Madison Baseball Earns Comeback Win Over Chatham In Season Finale

Through most of the season, the three seniors on the Madison baseball team haven't quite gotten their due. Including regular starting pitchers and designated hitters, the Dodgers usually put out a lineup featuring nine sophomores and juniors and one senior.

But Thursday afternoon in Madison's season finale at Chatham, the senior threesome of Jimmy Finelli, Alex Ruiz and Danny Phillips made a big impact. They combined for five hits and three RBIs, and they reached a combined base four times in Madison's eight-run sixth inning as the Dodgers upended rival Chatham, 8-6, in an NJAC-Independence game at Chatham High School.

Ruiz, Phillips and junior Jamie Hunter all picked up two hits for Madison, which ended the season winning three of its last four.

The Dodgers (11-13, 4-8) won in rousing fashion, rallying from a 4-0 deficit with one out in the sixth by sending 12 batters to the plate–nine of whom picked up hits.

"That's kind of been the story of our season," said Madison coach Mickey Ennis. "For a while this year I was a little frustrated that we would only seem to score with one big inning every game. But that's just the makeup of this team. It felt like there was a big inning in there somewhere today."

The Dodgers had been confounded by Chatham starter Brandon Kaufman, who allowed just three hits over the first five innings. But that changed in the sixth, when Ruiz started the inning by reaching on an infield single. Two batters later, pinch runner Dilan Kluge scored on Hunter's RBI single.

The hits kept on coming as Madison found success swinging early in the count against Kaufman. Connor Allen hit a hard single past shortstop on the second pitch he faced, and Mike Haughey drove Hunter home with a long double that two-hopped to the left field fence.

"We've been playing Chatham all our lives," Haughey said. "So I knew their pitcher and what he would throw. I saw the ball better the second time around. It was in a spot I liked and I put a good swing on it."

Jake Meister cut Chatham's lead to 4-3 with a sac fly to short right field, advancing Haughey to third. With two out, Alex Brownlee walked to put the lead run on base. On the next pitch, Mike Wulff lined a long double that bounced to the left field wall, scoring two and giving Madison its first lead, 5-4.

Finelli picked up an infield single on the second pitch he faced, and stole second base before Kaufman was lifted for reliever Joel Phillips. With runners on second and third, Ruiz came through with a hard groundball single up the middle to score two more.

"All three seniors came through for us today," Ennis said. "Especially Alex with the single that scored what eventually was the winning run. Alex looked me in the eye before (the at-bat) and said he was gonna do it. I was impressed with how he handled the bat on an 0-2 pitch."

Danny Phillips put the finishing touches on Madison's big inning by lining a single off his cousin, scoring pinch runner Kluge for the second time in the inning. The three seniors, batting in the first three spots in the order, combined to go 5-for-11 with three RBIs.

"We haven't beaten Chatham in my career," Phillips said. "We wanted to end on a good note, and we did. I think we'll always remember this game."

Chatham came back with two runs in the bottom half of the sixth off Madison starter Kyle Flanagan, but Connor Higgins came in to pitch the final 1 1/3 innings to pick up the save.

Higgins walked the first batter he faced, Matt Reader, on four pitches, all low in the zone. The next batter, Roger Wilson, represented the winning run. But Higgins fooled him with a 1-2 breaking ball to get the strikeout and end the inning.

"Connor loves that role," Ennis said. "He hadn't been as sharp in his last outing or two, but he did the job for us today."

Michael Fox and Kevin Giannatasio singled and doubled, respectively, to put the tying run on second base with two out in the seventh. But Higgins got a groundout to first for the final out of the season.

Flanagan had success mixing in a fastball, changeup and a swooping curveball, but the Cougars touched him up for six runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings. Chatham benefitted from three early bloop singles, which led to two of their four runs.


BOX SCORE
Madison    0  0  0  0  0  8  0  -  8  13  2
Chatham   1  0  2  1  0  2  0  -  6  11  1
W: Kyle Flanagan
L: Brandon Kaufman
SV: Connor Higgins

MADISON (11-13, 4-8)
-Finelli, CF                  1-4, R, SB
-Ruiz, C                         2-3, 2 RBI, BB
---Kluge, PR                         2 R, 3 SB
-Phillips, RF                2-4, RBI, 2B
-Hunter, DH               2-4, R, RBI, 2B
-Allen, 3B                    1-4, R
-Haughey, 1B             1-3, R, RBI, 2B, BB
-Meister, SS                1-3, RBI, SB, sac fly
-Brownlee, 2B            1-3, R, BB, SB 
-Wulff, LF                    1-3, R, 2 RBI, 2B

-Flanagan, SP             5 2/3 IP, 5 ER, 6 R, 9 H, 7 K, 2 BB, 90 pitches (58 strikes)
---Higgins, RP            1 1/3 IP, 0 ER, 0 R, 2 H, 2 K, 1 BB, 24 pitches (15 strikes)

CHATHAM (5-15, 3-8)
-Haus, CF                     1-4, R, 2 SB
-Ballard, SS                 2-4, R, 2 RBI, SB
-Reader, 3B                 0-2, 2 BB, SB
-Wilson, RF                 1-4, R, RBI, 3B
-DeVito, DH                1-4, RBI
-Fox, 2B                        1-4
-Damato, LF                2-4, R, SB
-Giannattasio, 1B      2-3, 2 R, 2B, BB
-Miele, C                       1-3, RBI, 3B, sac bunt

-Kaufman, SP            5 2/3 IP, 8 ER, 8 R, 11 H, 3 K, 3 BB, 96 pitches (61 strikes)
---Phillips, RP           1 1/3 IP, 0 ER, 0 R, 2 H, 0 K, 0 BB, 21 pitches (15 strikes)