Hopewell headed back to state semis
EWING » The Hopewell Post 339 and Washington Township Post 521 baseball teams went into their final game of pool play Tuesday in the New Jersey American Legion State Finals knowing they had already clinched spots in the semifinals.
With positioning on the line, both had to avoid complacency heading into Wednesday’s Final Four.
After taking a six-run lead in the top of the first inning, defending state champion Hopewell had to pull away late to get past Washington Township, 10-5, at Fred Walters Field in Frank Moody Park.
With the win, Post 339 (278) wins the American Division and returns to face National Division runner-up Whitehouse Post 284 at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the first semifinal.
Broad Street Park Post 313 (238), which won the National Division, will play American runnerup Post 521 at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the second semifinal.
Wednesday’s winners will play at 7 p.m. Thursday in a one-anddone state championship game.
“We played with a little lower intensity, and we still put up 10 runs. It shows what our offense can do,” Hopewell outfielder Jake Tobia said. “We used a lot of different pitchers today, but we’ve got so much depth, we’ll be O.K.”
With Tobia and Drew Brodine at the heart of manager Mike Coryell’s lineup Wednesday, Post 339 used two hits, two walks, a hit batsman and three Washington Twp. errors to take a 6-0 lead in the first inning.
But when Post 521 (22-16) trimmed the margin to 7-5 after four innings, Tobia and Brodine came through with backto-back HOPEWELL WASHINGTON TWP.
abrhbi abrhbi Taglreni 2b 4 2 0 0 Swiftss 2020 Blake ss 1100 Gougon cf 4 1 1 0 Psmrsph3b 2 1 1 0 Racbldo3b 4 0 1 1 Tobia rf 4321 Colbert c 3000 Brodine 1b 3 1 2 3 Rivera dh 4110 Hare lf-p 4011 Cavndr 1b 3 1 1 0 Savas c 3011 MMilwrd lf 3 1 2 2 Blair c 1000 JMilwrd 2b 3 0 1 0 Brunnr dhp 3 1 1 1 Weissrf 2100 Brgnzr cr-lf 0 0 0 0 Porpra3bss 4 1 0 0
Iorio cf 3011
Totals 32 10 9 8
Hopewell (27-8) WshgtnTwp(22-16)
Totals 28 5 9 3
600 100 3 — 10 1031000—5
E — Swift, Gougon, Racobaldo 2, Cavender, Sharkey; DP — Hopewell 1, Washington Twp. 1; LOB — Hopewell 10, Washington Twp. 8; 2B — Tobia, Brodine, Racobaldo, MMilward; SF — Hare; SB — Iorio, JMilward 3, MMilward, Weiss 2, Swift 2, Gougon; CS — JMilward.
IP H
HOPEWELL POST 339
Joyce 1.0 1 1 1 2
Russo 1.2 3 1 1 0 Brunner W,1-0 2.1 5 3 3 3
Hare S,1 2.0 0 0 0 1 WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP POST 521 Sharkey L 2.0 3 6 1 2 0 Farley 1.0 0 0 0 1 0 Shapley 3.0 4 1 1 1 0 Spaeth 1.0 2 3 3 1 0 Brunner faced 1 batter in the 6th inning. HbP- by Sharkey (Tobia), by Shapley (Brodine), by Spaeth (Psomaras). R ER BBSO
0 0 0 1
doubles in the top of the seventh to seal the victory.
“For me, it was just about finding a good pitch I could hit. I hit it down the (thirdbase) line, and it stayed fair,” said Tobia (two hits, three runs scored), who doubled home Kenny Tagliareni (walk). “Then Drew stepped up and really broke the game open.”
Brodine (two hits, three runs batted in) ripped a double to the left field gap to drive in Nick Psomaras (hit by pitch) and Tobia.
As both teams had seen in using four pitchers apiece to try to save arms for the next two days, that cushion would have meant little had it not been for the help of lesser-known pitchers like Chad Brunner and Cole Hare.
After Dylan Joyce went one inning and Grayson Russo worked 1 2/3, Brunner, who had an RBI single in the first, moved from his designated hitter spot to the mound and went 2 1/3 innings for his first win.
With Hopewell clinging to a two-run lead after Washington Twp.’s Eric Weiss stole home in the bottom of the fourth, Coryell called on 6-foot-3 outfielder Hare to take over when Brunner walked Post 521 leadoff batter Ryan Swift in the sixth. Hare proceeded to catch Wil Gougon looking at a third strike before enticing Rich Racobaldo to ground into a double play.
“I had pitched a couple months ago in Legion and a couple of times in high school (Hopewell Valley) this spring,” said Hare, who will head to Dickinson College in the fall. “After our strong first inning, we got a little lackluster, but we found our way in the end. We always play to win.”
Hare, who had a sacrifice fly in the first inning and one of his team’s nine hits, closed out the game by facing four more batters in the bottom of the seventh without surrendering a hit to earn his first save.
FINAL FOUR
Whitehouse Post 284 defeated Brooklawn Post 72, 4-1, in Tuesday’s first game to set up Wednesday’s semifinal round.
The win gave manager Steve Farsiou’s 29-5 team a 2-1 record in pool play and second place in the National Division. Post 72 dropped to 0-2. Brooklawn and Cherry Hill Post 372 (also 0-2) decided not to play their postponed pool play game, so that the State Finals could remain on schedule because of the hard work of the grounds crew from Ewing Post 314.
WBCB will video stream live both semifinals Wednesday and the championship Thursday at wbcbsports.com and on the WBCB Sports Facebook page.