TJ Hunt
Scouting Director, New Jersey


OAKLAND -- Indian Hills hosted Paramus Catholic in a Big North crossover game, in which P.C. ran away with, 13-3. The first score came in the bottom of the first inning, when I.H. 2017 SS Mike Casaleggio was hit by a pitch, and scored on Matt Wickert’s single. The Braves would then plate two more runs in the third, on a Rob Greco single, Sean Kicinski walk, and two RBI singles in a row by Wickert and 2018 RHP/DH Alex Havlicek (Virginia Tech commit).

With the score 3-0 in favor of the Braves, the Paladins roared back in the bottom half of the third, when eight batters were sent to the plate for four runs. With one out, Erick Fernandez singled and Matt Goehrig doubled bringing in Fernandez, one of his four hits on the day. Clean up batter John Lewis then singled to bring in Goehrig. With two outs, Zach Landi was hit by a pitch and scored on Andrew Brito’s single.

After adding one in the fourth, P.C. would send 12 to the plate in the fifth, and score seven runs. Fernandez, Goehrig, and Justin Ayala all had hits in the inning, along with pinch hitter Andrew Rodriguez.

With the score at 12-3, starting RHP Andrew Montalvo went to work. The next three bottom halves seemed to go by in a blink of an eye. Sitting at 78-81, Montalvo would bump his fastball up to 82-83 on a couple occasions. He finished with a complete game seven innings pitched, scattering seven hits, striking out seven, and hitting one batter with a pitch.

The Paladins, fresh off a big Bergen County Tournament upset win over fourth seeded Mahwah, are especially known around the county for having a very solid pitching staff top to bottom. On this day, however, the bats came alive. Goehrig was 4-4 with a walk, a home run shy of the cycle. The top three batters in the Paladins’ lineup combined for seven hits and seven runs to beat the Braves, 13-3.

P.C.’s next game will be in the quarterfinals of the Bergen County Tournament, tomorrow at NV/Demarest at 10 a.m. against 12th seeded River Dell.

Indian Hills’ next game will be in the North 1 Group 3 State Tournament, this Monday when they travel to Wayne to play third seeded Wayne Hills.