Meister's Strong Start Can't Lift Dodgers Baseball

PARSIPPANY–Madison baseball coach Mickey Ennis believes in a simple formula for baseball success: pitch and play defense. On Monday afternoon, Parsippany went two-for-two, and the Red Hawks defeated Madison 6-1 in the NJAC opener for both teams.

Jordan Hakimi pitched a complete game, allowing just one run on four hits, for Parsippany. Hakimi didn't strike anyone out, but he used a sinking fastball, tailing away from right-handed hitters, to induce weak groundballs and high flies into the wind all game long. Besides a troublesome sixth inning, when four batters in a row reached base, Hakimi allowed just one hit, two walks and a hit by pitch.

"Their kid was excellent," said Madison coach Mickey Ennis. "He threw ground balls, and they made every play in the field, and we did not. We thought we might break through in the sixth inning, but he made the pitches to get us out."

Madison put the tying run on base with nobody out in the sixth, with back-to-back singles by Alex Ruiz, Mike Wulff and Jake Meister, the latter cutting the Redhawks' lead to 4-1. Tom Tracy walked to load the bases with the heart of the Dodgers' order on deck.

But it was not to be, as Madison's aggressiveness at the plate didn't work out on this day.

Cleanup hitter Connor Allen swung at the first pitch of his at-bat, sending a sky-high popup to first base for the first out. Jamie Hunter fouled off the first pitch he saw, and Clayton Cerrato made a sparkling sliding catch in front of the Dodgers' dugout to record out No. 2.

Connor Higgins put a good swing on the second pitch he saw, but he lined it right at right fielder Patrick Merrill, ending the inning and Madison's best chance to get back in the game.

"In that situation, I want to let them swing," Ennis said. "I'm not a big fan of letting them go up there, take pitches and be unaggressive at the plate. They're hitting fourth-fifth-sixth for a reason. The outcome was unfortunate today, but I trust those guys to swing the bat."

In the bottom of the sixth, Parsippany added a pair of insurance runs after Andrew Matti's perfectly-placed suicide squeeze, with runners on second and third, forced a bad throw and scored both runners.

"We defended like we'd never seen a bunt before," Ennis said. "That's something we're going to have to go back to and work on."

Matti and Brian Reilly were thorns in the Dodgers' side, each picking up two hits and stealing a base. Matti also drove in the first Parsippany run with a single to left center in the second inning.

But for four innings, that was all the Red Hawks could get off of Madison starter Jake Meister, who struck out four in 4 1/3 innings.

The junior said he had trouble commanding his curveball, which forced him to get by with just a fastball-changeup combination.

"My curve wasn't dropping in, and that happens," Meister said. "I had to stick to the fastball. If my curve was there, I think it would have been a little bit different today."

Meister was able to get by with just two pitches, striking out the side to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning. The Parsippany hitters had trouble catching up with Meister's fastball: Matti's single, with two strikes and two outs in the second, was the last Red Hawk baserunner until the fifth.

In the fifth, Meister began to tire a bit as he exceeded the 75-pitch threshold, throwing first-pitch balls to all six hitters he faced. And then the Parsippany hitters found holes in the Madison defense.

"They didn't really hit me that hard," Meister said. "I started running out of gas, and trying to get some groundballs, and they hit it into the holes."

Matti and Reilly picked up singles, and Cerrato walked to set up cleanup hitter Matt Lejeune. The designated hitter hit a groundball just out of the reach of shortstop Mike Wallace to drive in two runs.

Matt Nicosia followed with an RBI single to give Parsippany a 4-0 lead, after which Meister was lifted for Kyle Flanagan.

NEXT UP
Madison returns to the diamond for its home opener Wednesday afternoon against Boonton. First pitch for the non-league game is scheduled for 4 p.m. Connor Higgins is scheduled to take the mound for the first time this season. Ennis said the sophomore made an impressive start in the Dodgers' last preseason scrimmage.

The Bombers (0-2) opened their season with a pair of losses, most recently  dropping a 14-4 decision to NJAC-Liberty rival Morristown-Beard Monday. Boonton finished last year 9-9, but return just five players from that team.

BOX SCORE
Madison        0  0  0  0  0  1  0  -  1 / 4 / 2
Parsippany   0  1  0  0  3  2  x  -  6 / 6 / 1
WP: Jordan Hakimi (1-0)
LP: Jake Meister (0-1)

MADISON (1-1, 0-1 NJAC-INDEPENDENCE)
-Mike Wulff, 2b              1-3
-Jake Meister, p/ss       1-2, RBI
-Tom Tracy, 1b               0-1, HBP, BB
-Connor Allen, 3b           0-2, BB
-Jamie Hunter, dh           0-3
-Connor Higgins, lf         0-3
-Mike Haughey, rf           0-3
-Dilan Kluge, cf                 1-3, CS
-Alex Ruiz, c                      1-3, R

-Jake Meister, sp              4 1/3 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 6 H, 4 K, 3 BB
----Kyle Flanagan, rp      1 2/3 IP, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 K, 2 BB

PARSIPPANY (2-0, 1-0 NJAC-INDEPENDENCE)
-Andrew Matti, ss               2-3, RBI, SB
-Brian Reilly, cf                   2-4, SB
-Clayton Cerrato, 1b          0-3, BB
-Matt Lejeune, dh               1-2, 2 RBI, BB
-Matt Nicosia, c                   1-2, RBI, HBP, CS
-Troy Hance, lf                    0-2, BB
-Patrick Merrill, rf             0-3
-Joey Magnusson, 3b        0-1, 2 BB, 2 R
-Phil Tamaro, 2b                 0-1, R

-Jordan Hakimi, sp       CG, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 H, 0 K, 2 BB