While many may have hoped the Monroe varsity baseball team’s senior night would have ended in victory, the team ended up losing 2-5 to Allentown. Monroe has not been winning every game, but has been consistently keeping up their scores, and are now have 14 wins and 8 losses overall.
Sophomore Kat Orefice says, “My boyfriend is on the baseball team and watching games is always enjoyable. We have our ups and downs, but we continue to hang in there, especially thanks to our really talented players.”
It has been hard to see a pattern in the team’s playing as they lost against South Brunswick 0-1, but came back in a second game against the team 6-2.
What has been notable, though, is that when the team loses, it is almost always a close game such as the most recent game in Allentown. Monroe has also swept many games, for example defeating Edison twice in a row, 14-0 and 5-0.
At this point, Monroe comes third in the GMC Red standings, just below East Brunswick and St. Joseph schools.
The team’s many seniors, of course, were highlighted in the game against Allentown, including star players Matt Sorrento, Chris Perdoni, Joe Pedulla, Eric Heatter, Bryant Skurbe, and Nick Quercia.
Sorrento has hit 15 of his 38 at bats, including four runs scored, and three doubles in the 2017 season. Perdoni has hit 13 of his 34 at bats, seven of them scoring, including two doubles and one home run. Pedulla has hit eight out of 29 at bats, including one double and one home run. Heatter has hit seven out of 25 at bats, including one double. Skurbe has hit seven out of 21 at bats, scoring five. Finally, Quercia has hit three of his 17 at bats, scoring five.
Top senior pitcher Perdoni has pitched almost 16 innings with 22 strikeouts and an overall pitch count of 264.
While the seniors are essential to the team, the juniors are also breaking records throughout the season. Both juniors Nick Payero and Shawne Eldridge have become important varsity players.
Payero overcomes every senior player, hitting 20 of his 47 at bats, including 14 runs scoring, six doubles, and two home runs. He also has pitched 32 innings, striking out 43, and has a pitch count of 549.
Eldridge is also up there, hitting five of his 15 at bats, including five runs scored. While only pitching one inning, Eldridge managed six strikeouts and has a pitch count of 60.
Junior Spencer Mochari and member of the varsity baseball team says, “We still have a lot to work on to make our team even better, but I’m really proud of our progress so far and I know the rest of the team will be happy with their progress this season.”
The team has had a really great year and will hopefully keep up the good work and maintain the legacy of our baseball team for the rest of the season and seasons to come. Based on their playing so far, how do you think Monroe will finish the season?