Madison Baseball Thrashes Dover

Friday was a day for the Madison High School baseball team to take care of business, get the bats going, and get some momentum into the second half of its season. The Dodgers did all that and more, beating Dover, 15-5, at Madison High School.

Tom Tracy drove in three runs, including a two-run, walk-off sixth-inning double. Dilan Kluge (three runs scored), Mike Haughey and Mike Wallace all picked up two hits for the Dodgers, who won their second straight game, and their first in NJAC-Independence play.

Kyle Flanagan picked up the win in his first career varsity start, pitching all six innings. He got off to a rocky start, allowing three runs in the first, but settled down nicely. Over the final five innings, he allowed just two runs on five hits, striking out seven and walking just one.

Dover, which has lost 10 straight, and came into Friday's game with 15 total runs scored this season, came out swinging the bats well.

Flanagan issued a leadoff walk to Angel Santana before allowing three consecutive groundball singles, scoring Santana and loading the bases. A four-pitch walk scored Dover's second run. Two batters later, a mishandled groundball made it 3-0 Dover, but Randol Valenzuela was thrown out trying to take another run on the play.

"Kyle hasn't started for us this year," Ennis said. "He's thrown a couple innings here or there, so it took him a couple innings to knock the rust off. It wasn't a situation where we were going to run out and get him out of there. I was confident our offense would get us back in it."

Flanagan was much more effective after the first inning, which Ennis credited to increased confidence in controlling the inside half of the plate. The junior lefty allowed very little solid contact and struck out the side in the fifth.

"He's got a lot of movement on his fastball, it tails away from right-hand hitters," Ennis said. "We moved (catcher) Alex (Ruiz) to the inside half of the plate, so that instead of tailing off the plate, his fastball would hit the inside corner. Kyle hasn't had enough confidence to throw inside on the right-handers, but he has  to learn to establish himself on the inside. When he does that, he's very effective."

The Dodgers scored three in the bottom of the second to tie it, but Dover answered right back with another run. John Garcia led off with a single to left field, and appeared to be out trying to stretch for second; the throw beat Garcia to the bag, but he slid under the tag. Garcia advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a sac fly by Jack Coyne.

Haughey tied the game at 4-4 with a tailing double to right field in the bottom of the third.

After Flanagan put together his first 1-2-3 inning in the fourth, Madison did most of its offensive damage. The Dodgers broke the tie with five in the fourth off of Dover starter Garcia, batting around in both the fourth and fifth innings, and they needed just three batters in the sixth to score the final two runs.

They were helped by eight Dover errors, though many of them were throwing errors - a result of the Dodgers running wild on the basepaths, where they stole six bases.

"Their left-hander (Garcia) had a slow delivery to the plate," Ennis said. "So we would tell our runners that, as soon as he lifts his leg, go. Once we picked that up in the first two innings, our guys could walk to second."

Kluge gave Madison its first lead, 5-4, scoring pinch runner Jimmy Finelli with an RBI single in the fourth. Tracy followed with another RBI single on the next pitch. Kluge scored on a balk, and after Garcia threw away a pickoff attempt, pinch runner Mike Zuzaro scored to make it 8-4. Alex Brownlee - one of two Dodgers to walk three times Friday, along with Jake Meister - scored Madison's fifth run of the inning when Mike Haughey reached on an error.

It was more of the same for Madison in the fifth, this time off of reliever Starling Gonzalez. Connor Allen and Mike Wallace delivered RBI singles, and Jamie Hunter added an RBI groundout as Madison increased its lead to 13-5. Flanagan faced just three hitters to retire the side in the sixth. In the bottom of the sixth, Meister led off with a walk on six pitches. Kluge reached on a two-base error, and Tracy crushed a high fastball to right center, scoring both and activating the mercy rule.

It was a promising offensive effort for the Dodgers, who ended a 23-inning scoreless streak on Monday, and who broke through with a big inning to beat Mendham Wednesday.

"They're swinging the bats better, and not just because they scored 15 runs," Ennis said. "We put together some better at-bats, and some of that confidence and swagger seems to be coming back."

NEXT UP
Madison will have just about 12 hours to bask in its victory, as the 19th-seeded Dodgers open Morris County Tournament play on the road early Saturday morning. First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m. at Kinnelon High School.

Kinnelon, the No. 14 seed, has had an up-and-down week, playing a pair of one-run games. The Colts (4-7) beat winless Boonton, 4-3, on Monday before losing to one-loss Mountain Lakes by the same score Wednesday.

Jake Meister (1-2, 4.43 ERA) will take the mound for the first time since last Saturday's Highlander Tournament final, a 6-0 Madison loss.

The reward for the winner of Saturday's contest? A road trip to third-seeded Delbarton next Saturday.


BOX SCORE
Dover         3  0  1  0  1  0  x  -    5    8  8
Madison    0  3  1  5  4  2  x  -  15  12  1
W: Kyle Flanagan (1-0)
L: John Garcia

DOVER (1-11, 0-6)
-Santana, C/SS          0-3, R, BB
-Satelli, CF                   1-3, SB
-Garcia, P                     2-3, 2 R, SB
-Gonzalez, SS/P        2-3, 2 R, RBI, 2B
-Valenzuela, 1B         1-2, BB
-Gonzalez, RF            1-1, 2 RBI, BB, SB, sac bunt
-Cayne, 3B                  0-2, RBI, sac fly
-Ridner, DH/C          1-3
-Accuedo, LF             0-3

-Garcia, SP               4 IP, 9 R, 7 ER, 8 H, 1 K, 5 BB, 92 pitches (46 strikes)
---Gonzalez, RP         1+ IP, 6 R, 3 ER, 4 H, 1 K, 4 BB, 44 pitches (24 strikes)

MADISON (5-7, 1-5)
-Meister, SS               1-2, 3 R, 3 BB, SB
-Kluge, CF                  2-4, 3 R, 2 RBI, BB, SB
-Tracy, 1B                  2-4, 3 RBI, 2B, BB
---Zuzaro, PR                    2 R, 2 SB
-Allen, 3B                   1-4, R, RBI
-Brownlee, 2B          0-1, 2 R, 3 BB, SB
-Hunter, DH              1-4, R, RBI
-Haughey, RF           2-3, R, RBI, 2B, BB
-Wallace, LF              2-4, R, 2 RBI
-Ruiz, C                        1-2, sac bunt
---Finelli, PR                      R, SB
---Phillips, PH           0-1

-Flanagan, SP             6 IP, 5 R, 4 ER, 8 H, 8 K, 3 BB, 88 pitches (58 strikes)