WALL BREAKS OUT THE BATS; DOMBROSKI SHUTS DOWN WEST MORRIS IN GROUP III FINAL
By Mike Ready
HAMILTON – It hasn’t been too often in his career, let alone a NJSIAA Group III championship game, that Wall ace Trey Dombroski – the 2018 Shore Conference Pitcher of the Year – took the mound in the bottom of the second holding a 6-0 lead.
In the three years Dombroski has been a starter for the Crimson Knights, they’ve been known as a team that could and would shut you down at the plate but lacked the offense to support its stellar pitching on a regular basis.
So, last Saturday’s NJSIAA Group III final at Veterans Park in Hamilton, featuring Dombroski and West Morris ace Connor Staine (who entered the with a 6-1 record and a miniscule 0.81 ERA), was anticipated to be a classic pitching duel between the two aces.
Dombroski held up his end of the bargain hurling seven strong innings of five-hit ball allowing just two runs (both unearned) while striking out eight without issuing a walk on just 86 pitches including 65 for strikes.
But in the end, it was the Knights’ (27-4) rediscovered offense which made the difference. They pummeled Staine for 10 runs and 14 hits, including five extra-base hits, in support of Dombroski and the Knights went on to beat the Wolfpack, 10-2, for the program’s fourth overall Group III championship, but only its first since 2004. 
“That was a great feeling; I haven’t had that often,” said Dombroski of his run support. “These guys came out today and put some runs up for me, so I can’t ask for anything more. We knew if we could put up some runs early we were going to win a state championship, so we did.”
The Monmouth University-bound lefty finishes the season at 11-1 with a phenomenal 0.37 ERA and 126 strikeouts against just five walks in 76 innings pitched. He became Wall’s all-time leader in strikeouts with 228 by tying and breaking the mark with consecutive strikeouts in the sixth inning of Saturday’s game.
This season, Dombroski issued zero walks in nine of his 12 starts and gave up just two over his last 69 innings after walking three on opening day. Displaying extraordinary control on the mound over the last three years, Dombroski went 25-2 with a cumulative ERA of 0.45 while allowing 100 hits with 228 strikeouts to just 21 walks.
“We’ve seen some of the best arms in the state (including Delbarton’s Jack Leiter and Pascack Hills’ Ryan Ramsey, who pitched a complete-game one-hitter in a 2-0 win over Point Boro in Saturday’s Group II final) and you can put that kid up there with any of them,” said West Morris head coach Tom Reindel. “That kid is phenomenal.”
“He is, in my opinion, definitely the best pitcher in the state,” said senior third baseman Grant Schulman, who was 3-for-5 with a double, two RBI and two runs scored. “He proved it today; he just went out and dominated. We just wanted to put up hits for him. He doesn’t need many, but we put up a lot.”
Dombroski put a scare into the pitching staff when he came in Tuesday complaining of shoulder soreness the day after pitching Wall into the group final. “I worked it out, trusted myself and I knew today I’d be able to go,” said Dombroski. “I wasn’t going to let these guys down.”
“I was worried,” said Wall head coach Todd Schmitt. “Tuesday he said his arm and shoulder were sore. But he got a massage, threw a bullpen on Thursday and came out of it good.”
Dombroski’s teammates had faith their ace would be on the mound for them on Saturday one way or another.
“You never like to hear your pitcher is not 100 percent, but Trey’s 50 percent is better than most kids’ 100 percent,” said senior catcher Dave Howarth, who was perfect at the plate going 3-for-3 with two RBI and a walk. “Trey came out and did what he had to do today. Once he settled in he did great.”
While the offense was scoring six runs in the first two innings, Dombroski set down the first six batters he faced in order.
“It took me a little while to get warm today,” said Dombroski. “I was down in the bullpen for an extended period of time just working on my pitches. Just getting warm, getting a good sweat going, getting ready to compete.” 
Senior shortstop Johnny Volpe, who went 2-for-4 with a double, walk, two runs scored and a stolen base, led off the game with hard-hit single over the third-base bag and came around to score on a Jay Bant single to center. Howarth then added an RBI single driving in Schulman, who had reached base on a line-drive single to left field.
“We said before the game started, ‘If we are the away team, we have to get on them in the first inning,’” said Schulman. “John (Volpe) got us going and he just doesn’t stop. We got those two runs, which was good for us and then we put up four in the second. It really felt good to come out in our last game and swing the bats like that.”
With one out in the top of the second, Volpe ignited another rally hammering a double off the wall at the 350 mark in right-center. Schulman then lined a one-out, two-run double into the gap scoring Volpe and junior Teddy Sharkey, who had reached on an error. Schulman came around to score when junior left fielder Sean Nocera added another double into the gap for a 5-0 lead before Howarth made it 6-0 dropping an RBI single in front of diving left fielder Nick Calabrese.
“I wasn’t hitting too well the past couple of games so today I had to come out firing,” said Volpe. “I had to do my job and I did what I needed to do. Trey’s one of the best pitchers I’ve ever played with and when we gave him those runs we just knew we weren’t going to lose.
“Ever since sophomore year, this is all we have dreamed about, so it’s absolutely incredible to have it finally happen for us today. I was seeing the ball better today and this was my last high school game, so I had to come out firing.” West Morris scored an unearned run in the bottom of the third, but the Knights came right back with two in the top of the fourth.
Bant smoked a double to right-center to lead off the inning and courtesy runner Sean Brannon scored all the way from second on a wild pitch. Nocera then walked and Howarth singled for his third hit of the game. Matt Cronson ran for Howarth and after Nocera was picked off second, Cronson stole second and was chased home on a Dylan Richey line-drive single to left for an 8-1 lead heading into the top of the fifth.
Two Wall errors led to another Wolfpack unearned run to cut the Wall lead to 8-2, but the Knights added solo runs in the sixth and seventh.
Nocera, who went 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and two runs scored, singled and scored on a Richey fielders choice in the sixth and Sharkey led off the seventh with a long double into the left-field corner and scored on a Bant sacrifice fly for a 10-2 lead. Bant finished going 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and two RBI.
Saturday’s championship ended a 15-year drought for Schmitt, who wasn’t even sure he’d be able to coach this year after suffering an injury at work, but luckily made it back into the dugout in the early spring.
“We wanted to get him a championship,” Dombroski said of Schmitt, who is in his 22nd year as skipper of the Knights. “It’s awesome to see those tears in his eyes. All we have worked for these past three years has paid off and we finally got him a state championship. We love our coaches; everyone was together and we had so much fun.”
“It will be tough to beat this senior class,” said Schmitt. “This was important to them. This was something they’ll carry with them for the rest of their lives. You win this game; you’ll always be known as champions. This senior class will go down as one the top teams we’ve ever had since I’ve been here.”
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