VERONA- The series of events that set the stage for Brearley’s dominant performance in Thursday’s 8-0 win at Verona in the North 2, Group 1 state sectional final started 48 hours earlier when Bears coach Dave Kaplow assumed the role of riverboat gambler in deciding not start his Division I mound ace Sean Budis against top-seeded Cedar Grove in Tuesday’s sectional semifinals, and instead go with his talented No. 2 pitcher Alex Skwarek.
In the proverbial, annual crap shoot that is New Jersey’s single-elimination high school baseball state tournament, the unavoidable caveat facing especially small public-school teams is – because of pitch count limits -needing multiple starting pitchers to bridge the short period of time between the semis and sectional final is simply a reality that has to be confronted and acted upon by coaches.
How one goes about it, and whether that decision works or not, can have far-ranging results and produce either subsequent restful or sleepless nights for certain coaches.
The seventh-year Bears head diamond mentor rolled the proverbial dice in a sense in not starting Budis against Cedar Grove, but it turned out to be a move that would pay huge dividends as both pitchers did their job - perhaps not in the order some coaches would have gone with – and, regardless of what may have happened in another scenario, the reality is that Brearley (15-9) produced at a high level on the mound and at the plate in winning both contest and earning its first state sectional title since 2009.
The Bears also snapped a tough-luck recent stretch in state sectional finals, having lost in three previous tries (2019, 2022 and 2024) in that pivotal contest under Kaplow since he took over the reins of the Kenilworth-based program in 2018.
Brearley will now head into Monday’s (June 9) Group 1 state semifinals vs. Midland Park, which edged Wallkill Valley, 1-0, in the North 1 final, also played on Thursday afternoon.
The overall Group 1 championship game will be played as part of a quadruple-header of NJSIAA public school group finals scheduled for Saturday, June 14, at Veterans Field in Hamilton.
Kaplow, who had plenty of time to watch pitchers work during his own scholastic days as a DH and backup catcher to all-stater Mike Murray at Westfield, certainly has faith in both of his top starting pitchers, and turned out to have the right idea on how to approach the plans for each talented hurler in what has been a very successful week for Brearley baseball.
In the end, Skwarek did his part working the first 5 innings at Cedar Grove while giving up just two earned runs and striking out 12, while Budis worked the final two frames in a hard-fought 7-5 Bears win. Budis, who threw just 45 pitches vs. the Panthers on Tuesday, still had plenty left in the tank as when out and mesmerized Verona batters in his brilliant performance on the mound in Thursday’s state sectional final played before a large crowd representing both teams at historic Doc Goeltz Field.
After giving up a single on his first pitch of the game to the Hillbillies’ leadoff batter Charlie Pepe, Budis (6-3) then issued a 1-out walk to Frank Orrei before proceeding to finish striking out the side in the first inning, and then proceeding to retire the next 13 ‘Billies in a row before issuing a two-out walk in the fifth, and then retiring the final seven batters he faced to complete a brilliant 89-pitch, 1-hit shoutout with 2 walks and 13 strikeouts.
In the process, the Boston College-bound Bears mound ace recorded his 100th strikeout of the season and the 300th ‘K’ of his illustrious scholastic career.
As Kaplow held his young son Chase on the field moments after the final out, and watched his team joyously gather around their NJSIAA state sectional championship trophy, he couldn’t help but smile as he reflected on what had transpired the tension-filled, past three days.
“Deciding which way to go (with pitchers) is always a gamble,” he said. “In the past I’ve always said let’s just get there (to state sectional semis) and see what happens; and with this team - with so many guys soon leaving to graduation - we all decided together that we have to go for this, and we trusted Alex, whose been great all year.
“He went out there on Tuesday and threw a ton of strikes against Cedar Grove, including 12 strikeouts of his own, and Sean finished up throwing 45 pitches so was ready to go out and throw 100 pitches if needed today.
“Everything worked out thanks to what they both accomplished, and our hitters did just a great game today to help us complete the job in finally winning this game after losing it in three previous tries since I’ve been here.”
The lineup, from top to bottom, combined to bang out 12 hits and the eight runs, boosted by a trio of successful safety squeeze bunts that directly produced three runs, and the Bears were also helped along the way by three Verona errors, the first two of which led to three unearned runs in the second inning as Brearley took an early lead off Verona sophomore starter Dom Kennedy (6 IP, 9 HA, 0 BB, 4 K’s, 6 R, 2 ER), who threw well for the most part through the first five innings as the Bears created constant traffic on the bases, stranding seven runners during that time and 11 men left on base for the entire contest.
Th team’s No. 5 hitter, junior designated hitter Dom Condo (2-for-4 with 2 runs), started the second inning rally with a 1-out double which was followed by a single from senior Anthony Orlando (3-for-4 with 2 runs and an RBI) to put runners at the corners.
Then came the Bears’ first successful safety squeeze bunt which was perfectly executed down the first base line by senior Nico Deluca, who also reached base on the play on a Hillbillies’ infield error as junior pinch-runner Jayden Chauca crossed the plate with the game’s first run.
Then, with two outs, the Bears’ productive No. 9 hitter, junior Johnny Breuing (3-for-4 with a run and 3 RBI), delivered a hard-hit RBI single into right field as Orlando scored to make it 2-0. Deluca then came home on another infield error by the Hillbillies and Brearley had a nice 3-0 cushion for Budis to work with.
“We were sloppy in the second inning, which had not been the case for us before in this tournament,” said Verona coach Joe Phelan. “Those two errors really hurt us there.
“If you get out of there down 1-0 – OK - and I thought Dom (Kennedy) settled down there for a while at 3-0 - but against their pitcher, with the way he was dealing and settling into a groove, it just made it that much tougher for us.”
Budis hummed along from that point on, with only a two-out walk to Verona’s No. 8 hitter Connor Zimany in the fifth interrupting his dominance as he retired 20 of the final 21 batters he faced, including five 1-2-3 innings while also striking out the side in the fourth.
“My mentality is to get ahead and stay ahead,” said the Brearley hard-throwing left-hander. “I have a ‘plus’ fastball for high school, so I just try to get it by guys; that was the goal today, and it worked.
“Our team is special! I’ve been playing with them since I was 4 years old and in Little League. Being able to do this with this group of guys is just an amazing feeling.
“Coach Kaplow preached to us at the beginning of the year that this was our goal and I’m glad we were able to come out and pull it out for him!”
And Brearley wasn’t done at 3-0, scoring two more runs in the top of the sixth on two more successful safety squeeze bunts, coming in back-to-back fashion this time, as the top-of-the-lineup hitters, senior Antonio Esposito and freshman Mike Wewna, each executed their bunts down the first base line to plate Dom Russo and Breunig in succession for a 5-0 cushion.
“The bunting has been introduced more the last couple of weeks,” said Kaplow. “We kind of had an issue scoring runs, sometimes in big games, and especially for Sean, so I knew we wanted to get him a couple of runs early to take any pressure off and also give him a cushion; and then just let him do his thing.
“It’s a credit to our guys for executing and getting those bunts down in high- pressure situations to produce three of our runs today.”
Brearley tacked on three more runs in the seventh as Budis (3-for-4) continued to help his own cause with a leadoff double, Condo singled and Orlando delivered an RBI single before Breunig continued his great day while holding down the bottom of the order as he hammered a 2-run single to right field.
“We really hit today, and also executed great safety squeezes to score runs,” said Condo, who was hobbling with a pulled hamstring muscle. but still delivered a pair of key hits, including his double to start the Bears’ 3-run second inning, while his pinch runner scored a pair of runs. “Up and down, our lineup is really good!
“We get on base and then find ways to score; and, when you have a great pitcher like Sean who was absolutely dominant out there, then we’re a very good team that is happy to keep playing and also take home a special trophy back to Kenilworth!”
NOTES- Kaplow’s fine coaching staff includes Ben DeVito who was on the 2009 state sectional championship team; and Erik Loneker and Quinn Lonergan, who also played at Brearley…Kaplow is a 2006 graduate of Westfield where he was a catcher and designated hitter for legendary Blue Devils coach Bob Brewster…The 2009 Brearley team defeated Point Pleasant Beach, 6-4, in the Central Jersey, Group 1 final and then beat Gateway, 6-2, in the Group 1 state semis before falling to Park Ridge, 4-2, in the Group 1 state final played at Toms River East in a game where the Bears had an early 2-0 lead….Verona will bid adieu to a pair of talented seniors set to play at the next level in pitcher-first baseman Frank Orrei, who is headed to play at Division I Quinnipiac University, and hard-hitting center fielder Andrew DePaul who will be on the Albright (Pa.) College team next year….Brearley also reached a state sectional final in 1988, falling to Glen Ridge when current Johnson coach Dave Kennedy was a star player for the Ridgers and Joe Capizzano, who was the Bears head coach from 1998 to 2017, was the shortstop for the Union County team…Verona also played in a state sectional final in 2019 when it lost to Madison, 3-0, in the N2G2 title tilt with current University of Florida towering (6-foot-8) standout southpaw Pierce Coppola on the mound for the 'Billies...the 19 wins for Verona are the most during Phelan's 12 seasons at the helm.
NORTH 2, GROUP 1 STATE SECTIONAL FINAL, THURSDAY, JUNE 5, AT VERONA:
(4) BREARLEY (15-9) 030 002 3 - 8 R 12 H 0 E
(2) VERONA (19-7) 000 000 0 - 0 R 1 H 3 E
2B- Brearley- Dom Condo, Sean Budis
WP- Budis LP- Dom Kennedy
NORTH 2, GROUP 1 STATE TOURNAMENT:
First Round, Tuesday, May 27:
Cedar Grove 12 (16) Glen Ridge 0
(8) Whippany Park 4 (9) Dayton 3
(12) Wallington 5 (5) Newark Tech 1
(4) Brearley 7 (13) Technology 0
(3) Hanover Park 9 (14) Weehawken 0
(6) Wood-Ridge 4 (11) North Arlington 0
(10) New Providence 6 (7) Hoboken 0
(2) Verona 17 (15) McNair Academic 2
Quarterfinals, Thursday, May 29:
Cedar Grove 3 Whippany Park 0
Brearley 2 Wallington 0
Hanover Park 15 Wood-Ridge 3
Verona 1 New Providence 0
Semifinals, Tuesday, June 3:
Brearley 7 Cedar Grove 5
Verona 4 Hanover Park 2
Final, Thursday, June 5:
Brearley 8 Verona 0
