Staff photo/Berndette Marchiniak: Rutherford’s John Kelly (no. 12) looks to the ref after getting to home plate against Glen Rock at the game on April 18. Kelly was called out. Rutherford was defeated 12-5.
……………………………………………………………………………………………..
RUTHERFORD – Rutherford baseball could not have gotten a key win at a better time. After losses to Garfield (3-1, April 20) and Glen Rock (12-5, April 18), the Bulldogs rebounded nicely with an 8-6 win at Hawthorne on Friday in a key NJIC Colonial Division battle.
At the end of last week, Rutherford was 5-4 overall and 5-3 in the league, behind Hawthorne and Glen Rock. With the last half of the league schedule remaining, it could be a four-way horse race between Rutherford, Hawthorne, Glen Rock and Garfield for the Colonial crown. “It was huge because we had Glen Rock down to their last strike and then we played very tough versus Garfield,” said Spina about the win over Hawthorne.
And it could be a run until the last game of the regular season. The Bulldogs face Glen Rock (May 11), Garfield (May 13) and Hawthorne (May 16), in three of the last four regular season games scheduled this season.
The key for Rutherford against Hawthorne was a six-run, third inning with big hits from Connor Clare, Brendan Brinksma, Dom Mignone and Liam Federico.
Mignone had a big hit, a home run and two RBIs to back the pitching of Nick Birchby, who picked up the win on the mound.
With the Bergen County Tournament cutoff, Rutherford will be looking to go on a winning streak to get to the .650 winning streak that automatically places a team in the tournament. “We need to play better defense the rest of way and receive timely hitting,” said Spina.
