Maypother Twins Help St. Rose Advance To State Sectional Final

Photo above: Riley and Brody Maypother

WALL – St. Rose junior right-handers Riley Maypother and Will Gannon combined to toss a three-hit shutout in Friday’s 6-0 win over Rutgers Prep to reach the NJSIAA South, Non-Public B final for the first time since 2010 when they fell to Gloucester Catholic 4-2 in the final.

The second-seeded Purple Roses now get a shot at revenge seven-years later when they play top-seeded Gloucester Catholic - a 9-1 winner over fourth-seeded Holy Cross in the semifinals -Tuesday, May 6 at Monmouth University. St. Rose will be looking for its first sectional title since 2009 when they beat Bishop Eustice 8-4 before going on to win its second straight NJSIAA Non-Public B championship that year beating Montclair Kimberly 11-0 for the state title.

St. Rose has won the NJSIAA Non-Public B championship in 2009, 2008, 2005, 1992 and claimed the 1973 title in Parochial C, which was discontinued in 1978.

“This win is real big for us, bringing back our program is a big thing for us,” Maypother said. “We’ve been talking about it and working real hard. Getting the win today was huge for us.”

In only his second start of the year, Maypother (2-0) allowed just one hit, struck out seven and walked two over the first 4 2/3 innings.

“We just tried to pitch backwards today and tried not to leave the fastball up,” Riley’s twin brother and battery mate, catcher Brody Maypother said referring to their strategy. “Working down, trying to get ground balls, pop ups, not give up too many hits. We’re just really determined to go to the state championship; we’ve been talking about it for a few years’ now. It feels good to get there.”

After issuing consecutive two-out walks in the top of the fifth Riley Maypother was through pitching and St. Rose head coach Rich Lanko turned to Gannon to put out the fire. Gannon wasted no time, striking out Andrew Crystal to get out of the inning.

“I haven’t thrown that much this year and my calf started cramping up real bad (in the fifth), Riley Maypother said. I couldn’t make it and I knew we had Will (Gannon) to come in.”

“Our plan was to back him off all year,” said first-year head coach Rich Lanko of his starting pitcher. “He hurt his shoulder last year and I didn’t want to push him too much. We wanted to hold him off until this time of the year; same thing with Will. They both can play every position on the field and we didn’t want to burn them out.”

In the bottom of the third inning St. Rose tacked on three runs to push the lead to 6-0. Senior’s Brendan Heuth and Joey Volpe led off the inning with back-to-back line-drive singles putting runners on first and third before Riley Maypother brought Hueth home with a RBI line drive through the box and into centerfield.

Brody Maypother then broke the game wide open hammering a two-run double that bounced off the 370 mark in left center for a 6-0 lead.

“I was looking for the fast ball. I wasn’t trying to do too much with it,” Brody Maypother said. “Just trying to keep the inning going and I hit it pretty good.”

That was it for Rutgers Prep starting pitcher, Lorenzo Geroso (3-5), who was finished after two-plus innings. Anthony Kuzmenko came in with Brody Maypother at second and no outs and retired the next three St. Rose batters to escape any further damage.

"That was a big hit," Lanko said of Brody's double. "Those two have been doing it all year. It's great, they compete against each other to better each other; it's a good competition. If you look at their batting averages and run production its pretty even. They're just two great kids that work really hard."

St. Rose took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second on a base loaded fielder’s choice by Brandon Mology and a two-run single by junior John Crowley.

In the top of the sixth, a 4-6-3 double play erased a lead-off single by Rutgers Prep’s Justin Henry before Hueth made a nice running catch on a line drive to center to end the inning. The double-play ball was a hot-shot one-hopper to second that Mology cleanly gloved to set the play in motion.

Gannon escaped some trouble in the top of the seventh to preserve the shutout after issuing a walk to leadoff batter Jack Withum and a line single to center by Spencer Fink placing runners at first and third with no outs. Senior John Langenfield then scorched a line drive directly at right fielder Mario Bove, who caught the ball and alertly threw to first before Fink got back for a double play. Gannon then struck out Guilio Vetiani for the final out of the game.

Gannon tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief allowing two hits and one walk while striking out two for the save.

St. Rose had a chance to add to its lead after back-to-back line-drive singles by Riley and Brody Maypother to lead off the bottom fifth and Brian Dipaasquale’s sacrifice bunt that moved the runners to second and third with one out. Courtesy runner Frankie Bellezza was then caught leaning off second base and picked off by first baseman Sam Beck after a 4-3 groundout for an inning-ending double play.

“When I hit, he hits, I don’t know how to explain it,” Riley Maypother said. “It’s a little bit of a competition between us to get a hit,” Brody Maypother added. “Whatever helps the team win.”

Riley Maypother finished 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI and run scored while Brody Maypother went 2-for-2 with a double, walk, 2 RBI and a run scored.

“Who else would you want to play,” Lanko said of his upcoming opponent, Gloucester Catholic. “Great program, great history, it should be a lot of fun.”

Mology (5-0) gets the starting nod and will be on the mound Tuesday against Gloucester Catholic for the South, Non-Public B title and trip to the Non-Public B championships.

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