta.
• 55:21
  OK. And who was who didn't?
• 55:22
  Call No, no, no, no, no. I'm sorry, sorry, I'm sorry.
• 55:25
  We did not throw the head of that game.
• 55:28
  We threw, I believe we threw Kenny Stern.
• 55:30
  So he didn't, he didn't throw over.
• 55:35
  We were totally you're looking. At it was Big energy, a Paramus.
• 55:40
  Both are three at Wallington. It was, it was, it was.
• 55:44
  And it was a seven. It was a 710 game too.
• 55:46
  They were 10. We were the seven.
• 55:48
  And we we threw we through the the the right eastern looking
• 55:53
  past Wallington, But it was it was just a funny story that that
• 55:57
  you know, Mike and I have talked about for I don't know 35 years
• 56:00
  now, but I don't think I'll ever get it still matters.
• 56:04
  I don't I don't but they when I completely.
• 56:06
  Forgot about it, you're the one that keeps bringing it up.
• 56:12
  We all watch games. Everybody has their own best
• 56:15
  priorities. When they're watching the games.
• 56:18
  The fastest guy in Burton County, the fastest guy in
• 56:21
  Burton County in any sport at the time and, and we obviously
• 56:26
  have shot guys. We got shot.
• 56:31
  We. We, we, you know, I'm glad we,
• 56:35
  you and I got to spend a couple hours together at that baseball
• 56:38
  game a couple weeks ago because, you know, it led to this.
• 56:41
  And this conversation is great. And I think the work that you're
• 56:44
  doing at William Patterson, both on the baseball field and
• 56:47
  opportunities that you're giving, you know, kids, you
• 56:49
  know, with life lessons and everything else.
• 56:51
  And we turn our precious Joey Sottera junior over to you next
• 56:55
  year. And don't mess.
• 56:58
  We're looking forward. We're looking forward to having
• 57:00
  Junior. Yeah, yeah, I will be there.
• 57:04
  I'll be the top top. He's going to be, oh, he's going
• 57:08
  to be all over you too, you know?
• 57:09
  I'll be top of the the greatest, the greatest thing, the greatest
• 57:13
  thing in the in the world is that and and and Joe knows this
• 57:16
  too. He knows it that, that like he
• 57:19
  is in, in, in great hands up there.
• 57:22
  You know, the, the, the pitching coach Santana, actually, Mike,
• 57:27
  you'll know he, he moved himself to the third base side already
• 57:29
  the other the other day because I, I was talking to him about
• 57:33
  some, some things and he's going to be in great hands.
• 57:36
  And, and, and we know that. And as a family, we're, we're
• 57:39
  we're very happy with where he's going.
• 57:41
  And as a disclaimer, as a disclaimer, we will never have
• 57:44
  ever have. I will not allow another NJAC
• 57:48
  baseball coach to be on the shelf.
• 57:50
  That that's it, that's it. Yeah.
• 57:57
  Are. There any other?
• 57:59
  Are there any other? There's only one team in that
• 58:03
  conference, Willie Patterson, my mother's.
• 58:05
  Pioneers, you guys need numbers. I got numbers.
• 58:12
  Mike, we'll talk to you soon. And this was fun.
• 58:15
  Yeah. Thanks for having me again.
• 58:16
  It's great catching up with you guys again.
• 58:17
  All right, Joe, that was great stuff there with Laudy.
• 58:20
  I mean, it was a lot of fun. The NJAC has existed like in
• 58:23
  the, you know, my orbit for the last 25 years, and I don't
• 58:27
  really do enough about it. I I should.
• 58:29
  And, you know, one of these days I'm going to go do some, you
• 58:32
  know, maybe a couple feature stories and just run around
• 58:35
  there because I'm interested in and I like, I like good baseball
• 58:38
  that's being played there. Yeah, you know, should be good.
• 58:42
  Should be good for your boy going forward, too.
• 58:43
  So it should be a great, Yeah. If he comes out as good as
• 58:46
  Steven Dietzer album, he'll be doing all right in his life.
• 58:48
  Yeah, it's, you know, and, and we touched on the Business
• 58:51
  School there too. And you know, he, that's where,
• 58:54
  that's where he's, that's where his goals are, you know,
• 58:57
  business degree in sports management and you know, he's,
• 59:02
  he's going to a very good place, very fortunate.
• 59:05
  They're very realistic and very upfront.
• 59:08
  And, and what helps is, you know, a level head from, from
• 59:14
  the kid and, you know, your own goals and your own expectations,
• 59:19
  you know, your work ethic and your commitment to to make the
• 59:23
  most of an opportunity that others see in you.
• 59:27
  You know, it's, it's not something that.
• 59:28
  Oh yeah, sure. Come up, come up and play.
• 59:30
  Yeah, there's no problem. You know, it's they do have to
• 59:33
  see something. And, and, and you know, Mike
• 59:36
  spoke a lot about that to the culture they build.
• 59:39
  And are kids the right fit? And you know, how about the
• 59:43
  story about the kid that hit 180?
• 59:45
  Like it's, it's, it's just everything, everything,
• 59:50
  everything you try to instill in, in high school athletes and
• 59:54
  in, and in my case, my, my own kids do not chase results, do
• 59:58
  not chase numbers. All of those things about you
• 1:00:02
  never know who's watching you. You never know who's at a game.
• 1:00:05
  And when you have a kid on your team that brings a college guy
• 1:00:09
  and you have a good day, or maybe the guy looks at who's the
• 1:00:13
  1st kid out of the dugout. Maybe a guy looks at a kid who
• 1:00:16
  you know, pretty slip fielding athletic quarterback on the
• 1:00:21
  field. Goes and talks to the pitcher
• 1:00:24
  when the pitcher needs it, picks his teammates up.
• 1:00:26
  You know what, like this kid now he's on the radar.
• 1:00:29
  Like the opportunities are are you know, so there for kids and
• 1:00:35
  I, I just think that not enough kids think about that.
• 1:00:38
  I think a lot of kids, but then a lot of kids don't do the
• 1:00:43
  things that they should be doing or that college coaches look for
• 1:00:49
  unless they know what coach is coming to see them.
• 1:00:51
  You know what I mean, right? Yes, yes, yeah.
• 1:00:53
  They should do it anyway. What are they?
• 1:00:55
  What's that cliche on a T-shirt? Like, dude, character is what
• 1:00:58
  you is doing. What?
• 1:01:00
  Yeah. I mean, right.
• 1:01:02
  It takes no effort. It takes no talent.
• 1:01:04
  It takes no talent to to be a positive voice.
• 1:01:07
  It takes no talent to be the first guy out of dugout.
• 1:01:10
  It's no, no talent to pick your teammates up so on and so forth.
• 1:01:13
  And, and honestly, not enough kids do it.
• 1:01:16
  Not enough kids do it. We're too busy, we're too busy
• 1:01:19
  celebrating a double. We're too busy talking trash to
• 1:01:21
  the other team. We're, we're, we're too busy
• 1:01:24
  slumping our shoulders or, or slamming the bat because we got
• 1:01:27
  hit by a pitch. We're too you know, we're we're
• 1:01:30
  we're too busy talking, talking trash like just the game came to
• 1:01:34
  pure game and and kids need to get back to doing that.
• 1:01:37
  And and the only way it's going to get done is unfortunately,
• 1:01:41
  you know, life lessons. You know, we walked away from
• 1:01:45
  you. We walked away from you because
• 1:01:46
  we didn't like this. We didn't like the pre game warm
• 1:01:48
  up. We didn't like the way you play
• 1:01:49
  catch before the game. We did.
• 1:01:51
  It's the details, the details and and the ones that are
• 1:01:54
  committed get it and the ones that want to talk about college,
• 1:01:59
  they don't get it. So it was good.
• 1:02:01
  It was. I thought it was real good.
• 1:02:03
  Real good man. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:02:04
  And you know, we had him on, I was like, I was to talk about
• 1:02:06
  the state tournament with him and we talked about a couple of
• 1:02:10
  state tournament games and then we.
• 1:02:11
  Yeah, because he it, you know, it's, it's again, it's much
• 1:02:14
  bigger than one result and, and anything else.
• 1:02:17
  And it's it's we know Lottie, so it makes it easy to have this
• 1:02:20
  conversation with him. But you know, like you said, you
• 1:02:24
  know, not that we'll ever have another N Jack coach on, but
• 1:02:26
  they would all say the same thing, you know, because it's,
• 1:02:30
  you know, it's Division 3 baseball and not that you can't
• 1:02:33
  make the major leagues from there, but you probably won't.
• 1:02:35
  So you're better off trying to see what it's like.
• 1:02:38
  And yeah, this is a kid. I mean the most kid titles it.
• 1:02:42
  Yeah, but for whatever 94% of of high school players, baseball
• 1:02:46
  players, but this is truly this. Is it like your next four years?
• 1:02:50
  Are you living out your dream? And that you know, the the, the
• 1:02:54
  end result? You, you don't think about that
• 1:02:55
  goal like coming to an end or that opportunity coming to an
• 1:02:58
  end. But, you know, for for most of
• 1:03:01
  these kids in this conference, as good as it is, you know,
• 1:03:04
  maybe they go play independent and try to catch on somewhere
• 1:03:07
  or, you know, whatever. But yeah, it's, it's it's your
• 1:03:10
  dream now. Here you go for four more years,
• 1:03:12
  you get your opportunity. So go chase it.
• 1:03:14
  Yeah. I mean, the kid right down the
• 1:03:16
  block from me, Johnny O'Reilly, I talk about him all the time.
• 1:03:18
  One of the best pitchers in the history of old Japan High
• 1:03:20
  School, had a great career at Rutgers and chase it.
• 1:03:22
  I think he's he's still a free agent.
• 1:03:24
  Now, this is the first year he hasn't been picked up by anyone,
• 1:03:26
  but he made it. You know, it's a AAA with the
• 1:03:28
  Pirates and, and AAA with the Angels or AA with the Angels,
• 1:03:32
  whatever it was, whatever the case may be, that's as good a
• 1:03:34
  kid that's ever come through Bergen County or Bergen County
• 1:03:36
  Public School. And it just goes to show you how
• 1:03:39
  hard it is to get all the way there.
• 1:03:40
  I mean, the chance of getting is.
• 1:03:43
  Yeah. Chance of getting as far as he
• 1:03:45
  did. Yeah.
• 1:03:46
  No, just a chance of getting as far as he did.
• 1:03:48
  Or one in a million, you know how many?
• 1:03:50
  Yeah. Look at the kids from Park
• 1:03:51
  Ridge. Yeah, what's his name?
• 1:03:54
  Kevin Herget. Kevin Herget Yes, go ahead, say
• 1:03:59
  what you want, but. Low got directed low rounds out
• 1:04:02
  of high school, right low low low rounds he he chased his
• 1:04:06
  dream, you know and and he's major leader I mean it's it's
• 1:04:12
  crazy it's crazy it's crazy I. Covered I, when, when he came
• 1:04:16
  up, I went through the archives and I put it up on Twitter, a
• 1:04:18
  picture of him from high school. And I, I covered the game.
• 1:04:21
  Then I went back and wrote, read the story that I wrote too.
• 1:04:23
  And I, I didn't write like can't miss, you know, like this is one
• 1:04:28
  of the best. He was just, he was a good high
• 1:04:30
  school baseball player and a good high school pitcher.
• 1:04:33
  And, you know, and, and, and playing at Park Ridge in I
• 1:04:37
  covered both ends of the rivalry that year against Emerson.
• 1:04:40
  I mean, those were great games, those Group 1 still BCSL
• 1:04:44
  national or Olympic division games.
• 1:04:47
  They were awesome. Pete Crandall against, you know,
• 1:04:51
  sitch sitch screaming macaroni and the dugout and all those
• 1:04:54
  things. But.
• 1:04:56
  There was no way to tank some chlorophyll in the dugout.
• 1:04:59
  That was this big one. Get some chlorophyll in the
• 1:05:01
  dugout. What does that mean?
• 1:05:04
  What does that mean? And my sister code is like, you
• 1:05:06
  probably got to teach biology to, to, to understand that.
• 1:05:11
  All right, so let's let's swing back here to the current day and
• 1:05:15
  the here and now. We talked, we talked about, we
• 1:05:17
  touched on a lot of the, the state tournament stuff.
• 1:05:19
  I'm gonna go through this, go through these brackets real
• 1:05:20
  quick. N one Group 1 is just about
• 1:05:24
  chalk, you know #1 Pequannock and #8 Cresskill.
• 1:05:29
  Cresco quietly having a great year, qualified for the Bergen
• 1:05:32
  County tournament, won a league title for the first time in a
• 1:05:34
  long time. I, I don't even remember I saw
• 1:05:36
  it on the Twitter. And then winning a first round
• 1:05:39
  game in a state tournament. So good year for Cresco.
• 1:05:42
  Your beloved New Milford Fighting Knights won their first
• 1:05:45
  round game against Booton. They'll play wall kill Valley,
• 1:05:49
  the number 4. That's the 4-5 game, the biggest
• 1:05:53
  upset. And the bottom of the bracket
• 1:05:55
  was busted up a little bit as Kidatini beat Hasbrouck Heights
• 1:05:58
  in the on the turf on Route 17, seven to two.
• 1:06:01
  So it's Kittatinny at #6 Indian Hills and #10 Mountain Lakes
• 1:06:06
  knocked off #7 Emerson and they will Mountain Lakes will play
• 1:06:10
  Midland Park and probably what's going to be a pretty interesting
• 1:06:12
  quarter final in Northland Groupon.
• 1:06:13
  But I I for me, I said it at the beginning, Indian Hills are the
• 1:06:16
  team to beat in that bracket. I mean, they are.
• 1:06:19
  You know, the program was OK. They're they're they're they are
• 1:06:24
  they they have a little bit familiar with with with them.
• 1:06:28
  They they have a pretty good middle infield.
• 1:06:32
  Their their their Senate fielders real good.
• 1:06:34
  And, and and they just, they just grind.
• 1:06:37
  You know, they just they just keep coming at you.
• 1:06:40
  They got, you know, one of their one of their leaders, Andy, Andy
• 1:06:45
  Aviles. I think he's going to American
• 1:06:49
  to to play and they have AI think he's their third baseman.
• 1:06:54
  I don't know if he's third or first.
• 1:06:56
  I think he's playing first base now by the name of Liam Block.
• 1:06:59
  You know, real they're they're a gritty team.
• 1:07:02
  Man. I, I, I understand what you're
• 1:07:03
  saying about Indian Hills. But, but but New Milford, New
• 1:07:06
  Milford's grinding a little bit. They're they're, they're playing
• 1:07:09
  good baseball. It would be great to see New
• 1:07:12
  Milford make a run, no doubt. About it, it would actually.
• 1:07:17
  And I again, I don't know anything about Kittatinny
• 1:07:19
  baseball. I don't know anything about
• 1:07:20
  Mountain lakes baseball. But if it's Indian Hills,
• 1:07:23
  Midland Park in the north, one group, one state semi final,
• 1:07:26
  state Texas semi final, that's pretty marquee match up at that
• 1:07:29
  level that that great. And then if you know more for
• 1:07:32
  and you know for Aquatics and other team with with bigger
• 1:07:35
  school infrastructure, you know they've come down in
• 1:07:38
  classification. Yeah, they sure have.
• 1:07:42
  So that's N one Group 1. N one group 2 is I said that
• 1:07:46
  this was going to be, you know, this is one of the toughest
• 1:07:49
  brackets in all of public school baseball and you but Pascag
• 1:07:55
  Valley, the number one seed got taken to the limit by Riverdale
• 1:08:00
  32 Pascag Valley victory. And you can see that coming too,
• 1:08:02
  because, you know, you can say all you want that, you know,
• 1:08:05
  it's just one game, the county final.
• 1:08:07
  But they put a lot of stretch pitches, eggs in that
• 1:08:13
  championship basket, fall behind 2 nothing in the first inning
• 1:08:16
  against Don Bosco Prep and can never really dig themselves out
• 1:08:19
  of it. And you can see there might be a
• 1:08:21
  little hangover. Now that's taking something away
• 1:08:23
  from Riverdale, which I don't mean to do because Riverdale's
• 1:08:25
  been, you know, they've got some good wins on the season.
• 1:08:28
  But if you're Will Lynch, we should mention too, that's his
• 1:08:31
  300th win of his career. And #300 was squeaker for Will.
• 1:08:36
  Well, yeah, they find good teams, find a way, you know,
• 1:08:38
  good, good teams, good teams find a way.
• 1:08:42
  And and they did, you know, it's like just live, live for live to
• 1:08:45
  play another day. How great is Will Lynch?
• 1:08:48
  I two weeks ago somebody texted me and said, you know, we're
• 1:08:51
  trying to figure out how many wins Will has.
• 1:08:54
  We want to do something nice for him.
• 1:08:55
  I know he's. I bet you he didn't even know.
• 1:08:56
  I I bet you, I bet you he didn't even know.
• 1:08:59
  So I said to him, I, I, I, you know whoever.
• 1:09:02
  I don't want to say who texted me and asked me to, you know, if
• 1:09:05
  I can help. So I'm like, you know what?
• 1:09:07
  I'm not going to, I'm not going to beat around the Bush.
• 1:09:09
  I'm going to say I said, well, listen, there's I know you.
• 1:09:12
  I know you don't. You don't want to tell me how
• 1:09:14
  many wins you have. It's the last thing you're
• 1:09:15
  thinking about. But there are people who would
• 1:09:18
  like to do something nice for you.
• 1:09:20
  So I'm going to ask you how many wins do you have?
• 1:09:22
  Because you know, it's only fair to them.
• 1:09:24
  They're looking to do something nice.
• 1:09:26
  Here he goes. Oh, it's got to be 285.
• 1:09:31
  You know, after 20 minutes of telling me how he doesn't want
• 1:09:34
  to do it, it's about the kids and blah, blah, blah, blah, 285.
• 1:09:37
  That was two weeks ago. Unless he played 15 games in the
• 1:09:40
  last two weeks. Unless he went 15 in the last
• 1:09:43
  two weeks. He literally doesn't help.
• 1:09:46
  And that's, that's, that's absolutely genuine.
• 1:09:48
  Like he doesn't doesn't count that.
• 1:09:50
  Yeah, he doesn't count that. So he doesn't care about it.
• 1:09:53
  And, and and that's the that's the greatest.
• 1:09:55
  That's the greatest, the greatest thing in the world is
• 1:09:58
  to not care to be able to walk away like it's just it's a it's
• 1:10:02
  because it's about the game. It's about teaching the game and
• 1:10:06
  it's about competing. It's not about how many wins I
• 1:10:09
  have like it. It's just it's it's amazing.
• 1:10:12
  But go on with the group where we got group.
• 1:10:15
  Yeah, the, the one, I mean, I was really looking forward to
• 1:10:17
  Pascack Valley Pascack kills in the quarterfinals.
• 1:10:19
  I mean, I, I purposely didn't go to Pascack Kills Jefferson or
• 1:10:23
  Riverdale Pascack Valley, because I figure, you know, with
• 1:10:26
  a little luck, I could that would be my round two game and
• 1:10:29
  then Jefferson 7 one over Pascack kills in Montville.
• 1:10:31
  So you know, and now I'm going to stay away from Pascal kills
• 1:10:35
  because I don't care if Jefferson wins or loses.
• 1:10:37
  And so that's the one nine game. This this bracket is chalk
• 1:10:42
  except for that, you know, slight Jefferson, the 90 beaten
• 1:10:45
  Pascal kills you got #5 Mahwah against #4 Westwood.
• 1:10:49
  We don't need to talk about how Westwood got there.
• 1:10:51
  Mahwah defeat defeated Demarest and then you got a couple more.
• 1:10:58
  One of the best matchups of the second round in any bracket in
• 1:11:03
  the public schools in the state is #3 Ramsey against #6 Glen
• 1:11:06
  Rock and then West Milford Vernon on the bottom.
• 1:11:08
  But Ramsey Glen Rock is a big one.
• 1:11:11
  Yeah, it's, it's a big one. I actually tried to call Steve
• 1:11:15
  Spitalari and and see because we we were talking about what he
• 1:11:18
  was going to do with with his starting pitcher yesterday and I
• 1:11:22
  didn't look it up to see who to see who he threw.
• 1:11:24
  But no, that's a that's a great, that's a great matchup.
• 1:11:29
  Great matchup. I may go watch that one.
• 1:11:33
  Yeah, maybe I'm thinking about it.
• 1:11:34
  Me too. Because Ramsey's a good place to
• 1:11:36
  go watch a game and. Great place, locals.
• 1:11:40
  And we can Heckle. We can Heckle Paul.
• 1:11:41
  We could. We could Heckle Paul Urbanovich
• 1:11:44
  from, I believe from Yeah, we could.
• 1:11:47
  That sounds like a plan N one Group 3 Ramapo, the top seed,
• 1:11:50
  beat Warren Hill 7. Nothing in the swan song for
• 1:11:52
  Charlie Wingfield. This one, Joe, I got to admit,
• 1:11:55
  makes me a little bit angry. I mean, Charlie Wingfield is a
• 1:11:59
  four year baseball starter, three-year basketball starter,
• 1:12:03
  three-year football starter going to Wake Forest to play
• 1:12:07
  football. And Wake Forest tells him on May
• 1:12:09
  28th you got a report to Wake Forest for football.
• 1:12:15
  So much for so much, so much for multi sport athletes and so much
• 1:12:19
  for, you know, like, like what, what, what are you doing, man?
• 1:12:23
  I mean the kid like listen, listen, the the reason, the
• 1:12:27
  reason I, I don't like that that that's a blow, that's a blow to
• 1:12:32
  the kid. That's a that's a blow to the
• 1:12:34
  team. You know, you spent all those
• 1:12:36
  years and and you know, we had Garrison on a few weeks ago and
• 1:12:38
  how, how many, how much did he just say that?
• 1:12:41
  That kid is like a Mr. Ramapo, you know what I mean?
• 1:12:44
  Like he when, when, when, you know, he's going to be the kid
• 1:12:48
  you're talking about 2530 years from now about the the type of
• 1:12:52
  athlete he was that, you know, in every sport, you know, the
• 1:12:56
  type of leader he was. And I get it, you know, Wake
• 1:12:59
  Forest has an agenda, but you know, the kid was the kid was
• 1:13:03
  committed to Ramapo, committed to Ramapo baseball.
• 1:13:06
  You know, we love multi sport. Athletes don't specialize.
• 1:13:09
  By the way, you're done with baseball at Ramapo.
• 1:13:12
  Come and play. You you report me 28.
• 1:13:14
  Come on. Yeah, come on.
• 1:13:15
  Yeah. Come, come to campus in what is
• 1:13:18
  it on May 28th to get ready for the football season.
• 1:13:22
  And if you if you come a week later, the world is going to
• 1:13:25
  cave in. Yeah.
• 1:13:26
  He's like, let's be honest. Like, I don't know if he will
• 1:13:29
  red shirt, but he might red shirt, you know, and in the days
• 1:13:33
  of the portal, I just think I think that leaves a bad taste in
• 1:13:35
  everybody's mouth. And the Wingfield family,
• 1:13:38
  they're as solid as they come. So they're not going to hold it
• 1:13:40
  against anybody. And that's not going.
• 1:13:41
  To no, no, no. But like, Andy Wingfield is the
• 1:13:44
  recreation director at Wyckoff. He's all three of his boys now.
• 1:13:47
  He has a younger daughter who's a real good volleyball player.
• 1:13:50
  So she'll be coming through next.
• 1:13:51
  But, you know, all three of his boys gave, you know, bled green
• 1:13:55
  for how many years, what an impact they've made on Ramapo
• 1:13:57
  athletics. And I just, it's a sour taste
• 1:13:59
  for for it and talked to Andy and he wouldn't say that, you
• 1:14:03
  know, like, so I'm not speaking for the family or anything like
• 1:14:07
  that. No, we're just two guys that
• 1:14:09
  we're just two guys that have an opinion on it.
• 1:14:11
  That's all it is. It's.
• 1:14:12
  Correct. Not not speaking for anyone,
• 1:14:14
  just have an opinion that it sucks but anyway.
• 1:14:18
  And you got #12 Paramus knocked off Fort Lee game.
• 1:14:21
  I was. At that's my Now everybody jump
• 1:14:24
  on the Spartan bandwagon, baby. Jump, jump on the Spartan
• 1:14:28
  bandwagon. Now the Huskies are out.
• 1:14:32
  And I dare you to try to pick up, I dare you to try to pick up
• 1:14:35
  the difference between Chris Matesic's curveball and his
• 1:14:40
  change up before darts in a direction you have no idea.
• 1:14:44
  Really impressive yesterday. And I like the kid too.
• 1:14:46
  He was a good interview at He's game and nice kid.
• 1:14:51
  We've played like with the district and everything he was
• 1:14:53
  playing against, him and Joe were playing against each other
• 1:14:56
  since they were 10 years old. And and you know, back when,
• 1:15:00
  back when he was 10, you know, all things being relevant and
• 1:15:05
  equal at 10 years old, he was the same type of picture that he
• 1:15:08
  is now just at 10 years old. Like, you know, a dominant, A
• 1:15:12
  dominant type kid with, you know, good, good composure, you
• 1:15:17
  know, a pleasure to talk to, like, just just like.
• 1:15:19
  And we've seen him in the summer at tournaments all the time too.
• 1:15:22
  So you know. No Spartans, funky delivery,
• 1:15:27
  funky delivery, hooks the ball a little bit and it's got a a
• 1:15:30
  weird like step and everything, but boy, is he consistent and
• 1:15:34
  boy, can he throw up the strikes.
• 1:15:35
  All right, so the feel good story here is, you know, from
• 1:15:39
  the depths of tragedy is Bergenfield, the number 14 seed
• 1:15:43
  going on the road and beating, you know, the perennial
• 1:15:45
  powerhouse, which is Roxbury. I mean, that's a team that
• 1:15:48
  Pascack values to go back and forth with when PB was north on
• 1:15:50
  Group 3 and they played some great games over the years and
• 1:15:54
  the the tragic passing and I've had a tough, tough time getting
• 1:15:57
  this one out of my head. And I I don't even, I didn't
• 1:15:59
  even know him really. I think I've covered one board
• 1:16:01
  in the football game and and maybe did one interview with
• 1:16:04
  Robbie Allante over the years. But from everybody that I've
• 1:16:08
  spoken to, he's a salt of the earth kind of guy and really
• 1:16:13
  held together. Bergenfield football program
• 1:16:16
  that you know, it's struggled that it's a changing community.
• 1:16:19
  It's all all of those things, you know, grass field, no lights
• 1:16:22
  above all those things. And this guy did the thought of
• 1:16:26
  just a good man making a difference in the world driving
• 1:16:30
  home from work and and losing his life on the highway.
• 1:16:34
  That one. You know, that one will keep me
• 1:16:35
  up a couple of nights because I just, you know, and, and I had
• 1:16:39
  no ties to him. I, I heard that my friend
• 1:16:43
  Brandon Gregory went to the wake and he said it was like a 2 hour
• 1:16:46
  wait just to get in the building.
• 1:16:47
  So he touched live and looks like the Bears rallied around
• 1:16:51
  him with a three nothing win over Rossberry.
• 1:16:54
  Yeah, that was huge. That was huge.
• 1:16:55
  And you all know something talking about guys like Chad
• 1:16:58
  Williams over there at at Bergenfield.
• 1:17:01
  Again, class class guy, class act.
• 1:17:04
  You know, he does things the right way.
• 1:17:07
  And I'll tell you, every single year they're very quietly a team
• 1:17:11
  that that you don't want to run into.
• 1:17:13
  And, and, you know, I think they were the 14, Corey, were they
• 1:17:17
  the four? They played the three, right?
• 1:17:19
  Yeah. So now, yeah, you know, they're
• 1:17:22
  playing with, with, with, with house money and and they're
• 1:17:25
  pretty good, man. They, they are, they are pretty
• 1:17:27
  good. And I'll tell you, he's got
• 1:17:29
  every, he's got most of those kids back next year.
• 1:17:31
  So you know, they're, they're, and they're coming into, oh, no,
• 1:17:35
  not next year. The year after they come into
• 1:17:36
  our, they're going to be coming into our league so.
• 1:17:40
  It's great. I I didn't even know that.
• 1:17:42
  That's good. Yeah.
• 1:17:43
  I mean, you know, you don't want to say it's moving down, It's
• 1:17:45
  just moving to a more competitive.
• 1:17:48
  No, it it, it, it makes and it makes our it makes it, it, it,
• 1:17:52
  it's a, it's an upgrade to add a team like that to to our league.
• 1:17:59
  It's it's an upgrade to to add that kind, that type of
• 1:18:01
  competition across the board, you know, in basketball, in, in
• 1:18:05
  in basketball and baseball, in softball and it's regional, you
• 1:18:10
  know, next town over. But you know, we're we're
• 1:18:13
  that'll be good, you know, that'll be good.
• 1:18:14
  So. But what else you got?
• 1:18:17
  What? Else they, they'll play Morris
• 1:18:19
  Knowles in the next round. Morris Knowles took out
• 1:18:22
  Richfield Park, the 11 seed. And then an upset.
• 1:18:25
  And I, I think it's an upset #10 Nutley beat Northern Highlands
• 1:18:28
  and I guess I saw Northern Highlands on a good day.
• 1:18:30
  I mean, they had a, you know, hit the ball all over the park.
• 1:18:33
  And I just had a, a good day that day.
• 1:18:35
  It was a nice day out. One of the few this, I mean,
• 1:18:38
  this, this season will go down. It's just AII feel like Kirsten,
• 1:18:42
  like you too. I mean, can can you give me a
• 1:18:45
  stinking sunny day to watch a baseball game that's not?
• 1:18:48
  50 It was awful. And, and I'll tell you what, it
• 1:18:50
  got worse the closer we got to the county tournament and those
• 1:18:53
  two weeks leading up to the, IT was just two months, it was, it
• 1:18:56
  was two months like we had plan after plan, field after field.
• 1:19:00
  And it was just, this was the worst spring in in years.
• 1:19:03
  Yeah, no doubt about it. So I saw Highlands on one of the
• 1:19:06
  few good days that I was out this year and surprising Nutley
• 1:19:11
  10 seed, 32 on the road at Northern Highlands and then Old
• 1:19:15
  Japan at the bottom of the bracket.
• 1:19:16
  So it's Old Japan Nutley. So as I predicted, and as
• 1:19:19
  always, N one Group 3 brackets busted all over the place and
• 1:19:24
  we'll see what happens because, you know, the best pitcher in
• 1:19:26
  the bracket well, or one of the best pitchers in the bracket.
• 1:19:29
  The best pitcher for the top seed is no longer longer in the
• 1:19:32
  tournament. So things could change that that
• 1:19:34
  could change things further too. All right, let's move on to
• 1:19:37
  North One Group 4, where surprise, surprise, Ridgewood
• 1:19:42
  won his opening game, but their opponent in the and Ridgewood
• 1:19:45
  held off Passaic 3:00 to 2:00. Yeah, saw that.
• 1:19:49
  Which and Passaic had a had a decent year save big Paramus
• 1:19:52
  this year, earlier this year, you know, and then on the other
• 1:19:56
  side, though, Ridgewood as the five seed.
• 1:19:58
  They won 32 over Passaic at home, but then Belleville beats
• 1:20:03
  Union City, the Hudson County finalist.
• 1:20:05
  Not only did they beat them, they went to Union City and 10
• 1:20:08
  run them. 11 nothing. 13 seeded. Belleville's threw against #5
• 1:20:12
  Ridgewood top of the bracket. We don't care.
• 1:20:14
  It's Livingston and Montclair, not the one of them in our area
• 1:20:17
  and the rest of it too. Mount Olive against Morristown,
• 1:20:20
  Mass the three sixth game. That means that Fairmont, the 14
• 1:20:24
  is out, North Bergen the 11 is out.
• 1:20:26
  And then Hackensack, a dear friend of ours, Joe from the on
• 1:20:31
  Talking Baseball, one of our favorite guys, Hackensack is
• 1:20:34
  through to the quarterfinals as a #10 seed against #2 Passaic
• 1:20:38
  Tech. So that's good.
• 1:20:41
  Frank De Laurentios, who I was talking about.
• 1:20:43
  Yeah, it was good. I was talking to him the other
• 1:20:45
  day. He was, he was texting me from,
• 1:20:49
  I don't know where the hell he was.
• 1:20:49
  He was like 4 rows off the court at the Knicks game or something.
• 1:20:52
  And then the next night he was like, he was at the Dodgers,
• 1:20:57
  Mets, Dodgers game. Like I, I, I, I think all he
• 1:21:01
  does is is he puts out tweets. Yeah, he sends, he sends text
• 1:21:06
  messages and he goes to big sporting events in New York
• 1:21:10
  Nets. He's a big sound of bad life.
• 1:21:13
  He's a, he's a big Mets fan. He's a, he's a couple years ago,
• 1:21:17
  couple years ago, he he got like all I did was mention to him, I
• 1:21:20
  just mentioned to him that my friend, my son James is a die
• 1:21:24
  hard Met fan. He got me, he got me great
• 1:21:27
  seats, like 20 rows off the field to watch Scherzer when he
• 1:21:31
  was with the Nationals pitch against the Mets.
• 1:21:33
  It was, it was something my son, my son will never forget.
• 1:21:35
  It was, it was real, real nice. And so, hey, Frank, he loves the
• 1:21:40
  loves the Mets, loves the Knicks.
• 1:21:42
  Frank I love the Mets. Frank Alright.
• 1:21:47
  Frank Frank my sons birthday is coming up.
• 1:21:51
  Frank, I don't have any sons, but I love the Mets.
• 1:21:56
  All right, N two Group 1. I mentioned this one.
• 1:21:59
  You know what, we'll just touch on these quickly.
• 1:22:00
  I mean, it's 1 Cedar Grove against eight Whippany Park.
• 1:22:02
  They both won in the first round.
• 1:22:03
  You got #12 Wallington with a win on the road at Newark Tech.
• 1:22:08
  They're through to play David Brierley.
• 1:22:09
  I don't know some guy named David Brierley.
• 1:22:12
  He must be pretty good if he did technology all by himself.
• 1:22:15
  But they that's the 12 four-game.
• 1:22:18
  And then Jill, I, I got A at the bottom of the bracket #10 new
• 1:22:21
  province against #2 Verona. But here's the conundrum.
• 1:22:24
  Now you know, I have a deep love and passion for all things
• 1:22:29
  Woodridge athletics. I mean, I feel like I'm an
• 1:22:31
  honorary Blue Devil sometimes even Mark Sinclair and I, the
• 1:22:34
  athletic director. First of all, Joe, you know our
• 1:22:37
  days solidified our friendship in the in the great days on
• 1:22:40
  route. Seven.
• 1:22:41
  Well, let's, let's go back. Let's go back to yeah, let's go
• 1:22:44
  back to the Joe Sutera days at Woodridge.
• 1:22:47
  When Yes, the first, the first executive decision I made, the
• 1:22:53
  first executive decision I made was who's the photographer at
• 1:22:57
  the school? No, he's not.
• 1:22:59
  Of course you're doing photos at Woodridge.
• 1:23:02
  Now all the other ADS and administrators, that's the way
• 1:23:06
  it's done. I don't want to see if you got a
• 1:23:07
  guy. I don't want to hear that, you
• 1:23:10
  know, you got a woman who's been in the dugout doing your
• 1:23:12
  pictures for the last 15 years. Take it.
• 1:23:14
  Didn't stop Joe. Harris says you're out.
• 1:23:18
  It it didn't stop there buddy, because I was in North, I came
• 1:23:22
  north and said who took the pictures?
• 1:23:25
  No you don't Corey. You now have to do my
• 1:23:28
  photographs. Just a flaming ball of wreckage
• 1:23:34
  of camera equipment. Strewn.
• 1:23:36
  I've been doing. I've been doing pictures for 30
• 1:23:38
  years. Not anymore.
• 1:23:40
  You don't see you later. You had a good run pal, all you
• 1:23:47
  other administrators and ADS who like to call me a friend.
• 1:23:50
  Have you ever fired a photographer?
• 1:23:52
  Have you ever done it? Actually, there's a few guys out
• 1:23:58
  there who could say yes, they have, so yes, they have.
• 1:24:01
  Is it? Is that nepotism?
• 1:24:02
  Is that that's not nepotism, right?
• 1:24:04
  No, no, it's. Just you know, it's you know
• 1:24:06
  it's trading bad for good. That's all.
• 1:24:09
  That's all it is OK. Yeah, All right.
• 1:24:11
  So, but here, here is the dilemma.
• 1:24:14
  So I had promised because I did. All kidding aside, when Paramus
• 1:24:19
  had their day of service in honor of those middle schoolers
• 1:24:23
  who were in that bus accident seven years ago, those kids are
• 1:24:27
  seniors now. It's all kidding aside, Our
• 1:24:29
  friend Doctor Cirillo and his wife asked if I would come be a
• 1:24:33
  part of, you know, and just do a thing, you know, like, whatever.
• 1:24:36
  Like, like a career day, but not really a career day.
• 1:24:38
  Whatever. So I went in there and I brought
• 1:24:41
  a bunch of North Jersey sports.com T-shirts and I wanted
• 1:24:44
  to have a discussion with these, these kids.
• 1:24:46
  Whoa, TT shirts, T-shirts, Oh, dry fits 2 and the the new
• 1:24:51
  spring colors too. We got, we got a nice Kelly
• 1:24:53
  green, a Heather Gray with bright pink and Englewood colors
• 1:24:58
  of maroon and gold. I mean beautiful, no?
• 1:25:01
  I know if we go. I'll put some in my trunk if I
• 1:25:03
  see you at Ramsey tomorrow. I know two kids that are that
• 1:25:06
  are dying for North Church sports.com T-shirt and one
• 1:25:09
  hasn't forgotten. It's true.
• 1:25:12
  I I did. I made promises that I got to
• 1:25:15
  keep them so. Oh, actually, go ahead.
• 1:25:17
  I have a good idea. So so you know, I have a deep
• 1:25:20
  love and compassion for all things Blue Devil sports.
• 1:25:25
  You know, Mark Sinclair's in East Stroudsburg University
• 1:25:27
  graduate. I mean, we are brothers in arms.
• 1:25:29
  We are warriors together. So now I, I, I, so at the
• 1:25:35
  Paramus day of service to get kids, you know, basically to
• 1:25:39
  say, hey, if you participate in this, I'll come cover your game.
• 1:25:42
  So I was predisposed to go to Paramus against Fort Lee
• 1:25:45
  yesterday. Held up my end of the bargain.
• 1:25:47
  Happy to do a great story, good kids, blah, blah, blah, blah,
• 1:25:49
  blah. But that means usually first
• 1:25:53
  round, I go to Woodridge, that's my spot.
• 1:25:55
  I go down to the rack first, you know, home game.
• 1:25:57
  I love it, blah, blah, blah. So now I couldn't make it
• 1:25:59
  because I was predisposed. And then I told Jesse Romano,
• 1:26:03
  the assistant coach, and they're like, listen, you win the first
• 1:26:05
  game. I'm I'm in for round two.
• 1:26:07
  And then I looked at the bracket for Round 2, Hanover Park 1.
• 1:26:10
  So now it's Woodridge at Hanover Park.
• 1:26:12
  Now, Joe, you know me. I don't like going below Route
• 1:26:14
  4. I don't even know where Hanover
• 1:26:16
  Park is. I mean, you know.
• 1:26:20
  If, but if you put, if you put it out there, you got to go.
• 1:26:25
  I know, I know. I was hoping you would say you
• 1:26:27
  know what core. You're right.
• 1:26:28
  I mean, it's a far ride like rain and you know you.
• 1:26:31
  Should be. I would have said, listen, I
• 1:26:32
  would have said that if you didn't.
• 1:26:34
  If you didn't, if you didn't give the guy your word.
• 1:26:36
  I, I, I would have. You know what though?
• 1:26:38
  You, you know what? You know what's crossing my
• 1:26:41
  mind? Maybe, maybe, just maybe, you
• 1:26:46
  could petition for a motorcade from Coach Charlo, who's a coach
• 1:26:52
  on the staff, and they could. There you go.
• 1:26:55
  You see? You see.
• 1:26:57
  You called 6, say 6. Listen, I'm going out of my way
• 1:27:01
  to keep my word. Do you think that Senator
• 1:27:04
  Charlo, Coach Charlo, Yes. Could put the six Tahoes
• 1:27:07
  together, throw me in one of them so nobody knows which one
• 1:27:10
  I'm in, and drive me to Hanover Park.
• 1:27:14
  He might do that. He might do.
• 1:27:16
  That it's worth the shot. All right, we got to wrap this
• 1:27:18
  up because I got to call Sinclair and get the wheels in
• 1:27:21
  motion here. Yeah, get him in motion.
• 1:27:23
  Who did it best? Who who?
• 1:27:25
  Who are we doing? Who played it best?
• 1:27:27
  Yes, the only other thing is I hope Lyndhurst and and
• 1:27:30
  Rutherford win in North two Group 2 so they play each other
• 1:27:33
  in the semi finals. OK, that's it.
• 1:27:34
  Who played it best? Let's go.
• 1:27:37
  OK, go. You, you who did you say what?
• 1:27:41
  What position? No, you, you.
• 1:27:44
  You the human thing, I have come with the position.
• 1:27:48
  No, no, no, The Who played it best thing was, wasn't that the
• 1:27:52
  thing that Barton said? He he he gave you 4 names and we
• 1:27:55
  had to choose one. Yeah, but I, I, I, I don't want
• 1:27:58
  Rich Barton to be in in any part of the show.
• 1:28:01
  So yeah, that's. That's this is true.
• 1:28:03
  This is. True.
• 1:28:04
  You know, let's, let's, let's leave him.
• 1:28:06
  His camera broke and he hasn't covered a game in a week, so
• 1:28:08
  he's out. So, so we're going to go.
• 1:28:11
  We're going to go who played the best or or who used to build,
• 1:28:16
  build, build a team around. I don't we we haven't done a
• 1:28:19
  right-handed. We've done pitcher yet.
• 1:28:20
  No, right? No.
• 1:28:22
  No, we did left-handed pitcher, didn't we?
• 1:28:25
  We did right. Did we do left-handed pitcher?
• 1:28:27
  I don't think we did. Left-handed pitcher.
• 1:28:30
  Let's do, let's do right hand pitching, right you, you can
• 1:28:32
  select, you could select one. Now listen to me.
• 1:28:36
  You can't this we, we cannot say well this guy, but that guy's a
• 1:28:44
  come on 2nd. Who's your number one right now?
• 1:28:47
  Who's your guy? Who's your righty?
• 1:28:50
  Who's my righty now? We could.
• 1:28:52
  Are we going to do 1 starter and one reliever?
• 1:28:55
  No, right now, this week is just starters.
• 1:28:57
  Just starters. I'm, don't I, I, I, I hate, I, I
• 1:29:00
  don't want to do it, but I mean, because, you know, Greg Maddox
• 1:29:04
  would be my pick, except I'm not stupid.
• 1:29:06
  I got to take Nolan Ryan. OK, that's fair.
• 1:29:10
  I mean, I take, I take Greg Maddox.
• 1:29:13
  You can't go wrong either way. I mean, you you want to strike
• 1:29:16
  out 100 or do you want to make 100 batters look stupid?
• 1:29:19
  That's your choice. That was great.
• 1:29:22
  It's great. If anybody look it up on look it
• 1:29:24
  up on YouTube, Greg Maddox's philosophy on pitching it, it's
• 1:29:28
  like a 8 minute interview. I don't remember who he did it
• 1:29:31
  with, but it's like the master class on well, I'll tell you.
• 1:29:35
  Speaking of that, it, it was, it was a very and by the way,
• 1:29:40
  there's a great, there's a great clip out there on on Instagram
• 1:29:43
  about Maddox against Ken against Ken Caminiti.
• 1:29:47
  And and he's he's Javi Lopez was the catcher and Javi Lopez is
• 1:29:53
  being interviewed and he tells a story about how he how Maddox
• 1:29:59
  wanted to pitch to Caminiti and he basically says, you know,
• 1:30:02
  we're going to give him this pitch ball in and, and Javi
• 1:30:05
  Lopez goes, what, what, why would we do that?
• 1:30:07
  You know, whatever. And Maddox goes, just let, let
• 1:30:11
  just trust me, trust me. So he throws the ball down and
• 1:30:14
  in and or he throws the middle in and Kemeny hits it like 700
• 1:30:18
  feet. Yeah, and juiced out of his
• 1:30:20
  mind. Two days later, 222 months
• 1:30:24
  later, he he he told Lopez at that moment that we're going to
• 1:30:28
  see him in the playoffs. They're good, we're good.
• 1:30:30
  We're going to we're going to see them in the playoffs and and
• 1:30:33
  we're going to trust me. So he does it, Kemeny hits it
• 1:30:36
  out. So then in in the playoffs, he
• 1:30:40
  throws them three straight change UPS down in the way
• 1:30:42
  because he was waiting for that ball that he threw him two
• 1:30:44
  months ago and and he didn't throw it to him.
• 1:30:46
  He threw him three straight change UPS, you know, down the
• 1:30:48
  north, three straight change UPS that he swung over the top of
• 1:30:51
  and like corkscrewed himself into the ground.
• 1:30:53
  It's a great clip. It's a great clip.
• 1:30:54
  But no, I, I agree. You can't go wrong.
• 1:30:57
  You can't go wrong with with Maddox or or Nolan Ryan.
• 1:31:00
  The best. All right, Joe, you're the best.
• 1:31:03
  This is a great addition of talking baseball.
• 1:31:05
  And we got maybe one or two left in US for the season, so we'll
• 1:31:08
  leave this one here. See you next week.
• 1:31:10
  I'm talking baseball. Follow the leader.