TCA muscles past Big Red Machine in first game
TRENTON » One of the more interesting games of the day at the refurbished Trenton Babe Ruth field was Tuesday’s third game.
As one of the few sites around the state hosting a full slate of games in New Jersey Last Dance World Series pool play, the South Trenton complex hosted two Regionals.
After the Lawrenceville Regional completed its two games in the morning, the Trenton Regional took over for the two later-in-the-day games.
First up was a matchup between the third-seeded Big Red Machine and second-seeded TCA.
One inning in, it had the most overall action of the first three games.
The visitors jumped on top when Ryan Visich singled in Chris Conyers as TCA starting pitcher Connor Egan settled in. It could have been more, but the second seed turned a nifty double play to escape further damage.
“The first inning was brutal,” said Egan, a senior right-hander who is headed to Raritan Valley Community College in the fall. “I was aiming the ball a bit. After that inning, I realized all I had to do was throw strikes and trust my defense.”
TCA backed its pitcher with seven runs of its own when Visich took the mound for the Big Red Machine.
Peddie School transfer Justin Moreno and Ali Pompey walked and combined to steal three bases to lead off the bottom of the first. Then Jedier Hernandez hit a sacrifice fly, and the game was tied.
The game swung in the other direction as the next six batters reached base safely, and the second seed was on its way to a six-inning, 11-1 win.
TCA will return Wednesday for another 4 p.m. contest with the winner of last night’s late game between the fourthseeded Red Raiders and top-seeded The Program. Big Red Machine will get to play the loser of that game at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
“After the first inning, I began trusting the guys around me more,” said Visich, who, like most New Jersey high school pitchers dealing with the coronavirus pandemic had not thrown in a real game in a year. “I pretty much tried to focus more on location the rest of the way.”
The change suited him as Visich settled in to strike out six of the last 10 batters he faced before being relieved by another sophomore righty Dhillon Choudhuri over the last 2.1 innings.
Egan did the same, settling in to limit Big Red Machine to one hit (a two-out double by freshman catcher Jack Moses) over the next four innings before sophomore righty Adrian Hernandez came on to strike out the side in the top of the fifth.
With the score frozen at 10-1 after Anderson Moreno’s two-run double in the fourth, TCA closed out the game when Devin Daniels led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk, moved to third base on a double by Justin Moreno and scored on Hernandez’ one-out double to end the game early.
Dylan Pope matched Anderson Moreno and Hernandez with two runs batted in. BigRedMachine(0-1) 100 000 — 1 2 2
TCA (1-0) 701 201 — 11 10 1
2B: Moses (BRM), Herrera, AMoreno, JMoreno, Hernandez (TCA); RBIs: Visich (BRM), Hernandez 2, AMoreno 2, Delvalle, Pope 2, Herrera (TCA).
WP — Egan (1-0); LP — Visich (0-1).