PARAMUS - Kevin
Wieme is 6-feet-6 and thin as a rail.
When the Paramus sophomore delivers the ball to the plate, he's a tangle of arms and legs ending up a giant step onto the grass in front of the mound.
Wieme doesn't throw hard, but, as Wayne Hills discovered Monday afternoon, he's hard to figure out.
"I just try and throw strikes,"
Wieme said after the eighth-seeded Spartans held off the No. 9 Patriots, 4-2, in the opening round of the North 1, Group 3 State baseball tournament. "I don't try to overpower anyone. I make them hit the ball, on the ground or in the air, because I know the fielders will make the plays behind me."
It's a simple philosophy, but it has been working wonders for
Wieme (7-1). He wasn't part of Paramus' rotation at the start of the season, but he has emerged as the player who will pitch most of the crucial games over the next few weeks.
And Monday's performance is the latest in a string of wins against quality opponents.
Wieme, who'll be starting against top-seeded Sparta on Friday, has beaten New Milford and Bergen Catholic, who have four losses between them.
"I read about him, and I thought he'd be a little more overpowering," said Wayne Hills' coach Chris Ianneillo, whose team left nine runners on base. "He tipped his curve a lot, and he looked like he struggled a bit. But as off as he was, he was still tough."
Wieme was leading, 3-0, in the fourth inning when Wayne Hills third baseman Antonio Imbimbo cracked a two-run homer. The Patriots (14-10), ranked No. 24 in The Record Top 25, loaded the bases with two out in the fifth inning, but couldn't score.
"Kevin didn't have his best stuff," said coach Joe Cervino, whose Spartans (16-6) are The Record's No. 6 team. "He was slowing up his arm motion, and his curve was dropping in the dirt a bit. But when he needed it, he got most of his outs with the curveball."
The Spartans did a good job of manufacturing runs and taking advantage of three errors and an early spell of wildness by Wayne Hills' starter Ryan Hourihan (4-4). One run scored on a wild pitch, another on an infield out, and a third on a double play grounder with the bases loaded.
"That's what we do," said left fielder Mark Hirata, who doubled home a run. "It's the little guys like me, the ones who don't get any credit, who bunt all the time, get on base, and score on an out or a sacrifice fly."
The Spartans are the defending sectional champions, and that's both a burden and a spark for the players.
"It is a little bit of both," said catcher Donnie Hays. "It's a little pressure because the crowds come here expecting a win. The coach expects big things, too.
"But it's also an emotion thing. You have to be prepared. Just because we're the defending champions doesn't mean we're going to win every game."
All of which means that a No. 8 seed doesn't tell the full story of a team that has been one of the hottest in North Jersey over the last few weeks.
"We feel we've won some good games," Cervino said. "We beat New Milford, Bergen Catholic, and Nutley - three of the best teams in
New Jersey. We beat [BC ace Steve] Fox and [New Milford's No. 2 starter Jeremy] Golomb, and we feel we can play with anybody."
And a second one:
A winner in Wieme - Paramus discovers the staff's go-to guy
Paramus has found an ace.
Kevin Wieme, a sophomore who still hasn't filled out his 6-foot-6 frame, wasn't penciled in as one of the Spartans' top two pitchers at the start of the season. But he earned the role as the go-to guy with one strong outing after another, capped by last week's impressive 1-0 complete-game victory over Bergen Catholic.
"He just developed," said Paramus coach Joe Cervino, whose team is ranked No. 11 in The Record Top 25.
Wieme (5-1), the center on the Paramus basketball team, has a fastball that tops out in the low 80's and an outstanding curve. That curve was his out pitch against Bergen Catholic as he scattered five hits and outdueled BC ace Steve Fox.
"I thought he was pretty good," said Bergen Catholic coach John Picarello. "He throws with decent speed, but his curveball was excellent that day. We had trouble picking it up and getting good swings at it."
Wieme, who also plays first base, picked up a save earlier this season when the Spartans knocked off previously unbeaten Nutley. He didn't allow a run in 12 innings last week, striking out 12.
"He's a real quiet, introverted kid," Cervino said. "He's always nice and easy going, but he was real excited for that [Bergen Catholic] game. Now, he's the one who I'm going to try to pitch in all the big games in the States and County tournament."
YOU GOT TO HAVE HEART: Wieme isn't the only NNJIL pitcher who has emerged as an ace over the course of this season. Don Bosco junior Spiro Molfetas is one of three seven-game winners in North Jersey, playing a key role in the club's revival.
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