By: BRUCE JOHNSON
Burlington County Times

Rancocas Valley Baseball League

The heyday for amateur/semipro baseball was in the time just before and just after the Second World War. Back then, every major city in New Jersey had its own City League, Twilight Leagues, Industrial Leagues and, for the better players, the weekend county leagues.

In the late 1930s and in the post-war '40s, New Jersey had literally hundreds of these leagues, with top high school, college and post-college players combining to represent their local towns. Many of the players would play professionally, and many already had, but still enjoyed competing.

Although there had been some regional leagues, the first known "county" league in New Jersey was right here in Burlington County, opening up in 1898 as the Delaware River League - comprised of Beverly, Bordentown, Burlington, Delanco, Florence, Mount Holly, Palmyra and White Hill (now Fieldsboro), though there were teams like the Medford F.C., the Columbia A.A. of Trenton, and teams from Bristol and Morrisville, Pennsylvania, who were also active at the time. In 1914 the name was switched to the Burlington County League, which remained in existence until 1952.

By the early '50s, the "fast" league in the county had become the upstart Rancocas Valley Baseball League, which opened in 1947. The leagues basically merged into one in 1952, which means this summer will be the 113th consecutive summer of organized baseball in Burlington County. That makes it two years older than the National League and three years senior to the American League.

Times have changed, and summer "amateur" baseball is not what it once was. But there are areas in the state where it thrives. There are still leagues like the Morris Majors, the Jersey Shore, Atlantic County, Salem County, the Tri-County and right here in Burlington County, with the Rancocas Valley League.

The 64th season of the RVL opens tonight at 6:15, when Carl Taylor of the Burlington Mets throws the first pitch to Willingboro's Mark Stumpf at the Life Center Academy's "Field of Spleens" in Florence.

Cinnaminson is the defending league champion, having knocked off the Mets in last year's playoff finals. Vincentown won the regular season title.
There are eight teams this summer, with Burlington, Cinnaminson, Delran, Mount Laurel, Pemberton, Vincentown and Willingboro all returning, and newcomer NJIBL of Riverside replacing the departed entries from Mount Holly and Browns Mills. The NJIBL is a team from the second-year New Jersey Independent Baseball League, and includes several Burlington County residents.

"This should be a very balanced league this summer," league president Ric Babula said. "All eight teams have talent and any one of them could win it, which will make things interesting."

Oh, the Beverly A.A. won the first pennant with a 14-7 record, as big lefty Jack McFetridge pitched 19 of the team's 21 games.

Burlington County Times

LOCAL ROUNDUP

Paul Guerrieri was 4-for-4 and batted in four runs Monday to lead Burlington to an 8-2 victory over Willingboro to launch the 64th season of Rancocas Valley League baseball.

Dan Graham's two hits included a triple and he contributed three RBIs to the Mets' attack. Burlington erased a 2-0 deficit with two runs in the bottom half of the first inning and took the lead for good with three runs in the second.

Carl Taylor pitched the first five innings for the win and John Harvey got the remaining six outs.

Burlington hosts defending champion Cinnaminson tonight in a rematch of last year's finals. Game time is 6:15 at Life Center Academy.

Burlington County Times

LOCAL ROUNDUP

Dave Jost singled the winning run home for the Burlington Mets in a 2-1 victory over Cinnaminson in Rancocas Valley League baseball Tuesday.
Jost's hit came in the bottom half of the seventh inning, breaking a 1-1 tie between the teams that met in last year's championship series (won by Cinnaminson). Shaun Babula was the winning pitcher, with 12 strikeouts in a four-hitter.

Keith Babula batted in the run that gave Burlington a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Cinnaminson tied it in the fourth on one of Ryan Mingin's two hits. Matt Fischer had two hits for Burlington.

Delran 9, Willingboro 0: Jason Ronca had 10 strikeouts as his team opened the season with a five-inning win. Delran supported Ronca with five runs in the second inning and four in the fourth.

Burlington County Times

Ryan Varga allowed two hits and an unearned run as Jug Handle Inn posted an 8-1 victory over NJIBL in Rancocas Valley League baseball Thursday.
Varga took the mound with a lead as the Cinnaminson-based squad scored four runs in the top half of the first inning. Varga finished with seven strikeouts and Dennis O'Hanlen led the attack with a triple, double and four runs batted in.

Burlington 9, Willingboro 0: Brandon Elliott pitched five innings and allowed one hit as the Mets improved to 3-0. Shaun Babula, Jon Reiner and Dan Torres (2-for-2) had two RBIs apiece.

Pemberton 10, NJIBL 2: Late Tuesday, Nick Henderson pitched a two-hitter, and led the attack with three hits and two RBIs. Andrew Birnelli, Andrew Lugo and Shawn McKeen had two hits each.

Burlington County Times

LOCAL ROUNDUP

The Burlington Mets improved to 6-0 in Rancocas Valley League baseball Monday with a 12-0 victory over Pemberton.

Garrett Mull's grand slam was the big hit in a five-run second inning. Dave Jost followed suit with a slam in the third.

Ace Robinson scored three runs and Carl Taylor pitched one-hit ball over five innings for his second win this season.

Burlington was coming off a sweep Sunday over Pemberton. Shaun Babula had nine strikeouts in an 11-1 victory in the first game. Paul Guerrieri had three hits and Dan Hennigan scored three runs.

The Mets then won 5-1 behind starter John Harvey (11 strikeouts) and reliever Lucas Jones, who fanned the side in the seventh inning. Babula and Jost had two hits and one RBI apiece.

Jug Handle Inn 11, Mount Laurel 1: Chris Murray had 11 strikeouts in a two-hitter as the Cinnaminson-based squad improved to 3-1. Ryan Mingin had three hits and Frank Sirolli contributed a two-run double in the second inning.

Burlington County Times

Local roundup

The unbeaten Burlington Mets improved their Rancocas Valley Baseball League record to 7-0 with a 4-1 victory over the Jug Handle Inn of Cinnaminson on Sunday night at Memorial Park in Cinnaminson.

Righty Carl Taylor upped his record to 3-0, pitching a four-hitter and striking out five. He also posted a 2-1 victory over Cinnaminson (4-2) earlier this season. The two teams, who met in last summer's RVL playoff final with Cinnaminson winning, will square off again Wednesday night in Cinnaminson.

Dan Hennigan had a single, two walks and an RBI, and Garrett Mull knocked in a run for the Mets. Joe Sirolli had two of Cinnaminson's four hits.

Delran 4, Vincentown 0: Lefty Max Newill pitched a four-hitter and contributed an RBI single for Delran (6-0). Rocky Petrone added a single, double and RBI to the winners' cause. Mike Ferrera had two hits for the Merchants (3-1). Zeke Boren was the tough-luck loser.

Mount Laurel 5, Willingboro 2: Manager Dean Johnson's club notched its first win after four losses. Trailing 1-0 in fourth, Ernie Covington hit a bases-clearing double. Dave Smith picked up the pitching win. Jon Wetzel had an RBI and scored a run for Willingboro.

Delran 10, NJIBL 0: Eric Gertie (5 IP, 8 Ks) and Mark Wickersham combined on a three-hitter and Dave Kittle was 3-for-4 with three RBIs to lead Delran. Rocky Petrone, Wickersham, John Iacovelli and Matt Ulmer each had two hits.

By: BRUCE JOHNSON
Burlington County Times

RVL NOTEBOOK

Going into Sunday evening's games, the Rancocas Valley Baseball League sounded like a novel by Ernest Hemingway, or a movie starring Humphrey Bogart and directed by Howard Hawks - to have, and to have not. Or both.
Four teams - Burlington, Cinnaminson, Delran and Vincentown - were a combined 18-1, the one loss being Burlington's 2-1 win over Cinnaminson. The other four teams - Mount Laurel, NJIBL, Pemberton and Willingboro - were (duh) a combined 1-18.

Things should start evening out this week, with some matchups of top-half teams against each other, and also bottom-half teams meeting.

It's a long 35-game regular season and doesn't end until the last week of July. A lot of things can happen over that period. Hopefully it will include some better balance. It's probably going to be a long, hot summer, and close games keeps everybody's interest at a high level.

Golf Tournament

The RVL will hold its annual fund-raiser golf tournament on July 9, 1 p.m., at the Rancocas Golf Club in Willingboro. The donation cost is $100 per person and the league is looking for hole sponsors at a cost of $100 per hole.

All proceeds benefit the league and, hopefully, there will be enough players and sponsors to help out with the league's scholarship fund.
All-Star Game

Pencil this one right into your calendar: there will be an all-star game on July 17 at Vincentown's Southampton Memorial Field, with the RVL stars taking on the N.J. Independent Baseball League stars at 7 p.m. Prior to the game, starting at 3 p.m., there will be a Home Run Derby.
This is one of the league's big fund-raisers of the year, so try to check it out.

RVL website

The RVL's website - just google Rancocas Valley Baseball League - is kept up-to-date by the managers, with the assistance of Steve Kolwicz, the league's executive secretary and webmaster.

Kolwicz currently lives on the West Coast, but he updates the website nightly. A new feature this year is the statistics page, which includes batting and pitching stats, both individual and team.

The page includes the following links: History, calendar, by-laws, rosters, standings, schedules, directions to fields, game results, forms, contact info, links, transactions, archives and administration.

Game of the week

Delran at Vincentown, Thursday, 8 p.m. Rocky Petrone's club will take an unbeaten record out to Southampton Memorial Field, where the Merchants will be looking to avenge Sunday's first loss of the season.

Burlington County Times

RVL BASEBALL

Burlington 12, NJIBL 2: The undefeated Mets scored seven times in the first inning, were up 10-0 after two frames and cruised to their ninth win.

Paul Guerrieri doubled twice among three hits and scored three runs. Ace Robinson was 2-for-2 with three RBIs, and winning pitcher John Harvey struck out eight in four innings.

Burlington 5, Jug Handle Inn 1: Late Wednesday, winning pitcher Shaun Babula allowed only an unearned run and struck out six.

Dan Graham (two hits) and Sean Gusrang contributed RBIs. Ryan Varga was 2-for-2 for the Jug and pitched three innings in relief, allowing one run and striking out three.

Burlington County Times

Local Roundup

RVL BASEBALL

Burlington 7, Riverside 2: Burlington improved to 10-0 behind the pitching of Ace Robinson and Matt Wilkins. Wilkins didn't allow a run in his three innings of work. Ed Eifert had two RBIs for Burlington while Jon Reiner was 1-for-1 with two stolen bases.

Willingboro 8, Pemberton 6: Powered by a six-run fourth inning, Willingboro posted its first win of the year. Jamie Schwantes went 3-for-3 with a double and two runs, and Kellen Peter had two hits. Brett McLaughlin doubled in the winning run and Davey Caruso pitched a complete game to earn the win.

Burlington County Times

LOCAL BASEBALL

Garrett Mull doubled twice and batted in three runs to help Burlington remain undefeated with a 12-2 win over Vincentown in Rancocas Valley League baseball Monday.

Carl Taylor was the winning pitcher, recording his fourth win as the Mets improved to 11-0. Dave Jost (double) had two hits and three RBIs, and Paul Guerrieri (home run) had two hits and two RBIs. Vincentown was led by Mike Ferrara's two hits.

By: BRUCE JOHNSON
Burlington County Times

RVL Notebook

What was baseball in Burlington County like in the aftermath of the Second World War? In a word: BOOMING.

In 1947, as the Burlington County Baseball League prepared to celebrate its 50th anniversary the next summer, an upstart league - the Rancocas Valley Baseball League - was formed. The new league's Original Eight were: Hainesport A.C., Mount Laurel, Marlton Fathers, Juliustown, Indian Mills, Burlington Colored Legion, Mount Holly Mohawks and Wrightstown.

Representing the 14-team BCBL in '47 were: Roebling Steelers, Riverside Field Club, Burlington, Medford A.A., Riverside Turners, Riverton, and Mount Holly A.A. in the National Division, and Vincentown, Moorestown, Maple Shade, Mount Holly Eagles, Rancocas, Pemberton and Jobstown in the American Division.

(Note: around this time, a Co-County League was also formed, with Chesterfield, New Egypt, Jobstown, New Sharon, Vincentown and Hornerstown fielding teams. There was also a Central Jersey League with Bordentown, New Egypt Cornhuskers, Florence, Crosswicks, Columbus and Fieldsboro. That league played a 54-game regular-season schedule!)

Hainesport won the first regular-season title in the RVL with an 18-8 record, followed closely by Mount Laurel (18-9), Marlton (18-10) and Indian Mills (15-12), one game ahead of Mount Holly for the final playoff spot.

Hainestown and Indian Mills won the first round of the playoffs, advancing to the first RVL championship series. Hainesport won the opener 13-1, and jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning of the second game. But Indian Mills rallied for a 9-8 victory, with catcher Sam Pepper getting three hits and center fielder Floyd Wells scoring three times.
The championship game saw right fielder Fred Garron collect four hits, Pepper get three more, and Indian Mills scored 10 times in the seventh to roll to a 15-2 victory.

In addition to the above mentioned players, Indian Mills included: of Bob Abrams, lf Warren Abrams, if Carl Adams, 3b Norm Adams, if Frank Chappine, 1b Mel Crain, p-3b Bob Erisman, Walt Gerber, p-ss Bill Lemmon, 1b Dave New, cf Don Wells, and 2b Bill Wright.

According to the Sept. 19, 1947, Mount Holly Herald, "The Indian Mills champs are throwing a banquet, which they so well deserve, tomorrow night at the Indian Mills school auditorium. The winners of the Rancocas Valley League are making it a private affair for themselves.

"When donations were asked for by people interested in making the banquet a success, here's what came out:

"Ninety-two dollars in cash, 18 chickens, seven bushel baskets of white potatoes and two of sweet potatoes, three of tomatoes, four of cabbage, 100 ears of corn, three pounds of sugar, eight pounds of coffee, 36 cans of cream, 20 cans of cranberry sauce and nine pounds of butter.
"That's what we call real civic spirit, real community pride!"

The Riverside Field Club captured the '47 BCL playoff title, knocking off Vincentown two games to one, including a 5-2 victory at Vincentown and its ace Bob (No-Hit) Taylor in the decisive game. John Kalinowski had an RBI single and Lou Nocito a three-run double for Riverside, which got a well-pitched game from Dan Flagg. It was Riverside's fourth title in the past decade, the others coming in 1939, '40 and '42.

As a side note, the first night game ever played in Bordentown was held Wednesday, Sept. 3, 1947. The Roebling Steelers of the Burlington County League posted an 11-9 victory over the Bordentown American Legion of the Central Jersey League at Gilder Stadium in front of "a capacity crowd," according to the Bordentown Register.

Games of the week

Burlington at Vincentown, tonight, 8, Southampton Memorial Field; Vincentown at Burlington, Thursday, 6:15, Life Center Field. Two of the league's power teams will meet three times this week, starting with Monday night's tilt.

Burlington County Times

Jason Ronca pitched a one-hitter and Rex Workman batted in three runs for Delran in a 4-1 decision over Jug Handle Inn in Rancocas Valley League baseball Wednesday.

The Jug's Frank Sirolli led off the game with a double, advanced on a groundout, then scored on a groundout by Mike Osborne. Ronca pitched hitless ball thereafter and struck out seven in a complete game.

The Delran offense came alive in the third inning, with a double by Workman driving in two of Delran's three runs. Workman's second hit of the night was an RBI single in the fifth.

Vincentown 6, Burlington 5: Late Tuesday, four runs in the fifth inning enabled the Merchants to overcome a 5-2 deficit and hand the Mets their first loss after 11 wins.

Eric Anderson and Jesse Pappler had RBI singles during the Vincentown rally. Winning pitcher Owen Boles got stronger as the game progressed, allowing no hits in the last three innings.

Jon Reiner's grand slam in the third inning helped Burlington to the lead. The teams have split two meetings this week and are scheduled to meet again tonight, 6:15 at the Life Center Academy field.

Burlington County Times

LOCAL BASEBALL

Burlington scored the tying run in the seventh inning and darkness precluded extra innings so the Mets and Vincentown settled for a 2-2 tie in Rancocas Valley League baseball Thursday.

Paul Guerreri singled with two outs in the bottom half of the seventh to lift Burlington into the tie. Vincentown had taken a 2-1 lead in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by John Bujanowski Sr.

Thus ended a week in which the Merchants and Mets met three times. Burlington won the first meeting Monday and Vincentown won a rematch the next night.

Delran 2, Pemberton 1: Dave Kittle doubled both runs home in the third inning, erasing a 1-0 deficit, and Eric Gertie won his pitching duel with Ron Krankowski.

Gertie twirled a four-hitter and struck out four; Krankowski had six Ks in a five-hitter. Pemberton had broken on top on Alex Samuelian's RBI double in the second inning.

Willingboro 12, NJIBL 1: Mike Gulli had three hits, scored two runs and batted in two to lead the support for winning pitcher Mike Hynes, who had eight strikeouts in three innings. Matt Moceri homered for Willingboro.

Jug Handle Inn 15, NJIBL 0: Late Wednesday, Ryan Mingin's two hits featured a grand slam and he had seven RBIs as the Jug improved to 5-4. Nick Melchiorre also had two hits and four pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts in a three-hitter, led by John Meadus, who fanned six of the seven batters he faced.

Burlington County Times

RVL NOTEBOOK

After spending two hours in the stifling heat of Mercer County Park watching the final match in the state tennis Tournament of Champions, I came to that proverbial fork in the road when leaving the park: turn right and head home, to watch the Daily Show and the Colbert Report; or turn left, make a food stop at Classic Subs on Route 33 in Hamilton and head down to Life Center Academy for the Rancocas Valley Baseball League game between the Vincentown Merchants and the Burlington Mets.

As much as I love Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, it was an easy choice + and proved to be a wise one. Setting up my chair in the breezy shade under a tree down the first-base line, I downed the sub and Dr Pepper and awaited the action.

Ten minutes before the game's 6:15 start, Merchants manager Harry Thompson was wandering around, checking his watch, hoping an eighth and ninth player would show up so he wouldn't have to drag his 80-year-old body out to first base, or right field. Within minutes, there were 11 Merchants in uniform.

Down the left-field line, Ace Robinson was warming up, getting ready to start for the first-place Mets, who had lost their first game of the year on Tuesday night at Vincentown.

There was the usual pre-game banter and hugging umpires, then the teams got down to business.

Burlington got an unearned run in the first against Zeke Boren, who then shut them down until two outs in the seventh. Meanwhile, Robinson worked out of bases-loaded jams in each of the first three innings.

Early in the game the fans were nearly treated to a rare 9-3 putout, when Keith Babula charged a line drive to right and fired to Jon Reiner at first, with a hustling Vern Powell narrowly beating the throw.

Vincentown tied the game in the fourth on a ground-rule double by Mike Ferrara, and took the lead in the fifth without a hit. A walk and an error on a bunt put runners on first and second for Boren, who drilled a ball to deep right-center field, where Garrett Mull made a spectacular running over-the-shoulder grab as the lead runner moved to third. John Bujanowski Sr. then lined a shot to left-center, with Mull making another eye-opening grab, as the go-ahead run scored.

As darkness started to settle in, a walk and hit batter gave Burlington two runners on with one out. Boren battled back to get the dangerous Mull to foul out, but Paul Guerreri's single to left tied the game. When the ball took a bad hop, both runners moved up to second and third. Thompson elected to pitch to Jeff Vitale, rather than walk him to load the bases and face Babula, with a potential force at any base. Vitale lined one to short right field, but Bujanowski Sr. made a sliding grab and the game was over.

Mull and Stefan Kancylarz, the Merchants' slick young shortstop, made enough nice defensive plays to make that left-hand turn very worthwhile.

Games of the week

The big game of the week should be on Sunday, 4 p.m., when Burlington and Delran meet at Notre Dame Field. The likely pitching matchup for the battle of the league's current 1-2 teams will be Shaun Babula for the Mets and Jason Ronca for Delran.

But it's also a big week for the Jug Handle Inn team, which, because of making up rainouts, will play almost a quarter of its schedule between Sundays. Cinnaminson visits Notre Dame Field for a pair of key games against Delran, Tuesday and Thursday, both at 6:15. In addition to those games, the defending league champions had two games on Sunday, play a home twinbill on Wednesday at Memorial Park, and finish the week with two more on Sunday.

Burlington County Times

LOCAL ROUNDUP

Delran scored in the fifth inning to tie Jug Handle Inn at 1-1 and the teams stayed that way in a Rancocas Valley Baseball League game halted by darkness Tuesday.

The Jug took the lead in the second inning on a run (unearned) batted in by Tyler Powell. Jug starting pitcher John Meadus and Delran counterpart Jason Ronca, meanwhile, did their best to keep the scoreboard inactive.

Delran drew even when Mike DeLellis singled and came around when Rocky Petrone hit into a fielder's choice. Ronca worked all seven innings, struck out eight and allowed three hits. Meadus pitched into the sixth, allowed two hits and struck out three.

Burlington 4, Willingboro 4: Kellen Peter's two-run single in the top half of the seventh inning lifted Willingboro into the tie with the first-place Mets. His triple in the third chased home Willingboro's first two runs.
Jamie Schwantes also had two hits for Willingboro. Burlington had built a 4-0 lead in the second inning, two runs scoring on Joe Mastrangelo's double. Paul Guerrieri had two hits for the Mets.

Delran 1, Cinnaminson 0: John Yacovelli hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the sixth inning, scoring Rocky Petrone and giving Eric Gertie an edge in his pitching duel with Ryan Varga.

Gertie struck out seven and allowed two hits as Delran improved to 11-1-1. Varga also had a two-hitter and struck out six.

Pemberton 5, NJIBL 4: Mike Lamola hit an infield single in the bottom of the fifth, scoring Andrew Lugo to break a 4-4 tie. Alex Samuelian had two hits and winning pitcher Ron Krankowski had nine strikeouts.

Burlington 3, Willingboro 2: Dave Jost's home run in the third inning broke a 2-2 tie for the Mets (12-2-2). Winning pitcher Vic Quint struck out six, the same number as counterpart Ryan Derry. Evan Plys (double, triple) and Andrew Csik had RBIs for Willingboro.

Burlington County Times

RVL ROUNDUP

Willingboro pulled off the upset of the year on Sunday, rallying for a 5-4 victory over the first-place Burlington Mets in the Rancocas Valley Baseball League at J.F. Kennedy Recreation Center.

Willingboro (3-7) scored an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh to earn the win over the Mets (11-2-1) and Shaun Babula. Mike Juckett had a one-out single, moved up on a passed ball and scored when a fly ball was misplayed.

Matt Moceri was 3-for-3, including a home run, for Willingboro, while teammate Jamie Schwantes had a single and double. Paul Guerreri banged out two doubles for the Mets.

Ryan Derry picked up the pitching win in relief.

Vincentown 10, Cinnaminson 9: Mike Ferrera and Bubba DiFabio each had a double and home run, and Eric Anderson got a final-out strikeout to cut off a last-inning rally as the Merchants (6-2-1) won.

Alan Hasher went 6 2/3 for V'town, but allowed three runs in the bottom of the seventh so Anderson relieved with the tying run on second and fanned the dangerous Ryan Mingin.

Chris Murray struck out nine for the Jug Handle Inn (6-5), but was reached for 11 hits.

Cinnaminson 2, Mount Laurel 1: Greg Gilbert's two-out single in the bottom of the seventh lifted Jug Handle Inn to a come-from-behind win, spoiling a great pitching effort by Mike Cooper, a 2010 Cinnaminson High School product.

Mount Laurel took a 1-0 lead in the third on Matt Riley's sacrifice fly off Corey Mingin, who went the first six innings with Ryan Varga finishing up.

Chris Murray's sacrifice fly tied the game in the sixth. In the seventh, Tim Wasco walked with one down, moved up on a ground out and scored on Gilbert's single, just the third hit off Cooper.

Delran 15, Pemberton 9: Rocky Petrone and Steve Kittle doubled and homered for Delran. Mark Wickersham and Rex Workman also had home runs and Kyle Ballay doubled as Delran jumped out to a 10-1 lead. Pemberton scored four in the fifth inning then four more on Greg Hunt's grand slam in the sixth.
Delran 19, Pemberton 1: Petrone capped his day with a grand slam as Delran improved to 10-1. Kittle added a double. Delran never looked back after an 11-run first inning.

Burlington County Times

Local roundup

Second-place Delran hosts first-place Burlington today, 4 p.m., at Notre Dame Field in an early-season Rancocas Valley Baseball League showdown.
The Mets, who are expected to start lefty Shaun Babula, are currently 12-2-2, good for 27 points.

Delran, which could be throwing righty Jason Ronca, is 11-1-1, for 23 1/2 points.

After winning their first 11 games, the Mets have struggled to a 1-2-2 record in the last five, the win coming in a 3-2 nail-biter on Thursday against Willingboro. Delran is 5-0-1 in its last six, since a 5-2 loss to Mount Laurel.

Mount Laurel 8, Vincentown 2: Bret Jenkins had a three-run home run in the first inning and later added a two-run single while teammate Matt Szukics was 3-for-4 to lead the Laurels to a win late Thursday night. Justin Streleckis went four innings to earn the win. Bubba DiFabio and John Bujanowski Sr. each had two hits for the Merchants.

By: BRUCE JOHNSON
Burlington County Times

RVL Commentary

With the excitement of the recent Stanley Cup run by the Flyers still fresh in everybody's minds, and with soccer's World Cup taking place over the next month, this is a great time to suggest that the champions of the Rancocas Valley Baseball League get to hoist a cup at the end of August, when the playoffs are finally over.

"We're not all about statistics and trophies and that kind of stuff in this league," one manager said.

But when you're believed to be the oldest continuous running league in the entire country, establishing a cup to honor that past, and the winning team, seems like a good idea.

Many similar leagues have had a cup or trophy that is usually named after somebody who was a great player, somebody who gave a lot to whatever league it is, or somebody who is synonymous with baseball in that county.
Three names come to mind.

Russell (Lena) Blackburne: The Palmyra native was the first county player to reach the "big time." He played shortstop, second and third base and also pitched for eight years in the major leagues between 1910 and 1929, with the Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Boston Braves and Philadelphia Phillies; he also managed the White Sox. The "Golden Jubilee of the Burlco Baseball League" said this about the guy also known as Slats: It is agreed by all who have seen him perform and by those who were his teammates that he, and he alone, has contributed more to the prestige of Burlington County baseball than any other player in the 50-year history of the league. Blackburne is also well known for his "rubbing mud" from the Delaware River that umpires have used to rub on baseballs before games for over 60 years.

Russell L. Hoffman: A huge figure in the old Burlington County League, the league secretary and sports writer was the force behind the "Golden Jubilee of the Burlco Baseball League," which celebrated the first 50 years of the league. If you've ever seen a copy of The Jubilee, you know it's safe to say that no other league in the country has anything that compares. Box scores, stories, player features of all the championship games of the league's first 50 years, from 1898-1947 + and much, much more.

Harry Thompson: A player and manager for the Vincentown Merchants since the league first started in 1947 + and still involved as he passes his 80th birthday. He is believed to be closing in on 1,000 career victories with the Merchants. And he had collected a least one hit in six different decades - '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s - before taking an 0-fer in a couple of rare pinch-hitting appearances this century.

How cool would it be for the entire winning team to raise the Blackburne Cup or Hoffman Cup or Thompson Cup? It could even be in the shape of a giant beer stein or keg of beer.

Game of the week

There are several on the schedule that jump out, but we'll go with Thursday's Mount Laurel at Pemberton tilt. The Laurels have been playing well of late, and if Pemberton has Ron Krankowski on the mound, this should be a good one.

By: BRUCE JOHNSON
Burlington County Times

DELRAN - With Shaun Babula facing Max Newill, runs figured to be at a premium in Sunday's Rancocas Valley Baseball League showdown between the first-place Burlington Mets (Babula) and second-place Delran (Newill) at Notre Dame Field.

And they were. To make things more interesting, there was the 3 p.m. thunderstorm that drenched the area and forced the start of the game back an hour to 5 p.m. And then to make it even more interesting, there was obviously rain, thunder and lightning coming from the west + and would the teams get five innings in, to make it an official game.

Babula and Newill certainly did their parts and the 5 1/2 innings that were completed - before a torrential downpour ended the festivities - took just over an hour to play. Burlington reached Newill for a first-inning run, and that was it + Burlington 1, Delran 0. The win pushed the Mets to 13-2-2 (29 points) while Delran dripped to 11-2-1 (24).

For his five official innings, Newill allowed two hits, walked two and fanned six. Babula gave up three hits and fanned four.

"I didn't think I had very good stuff tonight," Babula said. "I've been playing (Sundays) in a North Jersey league with the Sayreville Giants, and between the two teams I had pitched like 28 innings over two weeks. I was tired and a little off earlier in the week against Willingboro (a 5-4 loss). I felt better tonight, but not great."

The 33-year-old Babula played in the RVL while he was in high school and college, then spent 10 years pitching in the Baltimore, Houston and Chicago White Sox organizations, plus a couple of years in Independent leagues. That 10-year run ended last summer.

"Midway through last summer I just decided that was it, I was done with pro ball," Babula said.

His return helped lift the Mets into last summer's RVL championship series, where they lost to Cinnaminson.

"We made a nice run at the title last summer," said Babula, who has not allowed an earned run in 27 1/3 RVL innings this summer while fanning 35. "Hopefully we can get it done this time."

The Mets got their run with a quiet first-inning rally. With two down, Garrett Mull drew a walk, moved to second on Paul Guerreri's single and rode home on Dan Graham's double to deep right-center.

That was more than enough for Babula, who got three outstanding defensive plays from brother Keith, the team's player/manager and right fielder. The older Babula made two hit-saving catches to rob John Iacovelli and Dan Kittle. Then he made the play of the game when he fielded Iacovelli's line drive and threw him out at first to start the bottom of the fifth. That play loomed larger when Rex Workman and Mike DeLellis followed with singles. But Shaun Babula fielded Ryan McFadden's hard grounder and started a 1-6-3 double play that ended the threat and made the game official.

"Keith had a great game out there," Shaun said of his 36-year-old brother. "He actually wasn't gonna play but just before the game he said, 'Fudge it, I'm playing.' He's always been a good player. He's older now and a little out of shape, but he can still get it done."

The scheduled doubleheader at Cinnaminson - Mount Laurel at 5, Willingboro at 7 - was rained out Sunday night.

Burlington County Times

LOCAL ROUNDUP

Paul Guerrieri hit a three-run home run in the first inning, setting the tone in the Burlington Mets' 10-1 win over NJIBL in Rancocas Valley League baseball Monday.

Guerrieri finished the game with three hits, four RBIs and three runs scored. Joe Mastrangelo had two hits and one RBI.

Winning pitcher John Harvey worked five innings and allowed one hit (seven strikeouts). Brandon Elliott finished with two scoreless innings for the first-place Mets, who are 14-3-2.

Burlington County Times

LOCAL ROUNDUP

Joe Mastrangelo and Dave Jost combined to go 9-for-9 as the Burlington Mets beat Riverside, 15-2, in Rancocas Valley League baseball action Wednesday.
Mastrangelo's five hits included a double and a pair of RBIs. Jost's four hits - including a double and triple - drove in three runs. Carl Taylor struck out seven in the win.

Delran 13, Vincentown 2: Jason Ronca won his sixth game of the season and Dave Kittle was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs in the first game of the doubleheader.

Delran 12, Vincentown 2: Mike DeLellis was 3-for-3 with a pair of runs and Ryan McFadden was 2-for-3 with two runs scored in the sweep.

Delran 6, Willingboro 1: Eric Gertie struck out six in a complete-game five-hitter. Matt Ulmer drove in a pair in a four-run third inning and John Iacovelli was 2-for-3 in the win. Mike Galli doubled for Willingboro.

Burlington 18, Riverside 0: Ace Robinson and Brandon Elliot combined to strike out 10 as the Mets cruised. Paul Guerreri was 3-for-4 with a home run, a pair of doubles and two RBIs. Jeff Vitale drove in three on a 2-for-3 night. Joe Mastrangelo had four hits in five at-bats and Jon Reiner drove in two and doubled in the onslaught.

Mount Laurel 5, Pemberton 4: Brian Black led off the seventh inning with his third consecutive single, went to third on a single and wild pitch and scored the game-winner on a fielder's choice. Bret Jenkins had a complete game six-hitter, retiring the last nine batters he faced. He helped himself by scoring on a single after a bases-loaded first-inning triple. Mike Arnao was 2-for-3 and had an RBI for Pemberton, which tied the game with four third-inning runs.

Cinnaminson 11, Vincentown 1: Mike Wasco's second RBI single of the game broke up a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the fifth and sparked Cinnaminson at Memorial Park on Wednesday night. Following Wasco, Chris Murray added an RBI single and Greg Gilbert had a three-run double to break it open. Mike Osborne and Murray added two-run home runs in the sixth. John Meadus threw a five-hitter, striking out five, to win a pitchers' duel with Kevin Kraft.

Burlington County Times

RVL ROUNDUP

Defending league champion Cinnaminson won its fourth straight Rancocas Valley Baseball League game on Sunday, slugging three home runs in a 12-2 romp over Pemberton.

Bob Diepold hit a first-inning grand slam to get the Jug Handle Inn nine (10-7-1) off to a good start. Dennis O'Hanlon was 4-for-5 with a home run and five RBIs and Mike Wasco hit a solo homer. Cory Mingin allowed one earned run in four innings to pick up the pitching win.

After a three-game win streak, Pemberton (6-13) has now dropped five of its last six games.

Burlington 15, Mount Laurel 2: Carl Taylor struck out nine in five innings to earn the win, and Garrett Mull had two hits, including a three-run home run, for the Mets. Dan Torres added three hits and Shaun Babula scored three times for first-place Burlington (18-3-2).

Brian Black went 3-for-3 and Mike Cooper hit a solo home run for the Laurels (7-8).

Vincentown 9, Willingboro 1: Zeke Boren banged out a pair of doubles and Alan Hasher pitched a complete game, as the Merchants (10-9-1) ended a five-game losing streak.

Andrew Csik had a double for Willingboro (7-12-1).

Burlington County Times

Local Roundup

Dave Jost doubled the winning run home in the seventh inning, lifting Burlington to a 6-5 win over Mount Laurel in Rancocas Valley League baseball Tuesday.

Jost delivered his two-bagger with two outs, scoring Dan Graham, who had walked and moved up to second base on a wild pitch. The win boosts the first-place Mets' record to 18-3-3.

Mount Laurel jumped to a 4-0 lead with the help of Bret Jenkins' two-run double and an RBI single by Mike Cooper (3-for-3). Burlington got two back in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI double by Dan Hennigan and an error.

The Mets went ahead with three runs in the fourth inning on RBIs by Joe Mastrangelo, Jon Reiner and Shaun Babula. Mount Laurel tied it in the sixth.

Jost finished with two hits and three stolen bases. Kevin McGovern was the winning pitcher in relief.

Burlington 7, Mount Laurel 7: On Monday night, after Mount Laurel had scored four runs in the top of the sixth on an RBI double by Matt Szukics, a two-run triple by Jenkins and an RBI single by Shawn Counard, Burlington tied it in the bottom of the inning when Paul Guerrieri's single scored Hennigan.

Szukics and Jenkins had RBI hits in the fifth for the Laurels, after the Mets had taken a three-run lead on a two-run single by Graham and an RBI grounder by Keith Babula.

Well past the halfway point of the RVL's 64th season - 83 games down, 57 to go - several things have become apparent: 1) barring a total collapse, either Burlington or Delran is going to finish as the regular-season champion; 2) Jug Handle Inn (Cinnaminson) and Vincentown are both highly capable of winning it all with a hot streak; and 3) Mount Laurel, Willingboro and Pemberton are all capable of playing the spoiler when the playoffs start on July 31.

Burlington, after an 11-0 start, is the league leader with an 18-3-3 record. The Mets have two aces - Shaun Babula and Carl Taylor - and plenty of potential third pitchers: John Harvey, Ace Robinson and Brandon Elliott. Paul Guerreri leads the league in most offensive categories, and, with Babula, Dan Hennigan, Garrett Mull and Dave Jost, the Mets have speed to burn.

Delran (18-2-1) has three go-to pitchers - Jason Ronca, Eric Gertie and Max Newill. And Rocky Petrone at first, Matt Ulmer at second, Kyle Ballay at short and Mark Wickersham at third - and Steve Bejsiuk to fill in - is arguably the league's best all-around infield.

Jug Handle Inn, the defending champion, has won six in a row, while Vincentown is on a three-game win streak.

Right now the regular season is scheduled to end on Wednesday, July 28.
The playoffs - with the eighth-place team facing the regular-season champion, fifth place vs. fourth place, sixth place vs. third place and seventh place vs. second place - would begin the following Saturday, with all four games (and all the playoff games) at Vincentown's Southampton Memorial Field.

The first round is best-of-three, while the semifinals and finals are best-of-five.

Vincentown 7, Burlington 4: The Merchants took the lead for good in the second inning, when Stefan Kancylarz doubled home the tying and go-ahead runs to erase a 1-0 deficit. Vincentown scored two more runs in the second and built a 7-2 lead through four innings.

Burlington reduced the deficit to three runs, and left the bases loaded in the fifth and sixth innings. Greg Miller, pitching in relief of starter Zeke Boren, got out of the jams. Jesse Pappler saved it with a 1-2-3 seventh as Vincentown improved to 14-9-1.

Mount Laurel 9, Riverside 0: Dave Smith pitched a no-hitter and struck out 13 batters in a six-inning complete game. Ernie Covington, Kevin Diamond and Matt Szukics had two hits apiece. Covington and Szukics had two RBIs each; Diamond scored two runs.

Willingboro 14, Jug Handle Inn 12: Jamie Schwantes was 3-for-3, including a home run, and scored twice for the 'Boro. Dave Caruso, the winning pitcher in relief, was 2-for-2 and Andrew Csik also had two hits. Dennis O'Hanlen was 3-for-3, scored two runs and batted in two for the Jug.

Vincentown 7, Jug Handle Inn 2: Late Monday, John Bujanowski Jr. hit a three-run homer during a five-run first inning that ignited the Merchants. Alan Hasher was the winning pitcher, going six innings. The Jug's Greg Gilbert had two hits.

Jug Handle Inn 13, Riverside 4: Chris Murray batted in five runs on three hits, including a triple and double as the Jug recorded its second win in two nights. Bob Osborne's two-run double in the third inning helped the Jug break it open. Dennis O'Hanlen doubled twice and winning pitcher Steve Stout had nine strikeouts.

Mount Laurel 8, Burlington 3: Mount Laurel erased a 2-0 deficit with five runs in the bottom of the first inning en route to a win over the first-place Mets (18-5-3). Dan Rella, Kevin Diamond and Ernie Covington had two RBIs each in support of winning pitcher Mike Cooper. Burlington's Garrett Mull doubled twice and scored twice.

Jug Handle Inn 3, Pemberton 1: Late Wednesday, RBI singles by Osborne and Matt Cann in the bottom of the fourth broke open a pitchers' duel between Murray and Ron Krankowski.

Murray pitched a four-hitter and struck out 12. He gave up a run in the fifth on an RBI single by Krankowski, but right fielder Geoff Gilbert cut down Greg Cinelli at the plate to end that threat.

Mount Laurel 10, Riverside 7: Brian Black had two triples, scored three runs and batted in two for Mount Laurel, which rallied Wednesday from a 5-3 deficit. Bret Jenkins had three RBIs and winning pitcher Ernie Covington had six strikeouts. Riverside's Jay Sabol doubled twice.

By: BRUCE JOHNSON
Burlington County Times

Rancocas Valley Baseball League

The Burlington Mets lost more than just a Rancocas Valley Baseball League regular season game last Tuesday. They lost one of the toughest players in the league.

Tracking down a seemingly innocent fly ball down the left-field line, Paul Guerrieri suffered a broken left elbow when he tried unsuccessfully to make a diving catch and landed awkwardly on the rock-hard ground at the Life Center Academy field in Florence.

"A lefty batter (Stefan Kancylarz) against a lefty pitcher (Shaun Babula) + I'm not normally an outfielder, but I still should've made that play," Guerrieri said Saturday after Burlington's game at Vincentown was called off. "It kept carrying + I dove for it + and now here I am."

Where he is, is on the sidelines, with his arm in a sling. And that's someplace Guerrieri has never been. Ever. Since joining the Mets midway through the 1999 season, the 6-foot-2, 235-pound slugger has been a mainstay at catcher and somewhere high in the batting order, usually in the cleanup slot. Even last year, when he suffered a torn ACL during the annual Fireworks Game against Vincentown, Guerrieri played through the pain and finished out the year, as the Mets lost in the playoff finals to Cinnaminson.

"By the end of last year I really couldn't catch anymore, because of the pain, so they put me at first base," he said. "I might have missed a game or two over the years because I was away, but never, ever because of an injury. This is the first time for that, and it (stinks). I'm not liking it at all."

(Typically, after the injury Guerrieri finished the inning in the field and spent the rest of the game rooting on his teammates before going to the hospital.)

After last season, Guerrieri had surgery on his injured knee. While he caught a couple of times early this season, the team has an outstanding young catcher in Joe Mastrangelo. With Jon Reiner on first base, Guerrieri took his glove and played mostly left or right field this summer.

Ironically, he credits Mastrangelo's talents behind the plate as the reason for his unbelievable hitting in '10.

"I'm not an outfielder, I'm a hitter and a catcher," the 31-year-old Guerrieri said. "But we have Joe to play catcher, and I really think that's a reason I've been hitting so well, because I'm not catching."
In fact, at the time of his injury Guerrieri was leading the RVL in hitting (.447), runs (27), hits (38), doubles (15) and slugging percentage (.729), and was among the leaders in home runs (three) and RBIs (24).
"It's a shame for Paul," Burlington coach Ric Babula said. "He's a real baseball player."

Guerrieri, of course, is trying to stay optimistic.

"Don't count me out yet," the 1997 Pemberton High School graduate said. "The doctor said I will be able to swing a bat again in January. I elected to not have surgery or put it in a cast. It just needs rest, and I'm not allowed to move it. But people have been known to recover quickly. So who knows, you know?"

Burlington County Times

RVL Notebook

The Rancocas Valley Baseball League will host the New Jersey Independent Baseball League in an all-star game Saturday, 7 p.m., at Southampton Memorial Field.

While the RVL is one of the state's oldest organizations - having started in 1947 and combined in 1952 with the old Burlington County League, whose roots go back to 1898 - the NJIBL is just in its second year of existence.
Each team in the RVL nominated its most worthy players, and then all eight managers voted on the final 28-man roster. Here are the results:

Rancocas Valley League
Starters:
c Paul Guerrieri (Burlington)*
1b Rocky Petrone (Delran)
2b Greg Gilbert (Jug Handle Inn)
3b Mark Wickersham (Delran)
ss Bret Jenkins (Mount Laurel)
of Al Roach (Vincentown)
of Dave Kittle (Delran)
of Geoff Gilbert (Jug Handle Inn)
dh Jamie Schwantes (Willingboro)
p Jason Ronca (Delran)
*injured and unable to play

Reserves:
c Mike Gulli (Willingboro)**, Mike Delellis (Delran)
1b Kellen Peter (Willingboro)
2b Dave Jost (Burlington)
3b Matt Szuckis (Mount Laurel)
ss Kyle Ballay (Delran)
of Garret Mull (Burlington)
of John Bujanowski Jr. (Vincentown)
of Andrew Csik (Willingboro)
dh Rex Workman (Delran)
p Carl Taylor (Burlington), Shaun Babula (Burlington), Eric Gertie (Delran), Max Newill (Delran), Ron Krankowski (Pemberton), Ryan Varga (Jug Handle Inn), John Meadus (Jug Handle Inn), John Harvey (Burlington).
**will start at catcher for injured Guerrieri

New Jersey Independent League

Starters:
c Matt Powell (E. Greenwich Dodgers)
1b Jeff Pilling (Oak Valley Indians)
2b Phil Giunta (Oaklyn A's)
3b Ed Herron (E. Greenwich Dodgers)
ss Joe Uva (S.J. Bandits)
lf Austin Ley (Cherry Hill Phillies)
cf Shawn Marlin (Gloucester Giants)
rf Mitch Friedburg (Cherry Hill Phillies)
dh Vince Lodino (S.J. Bandits)
p Joe Farina (Bridesburg Phillies), John Thompson (Oak Valley Indians), Dan Snyder (S.J. Bandits), Paul Conway (Oak Valley Indians).

Reserves:

dh Tim Lamoreux (S.J. Bandits)
1b Karl Bonawitz (Oaklyn A's)
c Billy Hayes (Oaklyn A's)
(Note: NJIBL roster is not final.)

Streakin'

Delran has stormed into first place on the wings of a 10-game win streak, which improved its record to 21-2-1. The winning started after a 1-0 loss to Burlington.

Vincentown played through a five-game losing streak, when it allowed at least 10 runs in each game, and is on a six-game winning streak.

Mount Laurel has won four in a row, moving a half-point ahead of Willingboro into fifth place.

Pemberton has lost seven straight, and 10 of 11, since a three-game win streak.

Willingboro had won three straight before losing to Delran on Thursday.

'Strong up the middle'

The old baseball adage about being "strong up the middle" is true, whether it's on the Major League level, minors, college or semipro.

The Rancocas Valley Baseball League has some teams that are very strong down the middle. Which is the best? It's pretty arguable, for sure.

Here are your options:

Burlington: c Joe Mastrangelo, 2b Dave Jost/Ken Ridge, ss Dan Hennigan, cf Shaun Babula/Garrett Mull.

Delran: c Mike DeLellis/Rex Boardman, 2b Matt Ulmer, ss Kyle Ballay, cf Ryan McFadden.

Jug Handle Inn: c Matt Cann/Mike Wasco, 2b Greg Gilbert, ss Chris Murray, cf Mike Osborne.

Mount Laurel: c Dan Rella, 2b Joe Hydro, ss Bret Jenkins, cf Brett Baker.
Pemberton: c Justin Ferroni, 2b Alex Samuelian, ss Nick Henderson, cf Mike Lamola.

Riverside: (did not respond)

Vincentown: c Bubba DeFabio/Owen Boles/Eric Anderson, 2b Kevin Carty/Andrew Lydon, ss Stefan Kancylarz, cf John Bujanowski Jr.

Willingboro: c Mike Gulli, 2b Mark Stumpf, ss Mike Lofredo, cf Jon Wetzel.
So, who would you go with?

Games of the week

First-place Delran - which won ran its win streak to 10 in a row Sunday - has an interesting week ahead, with Burlington (Tuesday at Life Center), Mount Laurel (Thursday at home), Jug Handle Inn (Friday night at Memorial Park) and Vincentown (Sunday at home).

Burlington County Times

Local Roundup

Garrett Mull's grand slam highlighted a 13-run first inning as the Burlington Mets hammered Mount Laurel 15-3 in Rancocas Valley League action on Monday night.

Dave Jost had a two-run homer and drove in four runs, all in the first inning. Keith Babula doubled and drove in a pair of runs for Burlington and John Harvey was the winning pitcher.

Matt Szuckics led off the game with a home run for Mount Laurel.

Burlington County Times

Local Roundup

Evan Ply hit a game-tying homer in the sixth and Matt Noceri rapped the winning single in the seventh that lifted Willingboro past Mount Laurel 5-4 in Rancocas Valley League play Tuesday night.

Noceri's hit made a winner of Willingboro pitcher Mike Loffredo. Mark Stumpf was 3-for-3 for Willingboro (11-14-1), with a pair of stolen bases and three runs scored.

Burlington Mets 12, Delran 0: Dan Graham hit an RBI single in the first and a three-run homer in the second as the Mets jumped on top early. Ken Ridge doubled in a pair of runs for the Mets and Dave Jost hit a two-run homer. The loss snapped Delran's 10-game winning streak. Garrett Mull had three hits and Dave Kittle had two hits, including a double, for the winners.

Burlington 3, Pemberton 1: Carl Taylor went the distance to lead the Burlington. Taylor allowed just two hit and struck out 17. Pemberton lone run was unearned. Dan Torres had two hits, John Harbey scored a run and Garrett Mull drove in a run for the winners.

Jug Handle Inn 11-11, Willingboro 1-4: Chris Murray and John Meadus pitched the Cinnaminson squad to a doubleheader sweep on Wednesday night at Memorial Park.

Murray fanned eight in six innings to win the opener, allowing one hit and one unearned run while striking out eight. He also had an RBI double in the first. A two-run double by Frank Sirolli and a two-run home run by Greg Gilbert in the third gave the Jug an 11-0 lead. Tyler Powell drove in four runs for the winners.

Meadus was touched for 11 hits in the nightcap, but went the route. Mike Osborne and Gilbert each had two hits and an RBI for the Jug. Kellen Peter had two doubles and a home run for Willingboro.

Burlington County Times

RVL Notebook

As the 2010 Rancocas Valley Baseball League season winds down to its final 10 days - 112 games have been played with just 28 to go - there are some closely contended positions in the standings.

There's a battle for first place between Burlington (49 1/2 after Sunday's games), Delran (45 1/2, with three games in hand) + a battle for third place featuring Vincentown (42) and defending champion Jug Handle Inn (40) + a battle for fifth with Willingboro (35) and Mount Laurel (32, with three games in hand). The only thing certain is that Pemberton (20) and Riverside (13 1/2) are going to finish seventh and eighth, respectively. But this isn't the tightest RVL pennant chase. When it comes to close, it's tough to imagine anything being tighter than the 1952 RVL regular season. That was the year the old Burlington County League "merged" with the RVL and created one giant county league.

There were 11 teams at the start of the season, but Fieldsboro and Juliustown dropped out. Indian Mills (13-17), Wrightstown (11-19) and Tabernacle (9-21) brought up the rear, but six teams battled down to the last week for the four playoff spots. Eventually Pemberton (19-10) and Columbus (18-11) came up just short of the final foursome.

How close were the top four? Burlington Township, Mount Laurel and Vincentown all finished 22-8, with Medford at 21-9. There had to be two rounds of one-game playoffs just to decide first place, with Vincentown beating B.T., but then falling to Mount Laurel.

After Vincentown topped Medford and Mount Laurel eliminated Burlington Township in the semifinals, it Vincentown and Mount Laurel in the best-of-five finals.

And what a championship series it was.

With Mount Laurel leading two games to one, it was time for some of the leagueead's legendary moments. In game four, Vincentown and Bob Taylor battled Mount Laurel and Danny Flagg to a 2-2 tie through 19 innings - and both pitchers went the entire 19 innings! When the game was replayed, in its entirety, Vincentown won 2-1 in 11 innings and Taylor - in those wonderful days before pitch counts - had thrown all 30 innings.

Taylor finally ran out of gas in the final game, with Mount Laurel, and Flagg, winning 8-4.

It was the second straight tough loss in the final for the Merchants, who lost to Pal-River in the final Burlington County League championship series in 1951. Taylor had pitched 1-0 and 2-0 victories in games one and three, but Pal-River won game four 6-5 with two in the ninth, then rode the pitching of Jake O'Donnell to win game five.

(Another fantastic finish happened in 2005, when Cinnaminson and Vincentown finished with 47 points, and Moorestown was just 5 1/2 points behind (41 1/2) in sixth place. In between were: Delran 44, Mount Laurel 42 1/2, and Burlington 42.)

Almost perfect

Shaun Babula was two swings of Dave Kittle's bat from a no-hitter last Tuesday, when the Burlington Mets beat league-leading Delran 12-0 in a 75-minute game at Life Center Academy field. The lefty retired the first 12 batters before Kittle sent a ground-rule double over the fence in right. Kittle also lined a single to left in the seventh. One other runner reached on an error.

Ironically, Delran had won 10 in a row since dropping a 1-0 decision to Babula back on June 13. The losing pitcher both times was Max Newill.

Playoff update

The regular season is scheduled to end on July 28. All of the playoff games will be held at Southampton Memorial Field, starting July 31, with games at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. The Aug. 1 opening-round starting times are noon, 2:30, 5 and 7:30.

The first round - the regular-season champion vs. the eighth-place team, No. 7 vs. No. 2, No. 6 vs. No. 3 and No. 5 vs. No. 4 - will be best of three, as will be the semifinals. The championship series will be best of five. There will be a day of rest after the first round is finished, and another day off after the semifinals are completed.

Recent playoff final results:

2009: Cinnaminson defeated Burlington
2008: Delran def. Cinnaminson
2007: Delran def. Mount Laurel
2006: Cinnaminson def. Mount Laurel
2005: Cinnaminson def. Delran
2004: Cinnaminson def. Burlington
2003: Vincentown def. Cinnaminson
2002: Delran def. Riverside

Game of the week

Delran and Vincentown square off Tuesday, 8:30 p.m., at Southampton Memorial Field. The teams met Sunday with Vincentown winning 7-6. Delran also visits first-place Burlington on Friday at Life Center Academy.

Burlington County Times

Local Roundup

Willingboro's Kellen Peter (2-for-3) and Jamie Schwantes (2-for-3) each knocked in three runs on Saturday night as the Rancocas Valley League all-stars posted a 13-1 victory over the New Jersey Independent Baseball League all-stars at Southampton Memorial Field.

Mount Laurel's Bret Jenkins went 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI for the RVL, which got outstanding pitching from Shaun Babula (2 innings), Eric Gertie (1), John Meadus (2), John Harvey (1 2-3), Corey Mingin (1 1-3) and Mike Cooper (1). They allowed just four hits while striking out 17.

In the Home Run Derby that preceded the game, Willingboro's Andrew Cisk was the winner, clouting six dingers in the final round. Runner-up was Schwantes and Mount Laurel's Kevin Diamond took third.

Vincentown 7, Delran 6: Kevin Carty's two-run double tied the game and Andrew Lydon's RBI single scored the winner as the Merchants (18-10-1) rallied for three runs in the seventh to hand Delran (21-5-1) its third straight loss. Bubba DeFabio had a two-run single in the first for the winners. Alan Hasher went 6 innings but walked the first batter in the bottom of the seventh and Owen Boles came in to earn the save. Mike Delellis had a two-run single and John Yacovelli a two-run double in a four-run first inning as Delran ended a 20-inning scoring drought.

Willingboro 13, Mount Laurel 8: Kellen Peter had two doubles, a home run and four RBIs to spark Willingboro (13-16-1) past host Mount Laurel (12-14-1) in a game that featured seven home runs. Evan Plys and Matt Moceri also homered for 'Boro, while Mark Stumpf had three hits and scored three runs. Kevin Joo picked up the pitching win, despite giving up two home runs to Shaun Counard, and one each to Kevin Diamond and Dan Rella.

Burlington 15, Pemberton 1: Brandon Elliot (four innings) and Matt Wilkins (three scoreless innings) combined to pitch the first-place Mets (22-5-3) to the win. Sean Gusrang hit a three-run homer in a six-run first inning and finished 3-for-5, as did Garrett Mull. Shaun Babula scored three runs. Ron Krankowski was 2-for-3 with a double for Pemberton (5-21).

Jug Handle Inn 6, Riverside 5: First-year Riverside (0-27) took a 5-0 lead in the third after Jim Caparelli's three-run homer. But winning pitcher Brett Miller shut the door and allowed no earned runs through six innings, before Jim Goodwin earned the save with his first appearance since shoulder surgery last year. The Jug (17-10-1) scored the winning run in the sixth when Gary Herron jarred the ball loose from the catcher trying to score on Bob Diepold's single. Tyler Powell followed with a single, but Diepold was thrown out at the plate. Greg Gilbert's RBI double scored Powell with the tying run in the fifth.

Burlington County Times

LOCAL ROUNDUP

Ryan McFadden had two hits and batted in two runs for Delran in a 4-2 victory over Mount Laurel in Rancocas Valley League baseball Thursday.

Eric Gertie pitched a three-hitter and struck out seven as Delran moved a half-point ahead of Burlington into first place. John Iacovelli had two hits for Delran, which is 23-6-1 for 50 points.

Burlington is 22-5-3 for 49.5 points. The teams meet tonight, 6:15 at Life Center Academy, Burlington's home field.

Pemberton 13, Riverside 9: Ron Krankowski had two hits and three RBIs as Pemberton recorded its seventh win. Rob DeVeney had a triple and RBI, and winning pitcher Mike Kondrath had seven strikeouts and allowed two earned runs in his five-inning stint. Riverside highlights were two-run singles by Dillon O'Neal and Zach Schultice.

By: Phil Chappine
Burlington County Times

Local Roundup

Friday evening's anticipated Rancocas Valley Baseball League showdown between No. 1 Delran and No. 2 Burlington turned into the Shaun Babula show.

The left-hander pitched a three-hitter, struck out eight and allowed one unearned run as the Mets posted an 11-1 victory over Delran to take over first place heading into the final week of the regular season.

It was the sixth straight win for Burlington (23-5-3, 51.5 points), which plays third-place Jug Handle Inn tonight, 7, at Memorial Park, Cinnaminson. Delran (23-7-1, 50.5) plays Willingboro today, 5, at J.F. Kennedy field. Burlington also hosts Jug Handle Inn on Monday and plays Delran at Notre Dame Field on Tuesday.

Babula's effect on the game's outcome was just as evident on offense, as he went 4-for-4 with two doubles, three stolen bases, three runs scored and three RBIs. In the first inning, he led off against Jason Ronca with a single and took second as the ball got past the outfielders. After a groundout, the speedy Babula stole home for the first run. His three-run double was the big hit in a four-run second inning as Burlington took a quick 5-0 lead.

Jeff Vitale had two hits and two RBIs for the Mets, while Garrett Mull had two hits, including an RBI double.

Dave Kittle had two of Delran's three hits.

Jug Handle Inn 5, Mount Laurel 0: Ryan Varga had 11 strikeouts in six innings Saturday, allowing five hits, and Jim Goodwin worked the seventh as the Jug improved to 20-10-1, tying Vincentown for third place.
Varga also singled home the run that gave the Jug a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. Bob Osborne (single) and Matt Cann (sacrifice fly) had RBIs in the fifth and Mike Osborne's sac fly in the sixth capped the scoring.

Bret Jenkins had two hits for Mount Laurel.

Vincentown 7, Willingboro 3: Al Roach's three-run home run broke up a tight pitchers' duel between Willingboro's Ryan Derry and V'town's Greg Miller and powered the surging Merchants to their 20th victory late Thursday at Memorial Field. Miller, battling back from an arm injury, went five innings, striking out five and walking seven. Jesse Pappler went the final two innings, also striking out five.

Burlington County Times

RVL NOTEBOOK

With the Rancocas Valley Baseball League playoffs due to start this Saturday, and with rumors of possible position-affecting rescheduled games to be played as late as this Thursday - Burlington vs. Vincentown and Jug Handle Inn vs. Delran being the key earlier postponements - it's difficult to take a crystal-clear look at what might happen at Southampton Memorial Field this weekend.

The final places in the standings may not be determined until the wee hours of Thursday night, should the schedule have to be extended a day in order to break ties.

The way things are set up schedule-wise this week, this could all change, but, if the season had ended Sunday night, the playoff lineup would be: No. 8 Riverside vs. No. 1 Burlington, No. 5 Willingboro vs. No. 4 Jug Handle Inn, No. 6 Mount Laurel vs. No. 3 Vincentown, and No. 7 Pemberton vs. No. 2 Delran.

Let's just take a look at each team's potential for the title, starting at No. 8 and working our way up to No. 1.

Riverside: The first-year team has had way more downs than ups, but the youngest team in league history has shown up ready to play every night. Marc Mount, Jim Caparelli, Donnie Strain, Dillon O'Neal, Jay Sabol, Zach Schulthice, John Mongon and Steve Colangelo are the top offensive guys.

Pemberton: If Gerry Lamola's club can steal a pitching win with Mike Kondrath, they could steal a series because Ron Krankowski is capable of beating any team. Krankowski is also the team's top hitter, but he gets lots of help from Anthony Arnao, Greg Cinelli, Rob Deveney, Alex Samuelian, Nick Henderson, Mike Lamola and Andrew Lugo.

Mount Laurel: Dean Johnson's team is the sleeper, because it has four pitchers - Mike Cooper, Bret Jenkins, Dave Smith and Justin Streleckis - who are highly capable of beating anybody. Jenkins and third baseman Matt Szukics are one of the best left sides of any RVL infield. Brian Black has been leading the league in hitting most of the summer, while Kevin Diamond, Pat O'Reilly, Shaun Counard, Ernie Covington and catcher Dan Rella are all tough outs.

Willingboro: Player-coach Mike Stumpf's club has plenty of offensive guns: Mark Stumpf, Kellen Peter, Jamie Schwantes, Andrew Csik, Matt Moceri, Evan Plys, Mike Juckett, Mike Loffredo and Mike Gulli are all .300 hitters with power. With some solid pitching and defense, they could be another surprise team.

Jug Handle Inn: The defending champs, who also won titles in 2004-05-06, have survived the mid-season loss of standout catcher Ryan Mingin (college coaching job) and ridden the pitching of Chris Murray, Corey Mingin, Ryan Varga and John Meadus back into contention. The hitting for Brett Miller's guys comes from Bobby Diepold, Geoff Gilbert, Greg Gilbert, Dennis O'Hanlen, Bob Osborne, Mike Osborne, Tyler Powell, Frank Sirolli and Joe Sirolli. Matt Cann and Mike Wasco share the catching.

Vincentown: The Merchants have solid pitching - starters Alan Hasher, Zeke Boren and Greg Miller, relievers Owen Boles, Kevin Carty and Jesse Pappler - and coach Harry Thompson's squad has the ability to simply outscore most opponents. Stefan Kancylarz, Carty, Dan Hayduk, Eric Anderson, Al Roach, Mike Ferrara, Pappler, Bubba DeFabio, John Bujanowski Sr., John Bujanowski Jr. and Andrew Lydon ... there are no easy outs in that lineup.

Delran: It'd be tough to bet against the pitching - Jason Ronca, Eric Gertie, Max Newill, Mark Wickersham - and the all-around solid infield of Rocky Petrone, Matt Ulmer, Kyle Ballay and Wickersham, with Steve Bejsiuk in reserve. Ryan McFadden can run down anything hit high enough to get over the infield, while John Iacovelli and Dave Kittle are solid corner outfielders. Mike DeLellis and Rex Workman share the catcher/designated hitter duties. And Delran's been there before, having won in 2002, '07 and '08, with a second-place finish in '05.

Burlington: With a 1-2 punch of Shaun Babula and Carl Taylor, and John Harvey and Ace Robinson behind that, player-coach Keith Babula's Mets are loaded with pitching. Even the mid-season loss of slugger Paul Guerrieri (broken elbow) hasn't slowed them down, with Joey Mastrangelo and Matt Fischer both solid catchers. Dan Hennigan and Dave Jost are smooth middle infielders, and outfielders Garrett Mull, Dan Graham and Ken Ridge are all ballhawks. Jon Reiners and Jeff Vitale provide experience at the corners.

Burlington County Times

LOCAL ROUNDUP

Ernie Covington pitched a two-hitter for Mount Laurel in a 2-1 win over Riverside in Rancocas Valley League baseball Monday.

Brian Black doubled and scored a run for the winners, who are 14-17-1 and remained in the running for the No. 5 seed in the playoffs. Mike Cooper had an RBI single for Mount Laurel.

First-year franchise Riverside hung tough with the help of Donnie Strain's triple and RBI.

Delran 5, Willingboro 4: Rocky Petrone's double in the sixth inning batted in the tying and winning runs as Delran (24-7-1) remained one point behind Burlington in the race for first place. The teams meet tonight, 6:15, at Notre Dame Field in Delran.

Petrone had three hits, as did Kyle Ballay, who scored the winning run. Winning pitcher Chris Maull had five strikeouts. Willingboro's Matt Moceri was 3-for-3 with two RBIs.

Burlington 4, Jug Handle Inn 3: Dave Jost drew a bases-loaded walk in the last of the seventh inning as the Mets (24-5-3) held on to first place.
Carl Taylor earned the pitching win, allowing just one earned run. Chris Murray took the loss.

Jeff Vitale had two hits and an RBI, while Jost and Jon Reiner knocked in the other Burlington runs.

Frank Sirolli and Greg Gilbert had RBI singles for Jug Handle (20-11-1), which fell to fourth place.

Vincentown 2, Pemberton 1: Kevin Carty pitched 5 2/3 innings in three-hit, one-run ball in relief of injured Alan Hasher as the Merchants (21-10-1) rallied to move into third place. Both teams scored in the third inning, and Vincentown won it in the top of the sixth against Pemberton ace Ron Krankowski. Jesse Pappler drew a walk, moved up on Carty's single and scored the go-ahead run on a single by Vern Powell.

By: DAVE ZANGARO
Burlington County Times

DELRAN - Not only did they clinch the No. 1 seed, but they also got the monkey off their backs.

Shaun Babula pitched another gem as the Burlington Mets defeated Delran, 5-0, in Rancocas Valley League baseball action on Tuesday.

In the process, Burlington won the regular season crown for the first time in nearly 60 years.

"It's not so much the first seed," said player/manager Keith Babula. "Burlington hasn't finished first since '51. We just got the monkey off our backs.

"A couple of the guys from those older teams actually came out and were rooting for us."

One of those old-timers is still playing. Third baseman Jeff Vitale is in his 22nd year in the RVL and is in his 19th season with Burlington.

"It feels pretty cool," Vitale said. "We've had some good years in the past. It may not seem like a big deal, but for us, this is a big deal."
Shaun Babula was masterful once again. He threw another complete-game shutout and struck out eight Delran batters.

"Of all the years I've been in the league, (Babula) could be No. 1," Vitale said. "He's the cream of the crop."

The only runs Babula needed came in the third inning. With the bases loaded, Garrett Mull hit a two-run double as a part of a three-run inning for Burlington.

"I just looked for a good pitch to hit and drove it into the outfield," said Mull, who hit two doubles on the night.

Dave Jost had an RBI-single and also scored a run. Shaun Babula hit two singles and scored a run.

Burlington added a run in the fifth and in the seventh, but by that time Babula had taken over.

The Burlington ace faced only 24 Delran batters and retired the side in order four times.

"We don't have to score many runs when he pitches," Vitale said. "He's the closest thing to an automatic win."

After the game, Babula called the defense behind him "awesome."

"When (Babula) is pitching well, he throws a lot of ground balls," Mull said. "There's not a better defense around. He's got to feel good with those guys behind him."

In four games against Delran during the regular season, Babula had four wins, which included three complete games, and he didn't allow an earned run in 26 innings pitched.

"He keeps guys off balance," said Delran player/manager Rocky Petrone. "He's got a big-league curve ball. He's very good and very competitive."
Although Burlington was happy to finish first in the regular season, the playoff implications of the game were even bigger.

Now, Burlington will face a Riverside team in the first round that hasn't won a game all season and Delran will take on a Pemberton team that has eight wins. The playoffs - which feature all eight teams in the league - start Saturday.

"Anything is possible,'' Keith Babula. "We won't take anything for granted."

For Delran, Rex Workman pitched all seven innings against Burlington and hit a double in the second inning.

The end of the season has been a struggle for Delran. After winning ten straight from the middle of June to the middle of July, Delran has lost six of their last nine. They will, however, have a chance to head into the playoffs on a winning note as they play Riverside tonight at home.

"For us, we're ending our season on a down note," Petrone said. "It's time for us to regroup. We should be fine and should be ready to go in the playoffs."

Burlington County Times

The Rancocas Valley Baseball League playoffs will start Saturday at Southampton Memorial Field, with opening ceremonies at 9:30 a.m., followed by games at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.

League vice president Dean Johnson, also the coach of the Mount Laurel team, will be in charge of the pregame, which will include a military honor guard from McGuire Air Force Base, Southampton mayor James Young throwing out the first pitch, and the playing of the national anthem.

All eight RVL teams qualified for the playoffs, which will be best-of-three series in the opening round and semifinals, with a best-of-five championship series.

Saturday's opening day schedule: 10 a.m., Riverside vs. Burlington; 1 p.m., Pemberton vs. Delran; 4 p.m., Mount Laurel vs. Jug Handle Inn; 7 p.m., Willingboro vs. Vincentown.

Sunday matchups are in the same order, with starts at noon, 2:30, 5 and 7:30 p.m.

Cinnaminson won the championship in 2009, after Delran had taken the title the two previous summers.

This is the 64th year of the RVL, and the 113th consecutive year of organized summer baseball in Burlington County, including the defunct Burlington County League (1898-1951).

Bruce Johnson

By: BRUCE JOHNSON
Burlington County Times

Rancocas Valley Baseball League

Hot dogs smothered in spicy brown mustard and sauerkraut, hot pizza, cinnamon sticks, assorted candy and eight different kinds of soft drinks. Can summer baseball be any better?

Oh yeah, did we mention the funnel cakes?

It will all be there on Saturday, when the 64th Rancocas Valley Baseball League playoffs get started at Southampton Memorial Field, Red Lion Road, Vincentown. This is actually the 113th consecutive season of organized summer baseball in Burlington County. The only league with a longer history of consecutive seasons is the National League, in Major League Baseball.

Following the 9:30 a.m. opening ceremonies, there will be four games, matching No. 8 Riverside against No. 1 Burlington at 10 a.m., No. 7 Pemberton vs. No. 2 Delran at 1 p.m., No. 5 Mount Laurel against No. 4 Jug Handle Inn at 4 and No. 6 Willingboro vs. No. 3 Vincentown at 7.

The opening round and semifinals will be best of three. The championship series will be best of five. The opening round will have two umpires per game, the semifinals three and the title series will have four umpires.
Following the completion of each round there will be one "off day." Figuring on each round going to the limit, the playoffs should last until around Aug. 12 or 13.

Bottom line: the first team to win seven games is the 2010 champion.
Here's a look at each opening-round matchup:

Riverside vs. Burlington
The first-year Riverside team has, like the old John Cameron Swayze-Timex watch commercials of the 1950s, "taken a licking but keeps on ticking." The hard-core guys who've stuck it out have been playing their best ball of the season the last two weeks. Leading hitters are Jay Sabol (.303), Jim Caparelli (.262), Matt Mount (.254), Steve Colangelo (.246), Donnie Strain (.171) and Dillon O'Neal.

Burlington rides into the playoffs on the wave of its first regular-season title since Harry Truman was in the White House (1951). And player-coach Keith Babula has enough pitching that he can use John Harvey (4-0), Ace Robinson and Brandon Elliott, resting aces Shaun Babula (7-2) and Carl Taylor (8-2) for the next two rounds. Garrett Mull (.400), Joe Mastrangelo (.364), S. Babula (.345), Dan Hennigan (.329), Dan Torres (.310) and Dave Jost (.308) provide offense, while 3b Jeff Vitale, 1b Jon Reimer and c Matt Fischer have been defensive standouts.

Pemberton vs. Delran
Pemberton's No. 1 pitcher has a 3-9 record, and No. 2 is 1-5. So why is that nobody wanted to face Pemberton in the opening round? Because those pitchers, Ron Krankowski and Mike Kondrath, have the potential to steal a series. Greg Cinelli (.459) and Krankowski (.373) are the 3-4 hitters, assisted by Rob Deveney, Alex Samuelian, Mike Lamola, Andrew Lugo, Andrew Virnelli, Kyle Brown, Nick Henderson and Justin Ferroni.

Delran dropped six of its last nine games, but with a well-rested staff of Eric Gertie (8-0), Jason Ronca (6-2) and Max Newill (2-3), it's tough to not pay attention to the 2007 and '08 champs. Kyle Ballay, Rocky Petrone, Dave Kittle, Mike DeLellis and John Iacovelli are all hitting over .333.

Willingboro vs. Vincentown
Even using wood bats, this figures to be maybe the highest scoring series in RVL history. There are no "gimme" outs in either lineup.
The 'Boro's big lumber comes from Kellen Peter (.423), Andrew Csik (.406), Jamie Schwantes (.404), Mark Stumpf (.376), Mike Loffredo (.365) and Matt Moceri (.339). Dave Caruso, Ryan Derry, Mike Hynes and Loffredo handle the pitching.

Vincentown, which has won 12 titles but none since 2003, won 14 of its last 15 games and features the best 1 through 9 lineup in the league: Kevin Carty (.450), Bubba DiFabio (.429), Mike Ferrara (.419), Al Roach (.408), John Bujanowski Jr. (.382), Andrew Lydon (.347), John Bujanowski Sr. (.343), Vern Powell (.308), Jesse Pappler (.302), Dan Hayduk (.297) and Stefan Kancylarz (.290).

Mount Laurel vs. Jug Handle Inn

Mount Laurel has one of the league's top players in Bret Jenkins (.440), but the pitcher-shortstop has loads of help, with Brian Black (.421), Kevin Diamond (.369), Matt Szukics (.361), Jesse Solar (.333), Ernie Covington (.300), Shawn Counard (.297) and Mike Cooper (.292). Cooper has a 2.04 ERA, while Justin Streleckis and Dave Smith are capable.

Defending champion Jug Handle has the potential to repeat, with a four-man staff of Ryan Varga (6-2), Chris Murray (4-4), Corey Mingin (3-2) and John Meadus (3-2). Hitting? There's Bobby Osborne (.405), Mike Osborne (.391), Greg Gilbert (.355), Geoff Gilbert (.354), Murray and Tyler Powell (.353), Matt Cann (.345), Joe Sirolli (.321) and Frank Sirolli (.284).

Burlington County Times

RVL Round-up

John Harvey threw a five-hitter and struck out 12 as the Burlington Mets posted a 13-0 victory over Riverside Saturday in an opening-round game of the Rancocas Valley Baseball League playoffs.

Harvey, who was 4-0 during the regular season, escaped a first-inning jam by striking out the side. He also got three K's in the third inning.

Eddie Eifert had three hits and a couple of RBIs for the Mets, while Ken Ridge, filling in at shortstop, banged out two doubles and knocked in a run.

After the regular-season champs scored seven runs in the first, relievers Matt Leith (three innings) and Gabe Mastrangelo (two) pitched well for Riverside. The first-year team turned over a 4-6-3 double play to end the sixth inning, with Dillon O'Neal making a nice play as the middle man.
The teams meet again today at noon, with Riverside needing a win to stay alive in the best-of-three series.

Vincentown 18, Willingboro 9: Jesse Pappler had two doubles and drove in four runs as the Merchants, in search of their first league title since 2003, won their opening-round game.

Willingboro, which got three hits from Jon Wetzel, was within 10-8 through five, thanks to home runs by Matt Moceri, Evan Plys, Mike Loffredo and Kellen Peter.

The teams play against tonight at 7:30, with 'Boro needing a win to force a third game on Monday.

Burlington County Times

RVL Notebook

Elmer Heimach and baseball in Burlington County have a long history. After graduating from Riverside High School in 1938, Heimach played a couple years for the powerhouse Riverside A.C. teams of the old Burlington County League in the late 1930s. After serving in the Army during the Second World War, he returned to the BCL.

Heimach was a pitcher, like his uncle Fred, a lefty pitcher from Camden who played on the New York Yankees' legendary Murderers' Row teams of 1928 and '29 that included Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, Bill Dickey and Leo Durocher.

"He was a good pitcher," Elmer said of his uncle, who passed away in 1973. "Connie Mack signed him right off the sandlots and he played for the Philadelphia A's, in addition to the Boston Red Sox and Brooklyn Dodgers." In 12 years in the bigs, Uncle Fred had a career record of 62-69, with five shutouts.

These days the 91-year-old Heimach (pronounced High Mack) lives in Medford Lakes with his wife Rita, a Burlington High School grad who grew up in Delanco, across the street from the field where Ruth hit his legendary home run during a July 1, 1924 exhibition game in front of a reported 5,000 fans. (Ironically, the home run pitch was thrown by Jack Sweeney, the great-grandfather of current RVLers Keith and Shaun Babula.)

A plaque commemorating Babe Ruth’s home run on July 1, 1924, during a fund-raising exhibition game, still stands at the Delanco Babe Ruth Field.

Heimach doesn't get out to see any Rancocas Valley League games because of two knee replacements and two hip replacements, among other ailments. But he reads about it every day in the paper, and especially enjoys the RVL Notebook every Monday.

"Sometimes I recognize a name of somebody I knew, or played with," he said. "I knew Lena Blackburn, the guy who started the mud thing (to this day, umpires rub Delaware River mud on baseballs before a game). And Russ Hofmann, the man who put together the Burlington County League's Golden Jubilee book.

"We used to play on a field over on Chester Avenue. There were some interesting fields. Riverton, Riverside, Vincentown, Delanco and Medford all had those covered grandstands, either behind home plate or down one of the base lines."

Every once in a while he wonders if he could've maybe played at a higher level.

"In the Army I played with and against a lot of big leaguers, or guys who almost got to the big leagues," he said. "When I got out of the Army one of the guys wanted me to come up to Canada and play for him. I considered it. But I was 27 and I think I got my wife pregnant on the first night out of the Army. So that was that."

This and that

¦ Pemberton's Greg Cinelli had a final batting average of .450, but with only 40 at-bats he didn't qualify among the leaders. As good as that average is, Cinelli's on-base percentage was a surreal .807. In 56 plate appearances, he had 18 hits and drew 16 walks. Among those with 60 at-bats, Vincentown's Al Roach had the best OBA at .570.

¦ Saturday against Delran's Jason Ronca, Cinelli was on base three times (two walks and a single) in four times, which actually would have lowered his regular-season numbers!

¦ Imagine the odds of a hit batter if Cinnaminson's Ryan Varga was pitching to Delran's Dave Kittle. Varga hit a league-high 14 batters, while Kittle was nailed a league-best eight times in 111 appearances.

¦ Burlington slugger Paul Guerrieri, thought to be lost for the season after suffering a broken left elbow in early July, pinch hit in both Saturday's and Sunday's games. He drew a walk Saturday and flew out to left on Sunday. Guerrieri was hitting .442 when he was injured, missing the last 11 games.

¦ In Saturday's Riverside-Burlington game, the leadoff hitters for both teams were catchers - Zach Schultice and Joe Mastrangelo.

¦ The first-year Riverside team battled to the end, despite not winning any games. They scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning on Sunday, and ended both Saturday's and Sunday's games with double plays.

Forget that day job

If you were lucky enough to catch Jeff Vitale's performance about a half-hour before the start of Saturday's playoff opener, you know that Dick is not the most talented Vitale with a microphone in his hand. The longtime infielder for the Burlington Mets had the crowd in pre-game stitches as he did impersonations of Bob Sheppard, the late New York Yankees announcer, and also legendary New York voice Marv Albert.

Included were Sheppard introducing Garrett Mull and his girlfriend with "and now, entering Southampton Memorial Park for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. Mull," and later he called out Gene (Lefty) Leftwich, a former Mets slugger from the late '60s and early '70s, as he biked into the parking lot, Harry Thompson when the Vincentown Merchants coach arrived, and an older lady who was biking past the field on Red Lion Road, as Thompson's girlfriend. There also was an "interview" of Thompson by "Marv."

Vitale, one of the league's more popular players, also stopped to say hello to longtime Burlington/Vincentown fans Fred and Bert Johnson before the game, telling them: "We have to win it all this year. The last time Burlington won the regular season was in 1951, when Harry Truman was president. I coach (baseball) at Truman High School (in Bristol Township, Pa.), so it must be an omen."

By: DAVE ZANGARO
Burlington County Times

RVL Playoffs: Burlington 10, Riverside 3

SOUTHAMPTON -Burlington isn't just a good team - the regular-season champions of the Rancocas Valley Baseball League - it's a team of second chances.

Ace Robinson and Brandon Elliott combined to throw six innings of scoreless baseball on Sunday as Burlington beat Riverside 10-3 and won the best-of-three RVL opening-round playoff series in a two-game sweep at Southampton Memorial Park.

Robinson - the former Burlington Township High School standout - tossed the first four scoreless innings for Burlington.

"(Robinson) did a good job," Burlington player/manager Keith Babula said. "He threw a lot of strikes and looked good."

After graduating from high school 2003, Robinson played one season for Burlington County College and then returned to play another in 2007. He was a pitcher for the Mets two years ago, but last year threw only one inning.

During the regular season this year, Robinson posted a 2-0 record with a 1.33 ERA.

"It's all about teamwork," Robinson said. "I'm real confident with the defense behind me."

After Robinson's four strong innings, it was time for another second chance. This time the mound belonged to Elliott. The 23-year-old was the ace of the now defunct Mount Holly team, which went winless last season and won only three games the year before.

"Burlington called me during the offseason and I said that I would love to play for the Mets," Elliott said. "It's like going from worst to first."
Elliott - or "Twocus" as his teammates call him, because he looks like teammate Lucas Jones - is finally on a team that can win it all and said it feels good to get some run support.

"It means a lot when they score runs," he said. "I can just relax and throw strikes."

A day after Burlington scored 13 runs, they exploded for another 10 runs.
In the third inning - already up 2-0 - the Mets batted around and scored six runs. They added one in the fourth and another in the sixth.
Ken Ridge had two hits, including a two-run double. Ridge also scored three runs. Dave Jost went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Garrett Mull scored two runs, picked up two hits and an RBI. Sean Babula walked twice and scored twice.

For Riverside, the game ended what was one of the worst seasons in RVL history. But to their players' credit they never stopped showing up and even scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to avoid being shut out.

"It was good to see them still playing hard," Keith Babula said. "They had some problems during the season, but they stuck it out and kept playing."
Riverside lost all 35 games they played this season, but still look to play again.

"This season we've just been trying to fill out a roster for each game and be competitive," Donnie Strain said earlier this season. "Next year, we're hoping to improve and actually start winning some games."

The team will bring back some talent from the current club and have already started to look for some new players to round out a squad for next season.

The only Riverside player with multiple hits Sunday was Steve Colangelo. Strain had an RBI double.

Burlington will have to wait to see who it plays next, either Mount Laurel or defending champion Jug Handle Inn, but the Mets won't have to guess about who will be on the mound.

According to Keith Babula, his brother Shaun will pitch the first game and Carl Taylor will pitch the second. If necessary, John Harvey - who picked up the win on Saturday - will pitch Game 3.

While leaving the dugout, winning pitcher Robinson shouted a prediction.
"This is our year," he said. "We're gonna do it this year."

RVL Scoreboard

SUNDAY'S GAMES
Burlington 10, Riverside 3
Burlington wins series 2-0

Delran vs. Pemberton, ppd. Delran leads series 1-0
Jug Handle Inn vs. Mount Laurel, ppd. Jug Handle Inn leads series 1-0
Willingboro 5, Vincentown 3 Series tied 1-1

TODAY'S GAMES (at Southampton Memorial Park)
Delran vs. Pemberton, 6:30
Jug Handle Inn vs. Mount Laurel, 8:30

By: TOM RIMBACK
Burlington County Times

RVL BASEBALL: BURLINGTON 2, JUG HANDLE INN 1

SOUTHAMPTON - If you're looking for a slugfest, the Burlington-Jug Handle Inn Rancocas Valley League semifinal series isn't the place to be. If you're looking for great baseball where every play and pitch is magnified, then you'll want to be at Southampton Memorial Park for Game 2 on Friday.

Burlington’s Shaun Babula beats the tag at home plate by Cinnaminson’s Chris Murray in the Rancocas Valley League playoff game Wednesday at Southampton Memorial Park.

A wild pitch, an infield single and a bases-loaded walk. That's how the runs were scored in Burlington's tense 2-1 Game 1 win Wednesday night. Mets pitcher Shaun Babula scored both runs and went pitch-for-pitch with the Cinnaminson squad's Chris Murray.

"Chris pitched well against us all year," Babula said. "I pitched well against Cinnaminson all year. I had a feeling it would be close and it was."

Babula gave up five hits, three in the second alone, including the infield single that scored Murray for the only Cinnaminson run. Murray allowed just three hits but gave up six walks and hit two batters, starting with Babula who led off the first by taking an inside pitch that grazed his jersey. Babula would score on a wild pitch, after moving to second on a wild pitch and stealing third.

Babula scored the winning run in the fifth. He singled with a man on, moved to second on a fielder's choice that got the lead runner, then came home after a hit batter and Matt Fischer's RBI walk.

"Burlington's the No. 1 team in the league for a reason," Murray said. "Babula's a great pitcher and when he's on the mound you really have to be on top of it. They scored their two runs on mistakes and walks. That'll get you every time."

Shaun Babula pitches for Burlington in the first inning against Cinnaminson on Wednesday. Babula scored the winning run.

The Cinnaminson dugout was understandably angry after a frustrating night of chasing Babula's heat and wicked assortment of curveballs. There was a definite sense that they'd missed a golden opportunity with Murray on the mound. There was no sense that this best-of-three is close to being over, though.

"One thing I know about this group of guys is that nobody's going to quit," Murray said. "These guys are used to winning and they're looking forward to getting right back out there."

After a day off for the opener of the other semifinal between Vincentown and Delran tonight, the teams return for the 6:30 early game of the RVL Game 2 semifinal doubleheader Friday night. Game 3 of both series, if necessary, will be on Saturday.

The Mets are focused on advancing to the best-of-five championship series. Burlington's dugout was quite a bit happier than the one on the third-base side but there was no mistaking that there is still some work to do.

"They're angry, good," Babula said. "They should be. We've got one more game to win here and four more to win it all. Carl (Taylor) is pitching tomorrow. He pitches well (2-0 this season with two complete games) against Cinnaminson. We're confident that we're going to win Friday. There's no reason we shouldn't be."

Burlington County Times

Garrett Mull's two-run single and Dave Jost's two-run home run sparked an eight-run third inning Friday night that led the Burlington Mets to a 9-2 victory over the Jug Handle Inn in the semifinals of the Rancocas Valley League playoffs at Southampton Memorial Park.

The Mets advanced to the finals, which will start either Sunday or Monday night against the winner of Friday night's late game between Vincentown and Delran.

Carl Taylor was the winning pitcher, surviving two bases-loaded situations in the first two innings. Ryan Varga took the loss.

Shaun Babula had two hits for Burlington.

Greg Gilbert had three hits for Jug Handle, the defending champions. Mike Osborne and Tyler Powell each had two hits for the losers.

Burlington County Times

RVL PLAYOFFS: Friday night

Garrett Mull had a two-run single and Dave Jost added a two-run home run during an eight-run third inning, powering the Burlington Mets to a 9-2 victory over Jug Handle Inn in the semifinals of the Rancocas Valley Baseball League playoffs on Friday night at Southampton Memorial Park.

The win gave the Mets a 2-0 sweep of the best-of-three series and earned the regular-season champs a spot in the RVL finals, which start Monday night.

Carl Taylor went all seven innings to earn the win, but the only 1-2-3 inning he had was the seventh. Jug Handle Inn, the defending league champions, left 12 men on base.

Jug Handle scored in the first inning on a walk, an error and Mike Osborne's long single to left-center field. The Jug loaded the bases with none out, but Taylor got Geoff Gilbert to ground to Sean Gusrang for a 4-2 force at home, then struck out Bob Diepold and Tyler Powell. He would escape another bases-loaded jam in the second by getting Mike Wasco to ground out.

Burlington jumped all over Ryan Varga in the top of the third. The first seven batters all scored, capped by Jost's home run on a hanging curve. Corey Mingin relieved and allowed just one earned run over the next four innings.

Jug Handle left two more on in the third and had two on and none out in the fourth when Osborne's hard grounder was turned into a 5-4-3 double play, from Jeff Vitale to Gusrang to Jon Reiner.

Delran 3, Vincentown 2: Delran stayed alive thanks to the right arm of Jason Ronca and some nice inside baseball, i.e., bunting. The win evened the series at 1-1 and forced a decisive third game Saturday night.
Ronca held the heavy-hitting Merchants to just four hits, three of which came in the third inning and three of which were to the opposite field - the fourth was a bunt. He walked four and hit one, while striking out eight.

Vincentown scored in the third on a double by Eric Anderson and an RBI single by John Bujanowski Sr. But Delran took the lead back in the fourth on a one-out bunt single by Dave Kittle, an error and back-to-back RBI singles by Rex Workman and Mike DeLellis.

Delran had a chance to put the game away in the sixth when it loaded the bases with no outs, but veteran Zeke Boren got out of it. DeLellis singled and John Iacovelli was safe when his bunt was misplayed. Matt Ulmer followed with another bunt single to load 'em up, but Ryan McFadden's grounder to third got a force out at home. Vincentown then got a break when Rocky Petrone's line drive was caught by second baseman Anderson and turned into an inning-ending double play.

Vincentown tied the game in the bottom of the inning when Al Roach walked with one out, moved up on Jesse Pappler's single and scored on an infield error.

Mark Wickersham singled to start Delran's winning rally in the seventh and moved on another sacrifice bunt by Kittle, one of the league's top RBI men. A single by Kyle Ballay brought in Kevin Carty to relieve Boren, but after a walk and DeLellis' RBI single, Pappler had to come in to end the threat.

Boren allowed 11 hits in 6 1-3 innings, but just two earned runs, while walking one and striking out six.

By: BRUCE JOHNSON
Burlington County Times

RVL championship finals

When the Rancocas Valley Baseball League best-of-five championship finals begin tonight (7:30) at Southampton Memorial Park, it will be a matchup of teams with very different playoff histories.

While Delran has won three RVL titles in the last eight years (2002, 2007, 2008), Burlington will be looking for its first RVL title since 1951. Delran also won the RVL in 1993, 1984, 1981, 1978 and 1977. The last time the Mets reached the finals was in 2004 when, after finishing seventh (out of seven teams) in the regular season, they lost to Cinnaminson.

This is just the second time in the RVL's 64 years that Burlington and Delran have met in the final. The previous time was in 1977, when the Delran Diamonds won the title. Ironically, Burlington beat Cinnaminson and Delran beat Vincentown in the '77 semifinals, the same as this year.

But that was then, and it will have no bearing on what happens between the teams that finished 1-2 in the regular season, Burlington at 25-5-3, Delran at 24-8-1. In five meetings, Burlington winning four times:

¦ June 13: Burlington 1-0.
¦ June 17: Delran 2-0.
¦ July 13: Burlington 12-0.
¦ July 23: Burlington 11-1.
¦ July 27: Burlington 5-0.

Shaun Babula, who is expected to take the ball tonight, pitched the four Burlington wins, allowing just one unearned run in 27 innings. Eric Gertie tossed a two-hitter to outduel Carl Taylor for the one Delran victory.
But, again, that was then.

Delran has won four of five playoff games, beating good pitchers like Pemberton's Ron Krankowski and Mike Kondrath, and Vincentown's Zeke Boren and Kevin Carty.

Burlington was extremely short-handed on Friday night, with masher Paul Guerrieri (broken elbow) and shortstop Dan Hennigan (sports hernia, cracked pelvis, broken toe) sidelined, while catcher Matt Fischer (wedding, not his own), and youngsters Joe Mastrangelo (sprained thumb) and Ken Ridge (back to college) weren't there. Garrett Mull had to fill in at catcher, although Fischer is expected back in the lineup tonight.

Delran is hurting, too, with shortstop Kyle Ballay and designated hitter Rex Workman both limping around, and tough-guy catcher Mike DeLellis playing through assorted nicks.

This is a matchup of the teams with the best records in the league, Burlington now at 29-5-3 and Delran at 28-9-1. It's also the two best pitching staffs, with Burlington featuring Babula, Taylor, John Harvey, Ace Robinson and Brandon Elliott, while Delran has Gertie, Jason Ronca, Max Newill, Mark Wickersham and Chris Maull.

Babula last pitched on Wednesday, so he'll be fully rested for tonight. Delran's big three - Gertie, Ronca and Newill - were on the mound this past Thursday, Friday and Saturday, so player-coach Rocky Petrone may choose to throw Wickersham or Maull tonight, then have his guns on full rest for games 2 (Tuesday), 3 (Thursday) and 4 (Friday). If a decisive game 5 is necessary, it would be Sunday night.

By: TOM RIMBACK
Burlington County Times

SOUTHAMPTON - Shaun Babula took a bad swing. Worse, his towering pop up was going to land somewhere in the wide expanse of foul ground by third base. So the Burlington Mets pitcher and leadoff man angrily took off toward first base. And didn't stop.

He didn't stop until he got to second base, just after his foul pop spun itself through the still August air and landed in fair territory, a foot or so from third base.

Babula's one-out, seventh-inning 90-foot double became the tying run one batter later when Garrett Mull singled home Babula.

Burlington, which hadn't scored since a two-run first inning, went on to beat Delran 4-3 in eight innings to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-5 Rancocas Valley League championship series. The two teams return to Southampton Memorial Park tonight at 7:30. Delran was two outs away from drawing first blood.

"That's just baseball,'' Mets third baseman Jeff Vitale said. "I told their third base coach that they played it just right. The shortstop has to call for the ball, because it's usually an easier play but it hung up there so long that they over played it. That's just one of those breaks. We capitalized."

There probably aren't a handful of guys in the entire RVL that would have thought to keep running while the ball was in the air. The ball looked foul, way foul.

"Shaun's a gamer,'' Vitale said. "He's tremendous. That was it, right then and there. We knew some how some way we were going to win this game."
It took a heart-stopping eighth inning to get there but get there Burlington did. Vitale opened it up with his third five-star defensive play of the day to get the first out at second base. Babula got the second out on a bases-loaded come-backer that left him on the seat of his pants, scrambling to throw home. Delran left the bases loaded with a hard ground-out to second base.

The Mets opened the bottom of the eighth on singles by Matt Fischer and Dave Jost. A sacrifice left a base open for Vitale and an intentional walk. Dan Hennigan delivered the game-winner on a sacrifice fly to center.
"I would have loved a chance to win it with my bat,'' the 49-year-old Vitale said. "You know what? I've been here so long that I don't care who wins it for us as long as we get it.''

For 6 1-3 innings Delran catcher Mike DeLellis looked like he was going to be the game's hero. His two-out first-inning, three-run home run put Delran on top until Babula sparked the comeback. If not DeLellis then pitcher Eric Gertie was set to be a hero. He came in with two out in the second, leading 3-2 and all but shut Burlington down.

"Shaun's a great pitcher, probably the best I've ever faced,'' DeLellis said. "I was just trying to hit the ball hard. He hung a slider and it got out. I hit it well.

"Eric did whatever we asked him to. He threw strikes and ground balls. He's been doing it all year."

Each game is one step closer to the end of the year. Delran trails 1-0 in the five-game series but tonight there is a new ball game.

"We just have to keep our confidence up,'' DeLellis said. "We need to get out here as soon as we can. We have our ace going (Jason Ronca), so we're pretty confident.''

By: TOM RIMBACK
Burlington County Times

SOUTHAMPTON - Delran's 10-run third inning was good enough to even the Rancocas Valley League championship series at a game apiece but it didn't settle anything.

Delran’s Rex Workman (left) is greeted at the plate by teammate Ryan McFadden after scoring the first run in Tuesday night’s Rancocas Valley League playoff game against Burlington. Delran won 12-7 to even the best-of-five championship series 1-1.
Delran won Game 2 of the best-of-5 series against Burlington, 12-7, thanks in large part to 10 straight one-out runs in the third. The Mets fought back from an 11-0 hole to make the game interesting and serve notice that the regular season champions weren't about to go away quietly.

After a day off today, the teams return to Southampton Memorial Park for Games 3 and 4 on Thursday and Friday, and, if necessary Game 5 on Sunday.
"A 10-run inning makes it a little easier'' winning pitcher Jason Ronca said. "You can just come out and throw strikes and just let baseball happen. It takes some of the edge off but you still have to focus and get the job done''

Delran’s Jason Ronca delivers a pitch in Game 2 of the best-of-five Rancocas Valley League championship series against Burlington.

After four innings, Ronca gave way to Mark Wickersham, who finished out the game. Down 11 runs heading into the bottom of the third, the Mets put their heads down and began the process of making Delran work to close out the win.

"When you're down that many runs, you have to chip away,'' Burlington's Garret Mull said. "That's all you can do. You try to put up some runs and still play defense. You get as many runs as you can to show them you can score, too''

Eight hits, two walks and a hit batter with a fielder's choice thrown in Matt Ulmer (three RBIs) and Dave Kittle both had two-run doubles in the inning.

The Mets answered with single runs in the third, fourth and fifth, plus two each in the sixth and seventh. The runs made the final score a bit more respectable and served another purpose, reminding everyone present that this series is just starting to get interesting.

"We're ready to come out strong Thursday,'' Mull said. "There's no doubt about that. We'll bounce back strong.''

Delran will send Max Newill to the mound. The Mets, who will be in the visitor's dugout for Games 3 and 4, will counter with John Harvey. After a tense pitcher's battle in Game 1, Game 2 was more of a blowout.

Ronca has a theory on Game 3.

"We couldn't hold them off in Game 1,'' Ronca said. "Tonight, when we got the chance, we slammed the door. Thursday, I expect the game to be a lot more like Monday, a close game. Both teams have great staff's both teams can field. Both teams can hit. It should be a great three-game series.''

By: TOM RIMBACK
Burlington County Times

SOUTHAMPTON - Delran is understandably happy with the position it is in. If any of the guys in the Delran dugout are comfortable, they haven't been paying attention.

Thursday night, Delran jumped out to a six-run lead before holding on to beat Burlington 7-5 and take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-5 Rancocas Valley League championship series. Tonight's 7 p.m. game at Southampton Memorial Park could be the end of the RVL season.

A winner-take-all Game 5 would be Sunday. Delran's taking nothing for granted.

"They just keep coming at you," winning pitcher Max Newill said. "They're a great team and they didn't win the regular season for nothing. You just try to stay after them. I got a little tired at the end and Jason (Ronca) came in and closed it out for us."

Max Newell of Delran fires a pitch Thursday night in Game 3 of the RVL championship series against Burlington. Newell got the win as Delran took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series. Delran jumped out to a 7-1 lead and held on for a 7-5 win.

Newill pitched to one batter in the seventh, which resulted in a infield single that just squirted by his glove. The Mets had scored four sixth-inning runs to make it 7-5. Ronca shut the door but Burlington did manage to send a message.

It was a message that Delran didn't really need. In Game 1, Delran was two outs away from a win when the Mets tied the game to force extra innings, then won it in the eighth. Game 2 started out as a Delran blowout before finishing up 12-7.

Delran’s Mike Delellis gets a bunt down during the first inning Thursday night in Game 3 of the RVL championship series against Burlington.

"As cliched as it sounds, it's really not over until it's over," Newill said. "It's true. They have a very good team. They're going to throw Shaun (Babula, the Mets ace) at us tomorrow. Hopefully we get it done tomorrow but if we have to go five, we go five."

Rocky Petrone helped insure that Delran has a chance to close out the series tonight. The two-hole hitter went 3-for-3 with two walks, two runs and a first-inning two-run line drive home run to right that put his team up for good.

Burlington’s Dave Jost races to first on a wild pitch in the second inning of a loss to Delran in Game 3 of the Rancocas Valley League finals.

After four innings it was 7-1. It could have been much worse, the Mets took advantage of nine walks, left the bases loaded three times and would have left them loaded a fourth time if a runner hadn't been thrown out at the plate testing Babula's arm in center.

Delran has led all three games in the series and Burlington has fought back three times.

"It's tough to get behind by that much," Mets catcher Matt Fischer said. "We were down 11 runs Tuesday and 7-1 (Thursday). We battled back but that's not good enough. We're the away team again (tonight). We have to jump out early and get ahead of them."

Game 4 figures to be a matchup between Babula and Delran's Eric Gertie, who pitched six innings of relief in Game 1.

Delran definitely has the momentum going for it, having scored 19 runs in two games. Still, the Mets are the regular-season champions.

"We've got to win two games," Fischer said. "I think we've beaten them five times (including the regular season) this year already. We need to beat them two more times. No big deal."

By: BRUCE JOHNSON
Burlington County Times

Shaun Babula pitched a six-hitter and Sean Gusrang blasted a second-inning home run to spark Burlington to a 6-0 victory over Delran in Game 4 of the Rancocas Valley League finals on Friday night at Southampton Memorial Park.
The series is now knotted, 2-2, with the deciding Game 5 on Sunday at 5 p.m. at Southampton Memorial Park.

It was the sixth win for Babula this summer over Delran. In 42 innings, he has allowed Delran just three earned runs. Gusrang hit the first pitch in the top of the second inning from Eric Gertie well over the right-field fence. Burlington added two more in the fourth on an RBI single by Matt Fischer and an RBI groundout by Dan Torres. Three more runs in the top of the fifth inning scored on an error, a wild pitch and an RBI single by Dave Jost.

Delran is seeking its first RVL title since winning back-to-back championships in 2007 and 2008. Burlington, the regular season champions, hasn't won the RVL since 1951.

By: BRUCE JOHNSON
Burlington County Times

SOUTHAMPTON - You got the feeling that Delran figured it wasn't going to score many runs Friday night in Game 4 of the best-of-five Rancocas Valley Baseball League championship series. With Burlington's Shaun Babula on the mound, runs have been scarce for the boys in brown.

Case in point: In four regular-season games against Delran, Babula was 4-0 and allowed just one unearned run in 27 innings. In Game 1 of the finals, he allowed a three-run home run to Mike Delellis in the first inning, then pitched seven shutout innings in an eight-inning win.

Case in point: In the bottom of the first inning, Kyle Ballay led off with a single and Rocky Petrone, one of the league's most feared hitters, sacrificed him to second + where Ballay was stranded on back-to-back grounders to short.

Case in point: In the bottom of the second, Delellis tried to score from second on Matt Ulmer's two-out single. He was nailed by Garrett Mull's perfect throw.

Case in point: Babula's earned run average during the season was 0.67. Delran starter Eric Gertie was second in the league at 0.81. Runs figured to be scarce.

In a wild game that featured a benches-clearing "difference of opinion," Burlington posted a 6-0 victory. That evened the series at two wins apiece and set the stage for tonight's deciding fifth game, 7 at Southampton Memorial Park.

Burlington became the first team to beat Gertie, who was 8-0 during the regular season. He pitched an outstanding game in relief of Chris Maull in the opener, but was touched for seven hits and six runs, five earned, in 4 1-3 innings on Friday night.

The Mets (31-7-3), seeking their first RVL title since 1951, got the only run Babula would need in the second inning when Sean Gusrang drilled Gertie's first pitch over the right-field fence. It was the lefty's second home run in as many nights.

"I don't think I'd ever faced him before," said Gusrang, who will be a senior at Seton Hall University this fall. "I figured he'd try to get ahead so I was looking for a fastball on the first pitch, and that's what I got. I just tried to put a good swing on it and hoped the ball would go somewhere."

Gusrang, a three-year starting infielder for the Pirates, spent most of this summer in New York State, playing in a collegiate league. "I came back a couple of times to get my (RVL) games in, so I'd be eligible for the playoffs. It's been a long summer. But it's all good."

Delran (30-11-1), which won RVL titles in 2002, '07 and '08, threatened in its half of the second. Dilellis walked and moved up on Rex Workman's single. Babula struck out the next two batters, but Ulmer lined a single to left-center. Mull charged it and came up throwing as Delellis tried to score the tying run. The throw was on target and Matt Fischer applied the inning-ending tag.

"I wasn't surprised he tried to score," Mull said. "The ball was hit deep. Early in the game, especially with Shaun pitching, you've gotta send him. It was the right thing to do. Luckily I made a good throw. Now if I could just hit the (darn) ball."

Mull got an infield hit to start the Mets fourth and scored on a single by Fischer. After Dave Jost's double, Fischer beat the throw home on Dan Torres' infield grounder.

Things got interesting, and heated, in the top of the fifth. Babula led off with a single and took second when the ball was bobbled in the outfield. Dan Hennigan flied to right and Babula tagged and raced for third, beating the throw in a bang-bang play. After a brief shoving match, Babula and third baseman Mark Wickersham had words, then both teams were on the field, mostly pushing and grabbing with a lot of yapping.

When everything got under control, Mull's squeeze bunt was misplayed, with Babula scoring. After Gusrang followed with a hit, Gertie was replaced by Maull, whose wild pitch allowed Mull to score the fifth run. After a walk, Jost's RBI single scored the final run.

The final two innings went quietly and the calm before the storm that figures to hit Southampton Memorial Park tonight around 7 o'clock.

Burlington County Times
RVL championship

SOUTHAMPTON - Delran ace Jason Ronca, who went four strong innings in Tuesday's Game 2 victory, figures to get the start for player-manager Rocky Petrone's club in tonight's decisive fifth game of the Rancocas Valley League playoffs (7 p.m., Southampton Memorial Park). Ronca will be going on four full days rest.

Burlington's Carl Taylor, who led the league in wins and strikeouts, only lasted 2+ innings on Tuesday, so he is also fully rested and is the expected Mets starter. The last time Taylor had a bad outing, he followed it with a two-hit, 17-strikeout performance.

But don't be surprised if Shaun Babula, who pitched a six-hitter in Friday's 6-0 Game 4 victory, finds his way back to the mound at some point.

"I wanted the ball (Thursday) night, but (John) Harv(ey) wanted to pitch," Babula said Friday night. "He stepped aside and let me pitch the last game of the regular season against Delran (to clinch the regular-season title), so he deserved the ball on Thursday."

Would Babula be able to come back tonight, less than 48 hours after pitching a complete game? Earlier this summer he pitched 28 innings during an eight-day stretch, between the RVL and another league. In that stretch he had a complete-game shutout followed by a five-inning relief appearance less than 18 hours later.

"It will be discussed," said Babula, who in 42 innings against Delran this summer has given up just four runs, three of them earned. "It's the last game of the year, so everybody's available.

"I'm old (32) and I don't care if I get hurt. There are no RVL big leagues to dream about. This is it."

Bruce Johnson

By: Bruce R Johnson
Burlington County Times

RVL Notebook

Haven't heard yet if my high school class is having a 47th reunion this fall. It's always interesting to see what the old gang has been up to. It'd be interesting to see how some of them spent the summer of 2010.

Probably yachting around the world, backpacking the Appalachian Trail, taking a cruise around the tip of South America, climbing mountains in Tibet, crisscrossing Europe in a rent-a-bus, deciding whether to spend time at their summer house on Long Beach Island or the one in Florida, going out to the polo club in Montauk, buying their grandchildren new BMWs. Stuff like that.

And then - as always - there's me. I spent most of the 64th summer of my life the way I've spent most of the summers of my life: at baseball fields. This year that meant at Life Center Academy, Notre Dame Field, J.F. Kennedy Recreation Center Field and, of course, at Southampton Memorial Park, Burlington County's own Field of Dreams.

To me, there could never be a better way to spend summer evenings than watching amateur baseball, sitting in a lawn chair under some trees with some other "old timers" rehashing the names and games we saw in the '60s and '70s, while also enjoying today's play-for-no-payers.

To spend a warm August night in Vincentown, especially in the late rounds of the playoffs, is to see baseball at its essence. Not superstars vs. superstars, not millionaires vs. millionaires, just regular guys who love to play the game, and do it the right way. Many of them arrive after working their eight-hour shift. They use wooden bats. They bunt runners over when it's called for. If you could transport yourself back in time to the Rancocas Valley League in 1955, it wouldn't look much different (well, maybe the uniforms) than watching the RVL in 2010.

And that's a good thing.

So if my classmates want to talk about being at Yankee Stadium in their $300 (each) seats right behind the dugout the night Alex Rodriguez hit his 600th home run, that's nice. But I was at Vincentown the night Shaun Babula and Chris Murray hooked up in a great 2-1 pitchers' duel. And I wouldn't have traded places if my classmates threw in a free hotel room with continental breakfast.

And it'd be OK if they wanted to brag about seeing Roy Halladay's perfect game from their swank luxury boxes. But they didn't see Babula/Burlington top Max Newill/Delran 1-0 on June 13, a 5 1/2-inning game that took 75 minutes ... or Delan's Eric Gertie outduel Burlington's Carl Taylor 2-0 on June 17 ... or Zeke Boren, Greg Miller and Jesse Pappler top Burlington on July 6, the game the Mets' Paul Guerrieri suffered a broken elbow diving for a long fly ball. And they didn't see league home run champ Al Roach putting down a sacrifice bunt in the third inning of a 1-1 game against Burlington, keying a four-run inning. Or Delran's Dave Kittle, one of the league's RBI leaders, put down two sacrifice bunts in a close playoff semifinal game.

To each his own.

Most of the baseball-following world truly believes the game is only played by millionaires, in their glitzy stadiums with luxury boxes and $8 beers. But the true fans know that real baseball is played in places like Southampton Memorial Park, Cinnaminson's Memorial Field, Bordentown's Gilder Field, Newton's Memory Park, Bridgeton's Alden Field ... places where town vs. town baseball is alive and well.

The best of 2010

These are just the opinions of somebody who saw every team play at least twice, and most teams three or more times:

Player of the Year: Shaun Babula, Burlington Mets. In more than 50 years of following baseball - high school, amateur, semipro, pro - I've never seen a more exciting player. At bat, on the bases, in the outfield, on the mound, on the bench + the guy can flat out play.

Defensive Players of the Year: Picking an all-star team is never easy, and usually just asking for trouble. Instead we present our defensive players of the year, by position.

1B: Rocky Petrone, Delran
2B: Matt Ulmer, Delran
3B: Jeff Vitale, Burlington
SS: Bret Jenkins, Mount Laurel
LF: Garrett Mull, Burlington
CF: Ryan McFadden, Delran
RF: John Bujanowski Sr., Vincentown
C: Mike Delellis, Delran
P: Shaun Babula, Burlington

Rumor mill

There are rumors that the RVL might face Pennsylvania's Blue Mountain League in an all-star game next summer. The BML started play in 1946, making it one year older than the RVL. Most of its teams are located in the Lehigh Valley - the Bethlehem-Hellertown-Easton area. The game would likely be played under the lights at Limeport Stadium, located just west of Quakertown, Pa., not far from the Pa. Turnpike Extension. (Check the field out at www.limeportstadium.org.)

By: Tom Rimback
Burlington County Times

At 49, Burlington Mets third baseman, Jeff Vitale is the oldest regular player in the Rancocas Valley League. A member of the RVL since 1989, all but two years with the Mets, Vitale just completed the season as a key player in the RVL championship series.

Do you see yourself pinch hitting at age 80 like Vincentown manager Harry Thompson did this season?

I told Ric (Babula, the Mets manager) that my biggest goal in life is to be put on the Burlington roster even after I'm dead. Just in case I can come back.

What keeps you going?

For me it's the best thing in the world. To feel good enough to play alongside these kids makes me feel good. I'm pretty tough on myself. If I knew I couldn't do it, I wouldn't be here.

How good is RVL baseball?

On any given day any of these teams can beat you. It's tough for the two new teams, they're just getting started. But the other six, well those guys can all play baseball. The RVL is as good as it's ever been.

By: TOM RIMBACK
Burlington County Times

Rancocas Valley League: Burlington 10, Delran 3

SOUTHAMPTON - The secret to the Burlington Mets isn't anything spectacular. Towering home runs, flashy plays and the rest have a part in the success of the Rancocas Valley League's top team, but none of that's necessary.

What the Mets do better than the rest of the RVL is play baseball, relentless, flawless baseball, pitch-by-pitch, at bat-by-at bat, inning-by-inning.

Sunday night, the Mets capped the RVL season by beating Delran 10-3 in Game 5 to win the RVL championship series three games to two. Burlington's 10 runs came on 15 hits, all singles. Nothing special, just baseball the way it was meant to be played, with a Burlington flair.

"We have guys who like to hang out with each other," center fielder Shaun Babula said. "You don't have that every single year. It makes it fun. We hang out together after every game. We like being around each other."

The parking lot beyond the outfield at Southampton Memorial Park becomes Club Red Lion after every game. The Mets' faithful, who spent the game watching through the outfield fence, join the team for traditional postgame revelry. That sense of unity translates into success on the field, even in tough times.

For the fourth time in the series, Burlington fell behind early. Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the third inning, Burlington sent 10 men to the plate. Seven Mets had base hits, five scored. Three more runs came in the fourth and another in the fifth inning. The Mets scored 10 runs without ever driving in two runs with any one swing.

"When they attack, it's relentless," Delran first baseman Rocky Petrone said. "They have those five-run innings. It seems like they have one every single game. It's tough to keep up with. They pitch the ball well and they play fantastic defense and they get timely hits every time you look up. You have to give them credit."

Carl Taylor, who struggled in his only other start in the series, pitched six strong innings before giving way to Babula in the seventh. Taylor kept Delran off balance all day.

Jason Ronca started for Delran but did't have his best stuff. He was forced to gut it out because of a rash of injuries in left field. Both John Iacovelli and Max Newill left the game early due to injury. Newill, who was shaken up during a play at the plate, figured to be Delran's second option on the mound before he had to leave the game.

"It's disappointing that we didn't play our best," Petrone said. "I'm really proud of our guys. We were like a walking morgue out there. We had nobody left but we kept fighting."

As they have all year, the Mets had more fight than anyone.
"Carl had a fluke game in Game 2," Babula said. "That's not how he pitches. He bounced back tonight. We got good defense. We got good pitching. That's how we play."

By: Bruce R. Johnson
Burlington County Times

RVL

The party didn't stop until somewhere around 2:30 Monday morning.

"(Bartender) Lefty (Leftwich) said he had to get some sleep," Burlington Mets player-manager Keith Babula said on Monday, after celebrating with many of his team's players and fans at the Oneida Boat Club following Sunday's 10-3 championship-clinching win over Delran in the Rancocas Valley League finals.

"And I want it on the record that I made it to work at 9."

It was that kind of night for the hard-playing, hard-partying Mets. After running out of beer at the Club Red Lion, located in coach Ric Babula's truck outside the left-field fence at Southampton Memorial Park, many of the players headed to the Boat Club. The celebration was louder and longer than normal because the amount of time between RVL championships was longer than any Mets fan would have liked. The team's last RVL title was in 1951.

Congratulatory text messages were coming in from around the city, the county, the state and the country, one from Arizona.

It had been a tough five-game series with Delran, which could have won in a three-game sweep, but for a pop-up that cost them Game 1.
"I'll be having dreams about that first game for a long time," Delran's Rocky Petrone said. "But it was a good series, and they're a really good team."

By then end of Sunday night's game, Delran (30-12-1) was on its third left fielder. Starter John Iacovelli was lost to a hamstring pull. Pitcher Max Newill replaced him but suffered a broken nose on a head-first dive into home, trying to score when the game was still close. Pitcher Chris Maull finished up.

In the end, Burlington (32-7-3) won because it had more depth than anybody. The Mets lost Paul Guerrieri, one of the league's top sluggers, to a broken elbow in mid-season, and never missed a beat. Joe Mastrangelo, who caught last year's finals, suffered a broken finger + but in stepped Matt Fischer to become a solid defender and hitter. And on and on +

"Keith put together a really good team this year," Ric Babula said. "We had a lot of good players, pitching, defense, hitting. And nobody had speed like us. We were fast as hell."

With all the young players on the team, it was 49-year-old Jeff Vitale who was the life of the party. Returning with fellow Pennsylvanian's Fischer and Dan Hennigan from a short trip to drop off family and friends, they roared into the bar carrying two bags of hamburgers and Vitale yelled, "The Phillies get steak and we get McDonald's!"

And before leaving he wondered if he might get a discount at the Burlington-Bristol Bridge if he showed the toll collector his MVP trophy. "Maybe a dollar off?"

It was that kind of night. The Mets partied like it was 1951. And in a way, it was.

Crowded house

The crowds during the regular season were big. When the playoffs arrived they got even bigger. And when Sunday's championship game started at 7 p.m., despite rain falling and forcing those outside the grandstands to seek cover under umbrellas, it was easily the biggest crowd in + how long?

"We haven't had crowds here like this since the 1960s, maybe even the '50s," a veteran female concessionaire said.

"The crowds have been amazing, for both teams," Burlington coach Ric Babula said. "The people of Burlington were here tonight supporting us in a big way. It was great to see some of the old guys again."
York Colonial Tournament

Both Burlington and Delran will be participating in the 46th Tom Kerrigan York Colonial Tournament (www.yorkcolonial.org) that runs over Labor Day Weekend, Sept. 3-4-5. The 24-team, double-loss event include some powerhouse teams. Both RVL teams have added players to fill out very strong rosters.

While it's the first trip to York for Keith Babula's Mets, this is Delran's 10th time in the tournament. The locals won it all in 2003. Last year the Rocky Petrone-Brett Miller coached Delran entry finished 3-2, the losses coming against the Long Island Storm and Susquehanna Assault, who were co-champs in the weather-shortened event.

Here are the tentative rosters:

Burlington Mets: of Keith Babula, p-of Shaun Babula, p Matt Compton, 1b Bob Diepold, if Casey Donahue, p Chris Ecikhorst, c Matt Fischer, of Geoff Gilbert, if Greg Gilbert, of-1b Dan Graham, dh Paul Guerrieri, c Mike Gulli, if-of Sean Gusrang, p John Harvey, if Dave Jost, ss Lino Meriot, p Corey Mingin, of Garrett Mull, of Mike Osborne, p Aaron Rakers, 1b Jon Reiner, p Ace Robinson, if Mike Stumpf, of Mark Stumpf, p Carl Taylor, of-dh Dan Torres, 3b Jeff Vitale.

Delran: if Kyle Ballay, if-p Kevin Carty, c Bubba DeFabio, c Mike Delellis, dh-of Mike Ferrara, p Eric Gertie, of John Iacovelli, of Dave Kittle, if-of Andrew Lydon, of Ryan McFadden, p John Meadus, p Brett Miller, p-if Chris Murray, p Max Newill, 1b-p-dh Jesse Pappler, 1b Rocky Petrone, p Jason Ronca, if Matt Ulmer, c-of Mike Wasco, 3b Mark Wickersham, dh-c Rex Workman.