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Sports

Kole Named MVP as Ridge Wins County Title

Villanova-bound senior drives in winning run as Red Devils rally from three-run deficit.

The  baseball team rallied from a three-run deficit to beat third-seeded Hillsborough 4-3 in eight innings Thursday night to capture the Somerset County Tournament championship at Bridgewater's TD Bank Ballpark.

Pitcher  was named the Most Valuable Player. The Villanova-bound Kole went the distance on the mound and delivered the winning hit.

Click here for video highlights of the game.

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After Kole set the Raiders down in order in the bottom of the seventh, he became the hero with his bat in the top of the eighth. Greg Fazio got the rally started when he reached on an error. After Fazio advanced to second on a swinging bunt, Kole ripped an RBI single to center field to give the Red Devils a 4-3 lead.

Kole then retired the Raiders in order in the bottom of the eighth to secure Ridge's first county championship since 1989.

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“J.B. did a great job tonight as he set down the 20 of the final 21 batters," Ridge coach Tom Blackwell said. "He gave up a few in the first two innings, but he really settled down after that. I told our guys before that last inning that all we needed was to score one run because I felt like Hillsborough was not going to score another run the way he was pitching tonight.”

The eighth-seeded Red Devils rallied from a three-run deficit for the second straight game, after  in the semifinals on Saturday.

Ridge didn't record its first hit against Hillsborough ace Matt Calamoneri until the fourth inning when Fazio ripped a triple off the center field wall and later scored on a Kole groundout to shortstop.

In the sixth, Ridge (11-10) struck again when Fazio got on base with a two-out single. He advanced to third on a throwing error and scored on a Brad Halperin single.

Ridge then took advantage of a balk that placed Dan Volpacchio on second with one out in the seventh. Down by one, Dan Curcio ripped an RBI single to right field on a 3-2 pitch that plated Volpacchio on a bang-bang play at home to tie the score at 3.

“It was just an amazing effort by our guys tonight," Blackwell said. "We got the clutch hits when we needed them, because we didn’t have a ton of guys on base tonight. Hillsborough’s pitcher pitched an excellent game tonight, and we had to change our approach against him. We just got used to waiting on that curveball and driving it the other way. ”

The Raiders (12-7), meanwhile, struggled against Kole after scoring three runs in the first two innings. Kole pitched his second straight complete game in the county tournament, allowing two earned runs on five hits with six strikeouts and no walks. He also added two RBIs, including the game-winner in the eighth.

Fazio went 2-for-3 at the plate with a triple and three runs scored, while Halperin went 1-for-3 with an RBI in the sixth and Curcio drove in the game-tying run in the seventh.

“It was just an incredible game tonight and almost identical to Saturday’s win against Watchung Hills," Kole said. "It’s a great way to finish a great story for our team.

"I just wanted to keep pumping strikes, because I know I have a great team behind me that can make plays. Our team is very talented and we are really on a roll.  Now we just have to make a run in the state tournament, which I know we can do.”

 

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Final

Ridge (11-10)

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0

0

1

0

1

1

1

4

Hillsborough (12-7)

2

1

0

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0

0

0

0

3

Up Next—At Watchung Hills Monday in the first round of the state tournament.

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