Allen's Solid Outing Drives Madison Baseball

Madison High School baseball coach Mickey Ennis said during the preseason that how well his raw, youthful pitching staff developed would determine how well the Dodgers' season turns out.

Through one game, at least, Ennis and his team can feel a bit optimistic.

Connor Allen pitched five strong innings, and Allen and reliever Mike Wallace combined to strike out nine and walk none, as Madison opened the 2010 season with a 10-2 victory over Kittatinny Thursday in Hampton Township.

"It's a pretty exciting day for us, not walking a batter," Ennis said. "That's huge for us. It wasn't a perfect game, but it was about as good as you could hope for an opening-day game."

The Dodgers (1-0) jumped on top of the Cougars early, scoring all 10 of their runs in the first two innings. Madison pounded out 11 hits in those two innings, giving the pitchers more than enough room to work with.

Allen, batting in the cleanup spot, helped his own cause by picking up two hits and a pair of RBIs, as did outfielders Mike Haughey and Dilan Kluge.

"The kids swung the bat well today," Ennis said. "Even our outs were hit hard."

On the mound, Allen threw 10 consecutive first-pitch strikes, and drew a number of groundouts early in the count with a sinking fastball.

Just three Cougars picked up hits against Allen, who exited after the fifth inning with an eight-run lead.

Wallace struck out three of the seven batters he faced over the final two innings.

NEXT UP
Madison's next game is Monday afternoon, when the Dodgers kick off their NJAC-Independence schedule at Parsippany High School. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.

Parsippany opened its season with a 4-0 home win against Jefferson Thursday afternoon.

Jake Meister is scheduled to make his first start of the season against the Red Hawks. The pitcher had a fine day at the plate while playing shortstop Thursday, picking up a pair of hits and scoring twice.

Connor Higgins, according to Ennis, is likely to start Wednesday's home opener, a non-league game against Boonton.

BOX SCORE
Madison      6  4  0  0  0  0  0  -  10  11  1
Kittatinny   0  0  0  0  2  0  0  -   2    4  0
WP- Connor Allen (1-0)

MADISON (1-0)
-Alex Brownlee, 2b            0-3, R
----Mike Wulff, 2b              0-1
-Jake Meister, ss                 2-4, 2 R
-Tom Tracy, 1b                   1-2, R, RBI
----Danny Phillips, 1b       0-1
-Connor Allen, p                2-4, 2 RBI
----Mike Wallace, p          0-0
-Jamie Hunter, dh            1-4, R, RBI
----Cameron Dias, 3b      0-0
-Kyle Flanagan, lf             0-2, R
----Connor Higgins, lf    0-0
-Mike Haughey, rf          2-3, R, 2 RBI
----Kyle Flood, rf             0-1
-Dilan Kluge, cf                2-3, R, 2 RBI
----Jimmy Finelli, cf      0-1
-Alex Ruiz, c                     1-2
----Tom Kennedy, c       0-2

-Connor Allen, sp (W)    5 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 3 H, 6 K, 0 BB
----Mike Wallace, rp       2 IP, 0 R              , 1 H, 3 K, 0 BB