Stark, Wellington Advance With Shutout Over Forest Hill

The pitching of Ryan Stark in a must-win game was vital in the Wolverines' 3-0 victory over the Falcons.

Going into the postseason, coaches and players will often talk about momentum and going into the playoffs on the right note. With every team starting the postseason with a record of 0-0, coaches will point to momentum as the one thing that matters most as they continue their journey to win a title. Wellington manager Scott Riddle, however, doesn’t happen to be a fan of that philosophy.

“I’m not really a huge believer in momentum, seeing as we lost two of the three games we played last week,” Riddle said on Tuesday night. “We had a great win against Park Vista last week that helped give us some confidence, but what gives us momentum is team wins — they’re usually not one pitcher, there’s some good pitching and fielding mixed in — and at least one person is stepping up each time to get things done.”

Riddle is right to bring up players stepping up in team wins, as the fantastic pitching of senior Ryan Stark and a three-run first inning pushed the Wolverines to a 3-0 win over the Forest Hill Falcons. Stark, who had a sparkling 0.88 ERA in the regular season, looked right at home as he struck out seven and walked none against a tough Falcons offense.

“Coming out, I had a gameplan to mix my pitches and keep everything down in the zone,” Stark explained after the win. “Every time I go out there for an outing, I have a gameplan and I try to follow through with it. I felt really comfortable on the mound because we came out with three runs in the first inning and it gave me a lot of confidence out there. When you have runs to work with, you get to play around with your pitches and have a lot more fun out there.”

On a night in which he found himself working in and out of trouble, Stark made sure not to give up any runs before handing the ball over to the bullpen in the sixth inning. Stark displayed true character on the mound by refusing to let up whenever Forest Hill tried to make a rally and get on the scoreboard. The key moment of Stark’s outing was in the fifth inning, when the senior recorded three straight outs after Falcons catcher Carlos Fonseca reached on an error and center fielder Max Howard got on by way of an infield hit.

“Ryan Stark is one of the top pitchers in the area for sure — and possibly in the entire state — so he’s a guy that wherever we go, he’s going to be a part of,” Riddle added of his star senior. “We hit the ball hard tonight — we had a couple of line out double plays with runners in scoring position — and I think that really helped Ryan out a lot. We’re not a great hitting team on the best of nights but if we can hit as well as we did tonight and get the pitching that we got tonight, then I think we can compete with most teams.”

The Wolverines’ three-run first inning was jumpstarted by Angelo Brunelas singling to lead off the frame before being doubled home by third baseman Dom Paolo. After only having four RBI in the regular season, Paolo had one of the biggest hits on the entire night and came around to score on an error during catcher Dylan Tosto’s at-bat. Stark helped his own cause by drawing a walk in the inning and scored the final run on a sacrifice fly from shortstop Christian Vasquez.

After a rough first inning, Falcons junior Mike Entenza didn't allow a run in the next two frames.

Starting for the Falcons and matching Stark pitch-for-pitch after the rough first inning was junior Mike Entenza. Though Entenza recorded the loss in the box score, the 6’2″ starter who had a 38-15 K-BB ratio in 38 regular season innings kept the Wolverines off the board after the first and, after having first and second with one out in the bottom of the third, successfully induced a double play to end the frame.

Right fielder and number three hitter Raymond Sanchez had two hits for the Falcons. For Forest Hill, who went 19-7 in the regular season and lost on their home field, the loss and the conclusion of the regular season stings mightily. But, as Riddle pointed out in his praising of the Falcons, this is a young team that is poised to contend in the next few years under the coaching of Russ Milliken.

John Campagnuoulo recorded the save for the Wolverines, who will play Seminole Ridge in the Region 8 District 12 championship.

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