Kevin Fountain – MEDFORD, N.J, (July 27, 2010) – The Protocall Starz upset the number-one seeded Toms River Hurricanes in a wild thriller Tuesday night to advance to the 2010 ABCCL Championship Round beginning Friday.

The game began as a pitcher’s duel as Hurricanes’ starter Peter Kelich (Jackson, N.J. / Bryant University) and Starz’ starter Jeff Pelkey (Fitzwilliam, N.H. / Keene State College) gave their all in what became the deciding game for the Hurricanes’ season. Kelich went 4.1 innings while only allowing three hits. Pelkey lasted 7.1 innings allowing only one run, a solo shot to left-field in the eighth.

The scoreless pitcher’s duel could not last forever as the Starz capitalized on a leadoff walk to Chris Bzozowski (Mount Holly, N.J. / State College of Florida) in the bottom of the seventh. Bzozowski was quickly pinch-ran for by Shaun Flynn (Tabernacle, N.J. / University of Tampa), who would steal second uncontested before being sacrificed over to third by Reid Pulford (Medford, N.J. / Seton Hall University). With one out and the go-ahead run only 90-feet away, outfielder Rich Graef (Simsbury Conn. / University of Massachusetts) would lay down a suicide squeeze bunt past the pitcher to bring home the first run of the game and give the Starz a 1-0 lead.

The lead would not last long, however, as in the top of the eighth Billy Hoermann (Toms River, N.J. / Rutgers University) would send a solo homerun over the left-field fence to tie the game at one.

In the bottom half of the eighth, Matt Kirchner (Haddonfield, N.J. / Elon University) would beat out an infield single to lead off the inning. After stealing second and moving to third on a ball that got away from the catcher, Kirchner would be driven in on an RBI base-hit to right-field by Brett Knazek (Medford, N.J. / Lock Haven University) to bring the Starz back ahead with a 2-1 lead.

Despite an incredible performance by Hurricanes’ right-fielder Matthew Mancini (Toms River, N.J. / Saint Peters College), who went 5-5 and had a spectacular inning-ending catch with a runner on third in the sixth, the Starz would hold on to win 2-1 and sweep the Hurricanes’ in the second round of the playoffs to advance to the 2010 Jerry Lillis ABCCL Championship against the Freehold Clippers.

WP: Christian Rahman
LP: D.J. Roche

Game one of the best-of-three game championship series will be held Friday at 7 P.M. vs no. 3 seeded Freehold Clippers, Manalapan Park & Recreation Field #4.

League All-Star representatives will take on the NJ State Trooper All-Stars on August 1, 2010 at the home of the Lakewood BlueClaws, game time 6 PM. The league hopes to have the game available through audio and/or visual media. Proceeds from the charity game will go directly to the league’s official charity, Camp Quality New Jersey “Letting kids with cancer be kids again”. For more information on the game or for sponsoring or donating towards the cause, please contact the league office at info@abccl.com or call 732-671-7009.