Before the seventh inning, Marlboro baseball coach John Morrissey told his team the only fact that mattered.

If they didn’t score a run, they were going to be done, which he didn’t want.
Trailing by a run, the Iron Dukes scored four runs in the sixth inning to rally to a 6-3 win over the Highland Huskies on Saturday at Tony Williams Park in the second game of the Strikeout Cancer event.

“It’s always big, especially against Highland,” said Marlboro’s Matt Ciarimboli, who doubled, drove in a run and scored three times. “I think that’s what really motivated us to come back. It’s our rivals. We were fired up and we wanted to win.”

With the Huskies leading by a run, Salvatore Montaperto Jr. led off with a single and then stole second on a disputed play at second base, where Highland second baseman A.J. Grant believed he had tagged Montaperto.

That brought up John Ryder, who drilled a game-tying double into left field.

“I was on top of the world,” Ryder said. “I just really felt like that pulled us out of the game. But it was definitely more than me. Everyone worked out and everyone did their part.”

Ryder took third base on a passed ball and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Tom Grogan in his first at-bat of the game to give the Iron Dukes their first lead since the first inning.

“I didn’t want to be done,” Morrissey said. “We’ve got a good team and sometimes baseball is one of those funny sports where everything’s going your way and some things don’t, but I know they’re ready for that challenge. What you saw in that last inning is what I expect from these guys.”

That left relief pitcher Hunter Tomlin with two out and nobody on, but Tyson Fernandez singled and scored on Ciarimboli’s double to left field. Neer followed with an RBI double of his own to give the Huskies’ a 6-3 lead.

“That just showed our camaraderie,” Ryder said. “Plenty of teams just break down and put their head in the sand, but I feel like we were able to pick it up and realize who we are and what we can do.”

Tomlin got out of the inning with no further damage, but Ryder, who also relieved Tommy Benfer after three innings on the mound, worked around two base runners to finish the game.

The Iron Dukes’ seventh inning wasted a stellar performance by Michael Secor who went six innings and allowed three runs.

He walked Ciarimboli, who scored on Benfer’s groundout in the first inning and then he walked Ciarimboli, who stole two bases and scored on a throwing error in the sixth.

“When you get on base, you have opportunities and he took advantage of that,” Morrissey said. “He got the big hit toward the end, but he got on base, and he gives us a chance.

Secor worked around base runners in every inning but kept the Iron Dukes off the board for most of the game, giving the Huskies time to build a 3-1 lead.
“Secor threw an unbelievable game,” Highland coach John Manganiello said.

“He should be super proud of himself. He threw a great game and he’s going to be dominant all year like he was last year. There’s no doubt about that.”

The Huskies tied the game in the second inning when Zach Osterhoudt, himself a cancer survivor, got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

“Every day like today for Zach is a perseverance,” Manganiello said. “It’s a kid that comes back from what he came back from and he’s out here playing and he’s out here giving his team a boost. He gets hit by a pitch and gets a run in. It’s just tremendous.”

They took the lead in the second inning on Connor Elliot’s sacrifice fly and added a run in the fourth off Ryder when James Gescheidle walked, stole second and scored after two wild pitches.

The Huskies left eight runners on base through the first four innings and left the bases loaded twice.

“There was a couple of times we could have put the game away and we only scored a run,” Manganiello said. “We had the bases loaded and nobody out and only scored a run, but you know what? It’s early in the season.”