By RED BIRCH
rbirch@trentonian.com
LAWRENCE — If there was anyone who felt the brunt of Friday night’s 10-inning, three-hour-and-15-minute baseball marathon at Eggerts Crossing Park, it was Notre Dame High catcher Brooks Backinoff and his counterpart from Robbinsville High, C.J. Gearhart.
These two young men caught every inning of that game as the teams tried to see who could score first in a regular season contest one night after both had played in the Mercer County Tournament quarterfinals.
Backinoff used what he had left in his weary legs to hustle down to first base on a two-out grounder to shortstop in the bottom of the 10th inning. A wide throw allowed Backinoff to reach safely, and Matt Modica, who was pinch-running for Chris Kaluzny (walk) at third base, to cross the plate with the game’s only run as the Irish avoided their second loss of the season by holding off the Ravens, 1-0.

“I almost fell down running down the line,” Backinoff said. “I stumbled a little bit, but I knew I had to get there. I was 0-for-4. I needed to get something done.”
What Backinoff and his teammates were able to “get done” was a splendid ballgame which had a little bit of everything, including a 20-minute delay when the lights went out at the end of the fifth inning. These two strong sides (although the Ravens 12-10-1 record is a little deceiving) refused to crack inning after inning. But the game reached a head in the bottom of the eighth when ND loaded the bases with one out against Robbinsville reliever Adam Vorraso.
Vorraso got Cody Billings to fly out to center field for what looked like the game-ending sacrifice fly. But wait.
In his jubilation as lead runner Mike Young headed home, the Irish’s Chris Kaluzny, who had been intentionally walked two batters earlier, raced off second base to join the celebration. Only problem was Ravens center fielder Ryan Fleming saw this and immediately threw to second, where the runner was doubled off before Young crossed the plate to keep the game going.
“We’re getting better as a team,” said Robbinsville starting pitcher Anthony DeChiara, a sophomore who kept Notre Dame off balance for seven innings. “It’s only going to take one or two more steps, and we’ll be there.”
The only thing better than DeChiara’s and Vorraso’s efforts were the combined six-hit pitching of Irish senior right-handers Joe Warren, Matt Herbert and Ryan McGowan.
After six strong innings by Warren (nine strikeouts), Herbert worked three more scoreless before McGowan pitched the top of the 10th to get the win.
Each pitcher brought a new dimension to the game, which was more a test of fortitude for Backinoff and Gearhart before Backinoff found a way to get the Irish their 16th win in 17 games.

Notre Dame 1, Robbinsville 0 (10 inn.)

ROBBINSVILLE      ab r h bi     NOTRE DAME ab r h bi
Fleming cf                  4 0 1 0       Farrell lf             3 0 1 0
Gearhart c                   5 0 2 0       Sica cf                3 0 1 0
Samel 3b-1b               3 0 1 0       Young 1b           2 0 0 0
Buecker dh                 4 0 0 0       Maksimow 2b    4 0 1 0
DClark 3b                  0 0 0 0        Kaluzny dh        3 0 1 0
Weigand rf                 4 0 2 0        Keeney pr         0 0 0 0
Giesler pr                    0 0 0 0       Modica pr         0 1 0 0
Vorraso 1b-p               4 0 0 0      Walsh ss            4 0 2 0
Mindnich lf                 4 0 0 0        Billings 3b       4 0 0 0
RFischer 2b                4 0 0 0       Keegan ph        1 0 0 0
Margotta ss                 2 0 0 0      Backinoff c       5 0 0 0
Ciaramella ph              1 0 0 0     Kubis rf            4 0 3 0
Totals                      35 0 6 0        Totals              33 1 9 0
Robbinsville  000  000  000   0 — 0
Notre Dame  000  000  000   1 — 1
Winning run scored with two out.
E-Margotta. DP-Robbinsville 2, Notre Dame 1. LOB-Robbinsville 8, Notre Dame 14. 2B-Weigand, Sica, Kubis. S-Maksimow, Walsh. SB-Maksimow, Farrell, Kubis.
ROBBINSVILLE (12-11-1)
                        IP    H   R   ER BB SO
DeChiara        7.0    7   0     0     5   5
Vorraso L,0-3 2.2    2   1     0     3   1
NOTRE DAME (16-1)
                              IP   H   R   ER  BB SO
Warren                 6.0   4    0     0     3    9
Herbert                 3.0   1    0     0     0    3
McGowan W,4-0 1.0   1    0     0     0    2
HBP-by Vorraso (Young). WP-DeChiara, Vorraso.