Hamilton holds off BSP to keep Final 8 hopes alive
WEST WINDSOR » The sting of defeat is inevitable when one loss sends you home for the summer. It is even more intensified when that outcome materializes by way of one run between two township rivals.
But such was the predicament between Hamilton Post 31 and Broad Street Park Post 313, and by the time every out was exhausted Tuesday night, Hamilton was the team that escaped with a 3-2 win at Mercer County Park.
Post 31 will return to the same field on Wednesday to play Haddon Heights at 7 in the District 2 losers’ bracket final. One more win sends Hamilton to the State Final 8 next week at Moody Park in Ewing.
“It’s a very emotional game, especially being rivals in a tight spot in an important game,” said Sean O’Boyle, the winning pitcher. “I’ve been there before, so it’s easy just to think, ‘clear head, make sure you’re just focusing on the target and getting the job done.’”
O’Boyle, who struck out nine and went all seven innings, demonstrated that mentality by inducing a soft flyout to strand the tying run for BSP at second in the final frame.
Minutes earlier, with Post 313 down its final strike, Brien Cardona poked a single to left just out of the reach of shortstop Joey Sacco’s glove. Cardona then stole second, but O’Boyle did not allow him to advance any further.
Hamilton avenged two regular season losses to BSP.
“It’s all about focus,” O’Boyle said. “You’ve just got to make the game small. Hit every spot.”
Both starting pitchers tossed sharply in the early goings, trading zeroes on the scoreboard for the first two and a half innings.
Three of O’Boyle’s first six outs came via strikeout. Meanwhile, TJ McKenzie pitched to contact fielded soundly by his teammates, including two hotshot grounders to third baseman Sean Elefant.
Hamilton’s only hit came in the bottom of the third. But it came at the perfect time from the heart of the team’s lineup.
Taking advantage of the first pitch he saw from McKenzie out over the plate, Ryan Mostrangeli went the other way with a line drive into right field, scoring two for a 3-0 Hamilton lead.
Earlier in the frame, Brady Plunkett scored the first run on a passed ball after reaching on an error and stealing second to lead off the inning. Kenny Zahn moved Plunkett over to third with a chopper to second base, and Sacco and C.J. Pittaro drew walks to load the bases.
The momentum carried Hamilton from there.
O’Boyle proceeded to fan the side in the fourth, then retire three more in order in the fifth capped by a sliding catch in right field by Jake Beyer.
In the bottom of the fifth, a second error by BSP set up runners at the corners for Hamilton. McKenzie responded by inducing two popouts to keep BSP within striking distance.
With BSP down to its final six outs, pinch-hitter Connor Hayes led off the sixth with a line drive single to left. Adam Chicchio entered as a pinch runner and promptly scampered to second on a passed ball.
Two batters later, Jose Rodriguez stroked an oppositefield single to place runners at the corners with one out. Shane Hoffman followed with an RBI groundout to second to make it 3-1, Hamilton. And then Rodriguez raced home with BSP’s second run when Kyle Harrington battled to a hitter’s count and drove another single to center.
Seemingly caught in a rundown, Harrington advanced to third on an overthrow to second base and into left center. But he would remain 90 feet away as O’Boyle proceeded to sit Cameron Bruschini down looking at third strike on the outside corner.
Wednesday’s winner is set to join Brooklawn, an 11-2 winner on Tuesday, in the State Final 8. But the loser might still secure one of the last two spots pending a run differential tiebreaker with third-place finishers from Districts 1 and 3.
Hamilton doesn’t want to leave anything up to chance.
“We can go out and beat anybody with anybody on the mound and anybody at any position,” O’Boyle said. “There’s 18 guys on this team and that’s what they’re there for. Everybody picks each other up and we’ve just got to go out and play baseball.”