Hopewellmoves on to winners’ bracket final inMid-Atlantic Regional
PURCELLVILLE, VA. » No one said the Hopewell Post 339 baseball team’s first trip to the American Legion Mid-Atlantic Regional was going to be easy.
Thursday the first-timeNewJersey state champs got quite the challenge fromWilmington’sDelaware Post 1 despite opening a seven-run lead after one-and-a-half innings at Fireman’s Field.
Post 1 rallied towithin a run, then tiedthegameat 8 inthe sixthbefore Post 339 stretched its lead again.
Even that edge proved to be in jeopardy, despite Chase Fleming replacing starting pitcher Dominick Gambino in the sixth and proceeding to record nine straight outs.
That took Hopewell into the bottom of the ninth inning before four consecutive Delaware batters reached base.
With the bases loaded, Will Karpmoved fromshortstop to the mound. After falling behind both batters he faced, Karp enticed Dave Mongeluzi and Chris Ludman to pop out to new shortstop Andy Blake to end the game with an 11-9 win for the locals.
The victory sends Hopewell (36-8) on to Friday’s 7 p.m. winners’ bracket final against Thursday’s late game winner between LaPlata (Md.) Post 82 andEphrata (Pa.) Post 429.
To get into that position, manager Mike Coryell’s teamhad to stop Post 1’s 20-gamewinning streak.
“We had heard they could hit, then saw them in warm-ups and knew,” Hopewell catcher LukeBlair said. “In the end, we were able to out-hit them.”
Post 339 had 14 hits to 12 forDelaware, but the game really came down to which club made the key outs when it needed them most.
Hopewell had a chance at extending its lead in the top of the ninth, only to see Post 1 reliever Jacques Dubecq get Sam Margulis to ground into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.
When Delawaremade a similar charge in the bottomof the frame, it came as little surprise.
“Obviously, they are a very good team,” Karp said. “Dom’s one of the best pitchers in our league, and they came back on him. We just pulled the game out when it mattered.”
Besides finishing the game as Post 339’s battery, Karp and Blair had a lot to do with helping Hopewell end up on top.
For the secondMAR game, leadoffhitterKarpmanufactured a run in the top of the first to get Post 339 on the board. This time, he singled, moved up on a Margulis bunt and a Blair ground out, then scored on a wild pitch by Post 1 starterRyan Bradigan.
The following inning, Hopewell scored six times with Karp stealing home and Blair belting a tworun home run.
“I hit it off the scoreboard in right-center,” Blair said. “We were just hitting the ball. But, even though we put up six, they took that punch and came right back at us with four runs.”
In the third inning, Delaware scored two more to close the gap to 7-6 before Gambino and Bradigan settled in for a few innings.
A sacrifice fly by Blair plated Josh deDufour in the top of the sixth and extended the lead before Post 1’s Joe Poma scored on an error and Oliver Campbell singled in Brian Gilardi to knot the score in the bottomof the frame.
Itwas at that point that Fleming started his streak, and his teammates put him in position for the win by scoring three runs in the top of the seventh.
Blake (3-for-4) greeted new pitcher Matt Schubert with a single, then Cameron Cane tripled to left field. deDufour, who was 4-for-5 with three runs scored and two runs battedin, followedwithanRBIdouble to center field. After a sacrifice bunt by Drew Brodine, Karp lofted a sacrifice fly to cap his team’s scoring.
Little did he know he’d have to move to the mound two innings later afterDubecq singled inCampbell to cut the lead to two runs.
“Chase came on and threw three good innings, thenWill came on to save it for us,” Blair said. “Everybody contributed. Thiswasagreat team effort.” H: deDufour, D: Gilardi, Serafin; H: Cane; H: Blair; H: Karp, Blair 3, Cane, deDufour 2, D: Gilardi 2, Campbell, Dubecq, Mongeluzi, Poma 2.
Fleming (7-3); Schubert;
H (36-8), D (34-5). Karp (2).