RED BANK—Two teams near the top of the Shore Division standings, Langan Baseball and the
Garden State Junebugs, squared off at Count Basie Park on Thursday night. Just half a game
separated both squads entering the night with sole possession of second place on the line.
Power was the theme of this game, with long balls and plenty of strikeouts to go around.

Langan would open the scoring in the top of the second inning as Samuel Martucci hit a
screaming solo home run over the left field wall off of Junebugs starter Patrick Kannaley. The
right-handed pitcher from Middlesex College limited the damage in the rest of the inning,
allowing the next batter to reach on a single but retiring the next three in a row.

Garden State would respond to Martucci’s big fly immediately, tying the game after Langan
committed two throwing errors on the same play and later took a 2-1 lead on a sacrifice fly
from Joey Hubinger.

Kannaley squeaked out of a two-out rally by the top of the Langan order to hold the lead in the
third inning. The Junebugs would then tack on what would serve as the game-sealing runs in
the bottom half of the inning.

With one out, catcher Ben Landis, who entered the night batting .857 over his last nine plate
appearances, continued his hot streak with his second single of the night. Joe Cilea followed up
with another single on a hit-and-run play that allowed Landis to easily go from first to third
base.

Just as the Junebugs took advantage of defensive mistakes in the second inning, they continued
to punish Langan for sloppy play. The next batter Ezra Caspi walked after popping up into foul
ground on a ball that should have been caught, setting Garden State up to blow the game open.
The Junebugs did just that, with two runners scoring on a potential double play ball that the
Langan second baseman could not complete with an airmailed throw.

With the inning extended, the next batter Jimmy Pasquale took full advantage by blasting a
towering two-run homer to left field to make it a 6-1 ball game. From there, Garden State
would delve into their electric bullpen.

Kannaley did a solid job in his outing by only allowing one run over three innings, clearly
pitching to contact the entire time as reflected by his line of five hits, two strikeouts, and no
walks. The more methodical approach to pitching set up nicely for the Junebugs, as their
relievers Caleb Kempler and Pat Borromeo completely changed the pace of the game.

Kempler, the first reliever used, entered the game shot out of a cannon. He threw much harder
than Kannaley, and his arsenal was too much for the Langan bats. In his three full innings

pitched in relief, Kempler struck out the side in all of them. Whether he used his fastball,
changeup, or a breaking ball, Langan was consistently overmatched.

Kempler did struggle with command a bit as he walked four in the appearance and surrendered
two earned runs in the fifth inning that made it a 6-3 game. However, once the Garden State
flamethrower settled back in to striking everyone out, the score did not feel as close.

Kempler exited after the sixth inning, where Borromeo was even more impressive over his two
full innings of work. His stuff looked just as imposing on the mound, retiring five of his six outs
via the punchout and inducing a broken-bat groundout. Borromeo primarily used a fastball and
slider, and both pitches were equally effective.

The game ended after eight official innings due to Count Basie Park’s lights turning off at 10pm,
but the Junebugs certainly won’t complain. The pitching staff struck out 16 of the 24 possible
outs, leading the team with plenty of momentum into their Sunday doubleheader against the
Wall Clippers. They already have plenty of it, having gone 6-3-1 in their last 10 games and
sitting at second place in their division.