Hamilton knocks off Brooklawn for spot in state finals
EWING » Then there were two ... Mercer County teams left in the New Jersey American Legion baseball state finals, that is.
Yes, when Hamilton Post 31 knocked off Brooklawn Post 72, 8-2, Wednes- day at Fred Walters Field in Frank Moody Park, it set up an all Mercer County American Legion League final in Thursday’s state championship game.
That will be a first for the MCALL in the 90-year history of the state finals.
Manager Rick Freeman’s 28-7 team will meet the winner of Wednesday’s late game between Bordentown Post 26 and Hopewell Post 339 in that final, which is presently slated for a 5 p.m. start, but could go sooner if bad weather continues to creep into the forecast.
To get to that point, Post 31 needed a strong pitching effort from 17-yearold right hander Ryan Meszaros and plenty of hitting from its whole lineup.
Meszaros, who will be a senior at Steinert High in the fall, turned in what he saw as the most impressive outing of his summer by going 7 2/3 strong innings to hold down the Post 72 juggernaut. That despite throwing five straight balls to start the game, warranting an early mound visit from Freeman. BROOKLAWN
abrhbi Tassi 2b 4120 Nolan cf 5010 Concpcn lf 4 0 0 0 Fehr dh 3011 Lynch rf 4010 Coyle 3b 3100 Prschtti ss 3 0 0 0 Strom c 4011 Pierman 1b 4 0 1 0 Totals 34 2 7 2
Brooklawn (26-9) Hamilton (28-7)
HAMILTON
abrhbi Sacco ss 4000 Pittaro 2b 4 2 1 1 Mstrngli cf 5 2 3 1 Beyer rf 4233 Ricci 1b 4000 Cote 3b 4012 Plunktt dh 3 0 2 1 Zahn c 4000 Harknss lf 1 2 1 0 Totals 33 8 11 8 E — Persichetti, Pierman, Cote, Zahn; DP — Brooklawn 1; LOB — Brooklawn 11, Hamilton 9; 2B — Pierman, Harkness, Pittaro, Beyer; 3B — Mostrangeli; SF — Beyer; SAC — Persichetti; SB — Tassi, Fehr, Coyle, Sacco.
IP BROOKLAWN POST 72 Sponheimer 4.2 Kasper L 1.2 Garwood 1.2 HAMILTON POST 31 Meszaros W,7-1 7.2 Navarro 1.1 CI — Zahn.
HR
2 5 4
5 2
110 000 000 — 2 200 001 41x — 8
2 2 4 1 4410 1 1 2 2
2 0
ER
1 0
BB SO
2 2
4 0
“Yes!,” Meszaros said when asked if this was the biggest game he’d ever pitched in. “I got off to a rough start. Giving up a run in the top of the first was not exactly what I wanted to do. But our offense picked me up by getting two back to take the lead. Then I let one more up before I settled in.”
Locked in may have been a better explanation since Meszaros, after giving up an unearned run in the top of the second to tie the game at 2, retired the next 11 Brooklawn batters in order to carry him into the sixth inning.
Meszaros escaped minor trouble that inning, then retired five more in a row before hitting a little bump in the eighth.
He surrendered an infield single to Coe Nolan, then got R.J. Concepcion to fly out. A walk to Drew Fehr left Meszaros at 117 pitches. Most figured Freeman would lift his pitcher at that point. Instead, Meszaros remained to face Dave Lynch and got the first two strikes on the way to striking out Lynch and finishing his day with 122 pitches. (He was allowed to surpass the 120-pitch limit because it happened while he was in the middle of facing his last batter).
“Not at all did I want to come out before I had to,” Meszaros said. “I wasn’t letting him take me out.”
When his day was finally done, 16-year-old right-hander Casey Navarro took over on the hill and got out of basesloaded jams in the eighth and ninth innings without surrendering a run.
“Ryan pitched a great game,” Post 31 right fielder Jake Beyer said. “With the pitching situation, we really needed him to go seven or eight innings to give us a chance in the final. He really stepped up.”
So did Beyer and Hamilton’s offense.
Beyer, the team’s cleanup hitter, went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and three runs batted in. In the No. 3 hole ahead of him, Ryan Mostrangeli went 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.
Overall, Post 31 banged out 11 hits, while Brooklawn had seven. Five of those came against Meszaros.
“They’re really good every year,” Beyer said of Post 72. “Today we got back to timely hitting.”
After Fehr singled in Dylan Tassi with two outs in the top of the first, Mostrangeli put Hamilton in front by ripping a triple to the left-centerfield gap to plate C.J. Pittaro, who had walked. Mostrangeli scored on a sacrifice fly by Beyer, and Post 31 was up.
But when Zack Strom singled in Ryan Coyle, who reached on an error, in the top of the second, the game was tied and stayed that way until the sixth inning. That was bad news for Brooklawn starting pitcher Joe Sponheimer, a left-hander who went 4 2/3 innings before being lifted.
When right-hander John Kasper took over, he was not as fortunate.
Brady Plunkett singled in Beyer with two outs in the sixth before the Post 31 hit its stride in the seventh. Pittaro doubled in Chris Harkness, who had walked and moved over on a ground out by Joey Sacco. Then a single by Mostrangeli, an RBI double by Beyer ended Kasper’s day. Chris Garwood took over and issued a walk to Matt Ricci before Chris Cote ripped a two-run single as the locals went on to bat around.
Beyer’s RBI single in the bottom of the eighth scored Harkness once more to round out Hamilton’s production and kept Post 31 in line for a state title, which it last won in 2006.
American Division
West Deptford Post 100, Flemington Post 159, Bordentown Post 26, Hamilton Post 31
National Division
Ridgewood Rebels, Hopewell Post 339, Brooklawn Post 72, Washington Twp. Post 521
Saturday, July 22
Bordentown 11, Flemington 5 Brooklawn 15, Ridgewood 7
Sunday, July 23
Hopewell 11, Washington Twp. 1 Flemington 10, West Deptford 0 Bordentown 8, Hamilton 4 Hopewell 9, Ridgewood 0 (forfeit)
Monday, July 24
Hamilton 9, West Deptford 0 (forfeit) Washington Twp. 9, Ridgewood 0 (forfeit)
Brooklawn 5, Hopewell 3
Tuesday, July 25
Bordentown 9, West Deptford 0 (forfeit) Hamilton 8, Flemington 1 Brooklawn 5, Washington Twp. 1
Wednesday Semifinals
Hamilton 8, Brooklawn 2 Bordentown vs. Hopewell, (n)
Thursday Final
Hamilton Post 31 vs. Bordentown/ Hopewell winner, 5 p.m. (Winner advances to Mid-Atlantic Regional in Purcellville, Va. Aug. 2-6)