Storer’s gem takes Ewing past Trenton

TRENTON » Wins have not been coming as frequently as the Ewing Post 314 and Trenton Posts 93 & 182 baseball teams would like.

When the Mercer County American Legion League foes met Sunday at Wetzel Field, they put everything into changing that.

The excitement and determination was definitely there, but when the final out was recorded, it was Ewing which walked away with a 2-1 victory over Trenton.

“This team’s young, but it might be the best defensive club I’ve been on,” said Post 314’s Jake Storer, who returned from Rowan University, where he is studying criminal justice, to spend one last summer playing baseball. “The wins will come. If the guys continue to play really hard, things will start falling our way.”

Storer threw a complete game to outduel Schroths pitcher Owen Lucash, who also went all the way.

Lucash, who will head to Flagler College in St. Augustine, Fla., at the end of the summer, put Posts 93 & 182 on his back and gave manager Xavier Rodriguez’ squad a 1-0 lead in the third inning when his ground out plated Toney Rushing after he had walked and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Jordi Rodriguez and a wild pitch.

“This was probably one of the top three pitching performances of my career. It was a tough loss,” Lucash said. “If we stay up every inning, we can build on that. But we’ve got to be better mentally.”

The Schroths (0-8) looked to be in good shape in the fourth inning when a double play left the bases empty with two outs. But Dom Salvatore’s double and a single by Nolan Brodsky suddenly evened the score. The following inning, Ewing (2-5) loaded the bases with one out, then took the lead on a bloop single by Luke Sodomin. But Trenton escaped further damage with its second double play when right fielder Gerry Howell caught a fly ball from Salvatore and gunned down Ronnie Miller at home plate.

Posts 93 & 182 had its chances against Storer with leadoff singles by Jonathan Rodriguez in the fifth inning and Jefery Azcona in the sixth. But Storer picked off both runners (two of three runners he picked).

Making those outs worse, the Schroths followed each out with another hit. Then,

in the bottom of the seventh, Rushing walked with two outs and was beginning to advance on a ball hit by Jordi Rodriguez when the ball knicked him to end the game.

“Some games, we hit. Other games, we pitch and play defense,” Lucash said. “When we get it all together, we’ll be dangerous.”