Falcons are not entirely satisfied with their play Several locals scrambling to qualify for postseason BY RICHARD JEROME Staff Writer No one can sneeze at a 9-4 record, but for Monroe High School baseball coach Greg Beyer, there's some room for improvement in his Falcons' performance. "We've been up and down this year," he said. "We won three in a row, but then on Monday we suffered an 11-1 loss to Carteret. When we've done well, we've done very well, and when we've done poorly, we've done very poorly." Beyer notes that his squad's offensive output has been excellent, even better than expected, but the mound work has been somewhat spotty. "We've thrown some shutouts," he said, "but then against Carteret we gave up 11 runs in five innings." The Falcons' leading offensive light thus far is senior Rich Feldhan, who plays outfield and doubles as the designated hitter. Feldhan has been swatting the ball at an impressive .525 clip, while producing numbers on the scoreboard as well, notching five runs batted in and a dozen runs scored. Another senior, shortstop Mark Magliaro, has been a productive force batting out of the leadoff slot, with 13 runs scored on the strength of his .333 average. "He's also one of our better defensive players," Beyer points out. Right behind Magliaro in the batting order is first sacker Matt Kalbach, a senior who has been the team's slugging star to date. Along with a fine .386 batting average, Kalbach is leading the team with three home runs and is tied for the club best in runs batted in, having registered 15. Cleanup batter and center fielder Ryan Cushman is doing his part, hitting a solid .326. The rest of the lineup also boasts good to outstanding batting averages. Third baseman Ryan Clark, who hits fifth in the order, is one of the few Falcons hitting under .300 - but not by much, as he's currently at .294. Second baseman Garrett Beyer is contributing to the tune of .343, and the right field platoon combination of Vinnie Small and John Schieda, who pretty much alternate in the starting lineup, is more than pulling its weight. Small is batting .333 on the season, and Schieda is at a lusty .500. Behind the plate is another two-man entry, Matt Lezzo and Anthony Modugno. Monroe has a trio of players who come off the bench, including utility infielder Dan Palosa, Nick Barszcz and infielder Andy Stern. As for the problematic pitching staff, the most accomplished hurler through the first 13 contests is Chris Cirlincione, who has a 2-2 record and has fanned 29 opposing batters in 30 innings pitched. In addition to the standard fastball and curve, his repertoire includes an effective change of pace. The rest of the pitching duty is split among a cast of several, including Lenny Bergen, who also plays left field, Kalbach, Magliaro and Cushman. Beyer has a deep assistant coaching staff, including Tony Pepe, junior varsity mentor Scott Wall, Andy Laffey, veteran coach Ron Herrick, who handles the freshman team, and Gene Sparaco. Looking ahead, Monroe awaits seeding in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament, which has its cutoff this coming Saturday, and the state tournament, which has a deadline set for May 11, a week from tomorrow. Going into yesterday's action against Perth Amboy, the Falcons needed one more victory before the state cutoff to guarantee the necessary .500 winning percentage. Monroe faces Colonia tomorrow, and North Brunswick on Saturday. "I think we have an outside shot at our division title, which we won last year," Beyer said. "We'd like to stay consistent, of course, and do well in the tournaments. I've been a little surprised with our hitting so far, and if we can get that consistent pitching, I think we'll do well." Diamond notes ... With the deadline for teams to qualify for the two postseason tournaments rapidly approaching, there are several local baseball and softball teams that will be scrambling over the next eight days to get to the .500 mark. On the baseball diamond, Spotswood (10-3) and Monroe are the only local teams assured of a postseason berths, while several others have some work to do. East Brunswick fell to 4-6 with a 10-2 loss to J.P. Stevens on Monday, but was hoping to get back within a game of .500 yesterday against South Brunswick. The Vikings, who entered the week as the top-ranked team in the GMC, were beaten by Old Bridge, 4-3, in 10 innings on Monday, as the Knights twice rallied from a run down while down to their last out to post an unlikely comeback. Robert Vafiadou lashed the game-winning hit with two outs in the 10th, scoring Danny Walsh and Brian Guliano. Unfortunately, the Knights followed that win with a 12-7 loss to Edison on Tuesday to fall to 6-8 on the year. They need to play well over the next two weeks to earn spot in the Central Jersey Group IV tourney. Sayreville is in a similar spot, having fallen to 6-6 with a 12-3 loss to Carteret on Tuesday. The Bombers get a rematch with Carteret later today. South River needs to run the table at 5-10 to get into the CJ Group I tournament. They take on Metuchen later today. In softball, four local teams - Monroe (11-1), Old Bridge (11-1), Spotswood (13-4) and East Brunswick (10-4) - are headed to the playoffs and can use the next two weeks to chase down their respective division titles. Both South River and Sayreville, however, are on the state playoff bubble. South River dropped a 3-2 contest to Cardinal McCarrick on Tuesday to fall to 4-5 on the year, but was looking to turn the tides on the Eagles yesterday. Today, the Rams will host Metuchen. Sayreville also dropped a game on Tuesday, falling to East Brunswick, 1-0, in 11 innings, as the Bears' Amanda Singer struck out a school-record 24 batters to win a classic pitchers' dual with the Bombers' Liz Montemurro. East Brunswick got the win on a Melanie Morrison sacrifice fly, scoring Adrianna Lahming. With the loss, Sayreville fell to 5-7 on the year, heading into yesterday's game with Colonia.