Hamilton/NB 15s fall to elimination round of state tournament

HAMILTON » The rivalry between Hamilton/Northern Burlington and Atlantic Shore is one of the best in Southern New Jersey Babe Ruth baseball.

Well, when the two powers hooked up in the SNJ 15year old state tournament winner’s bracket game it was a Sunday afternoon to expect the unexpected.

It wasn’t decided until the eighth inning when Atlantic Shore pushed across a run to get out of Switlik Park smiling with a hardfought 11-10 win over the Hamilton/Northern Burlington squad.

The defeat forces Hamilton/Northern Burlington to the elimination round where it will start the road back on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Switlik Park against the winner of Monday’s game between a pair of District One teams, Lawrence and

West Windsor-Plainsboro.

HNB’s Tuesday game will be streamed on WBCBsports.com

Atlantic Shore is off until the championship round on Wednesday.

“We knew Atlantic Shore was going to be a wellcoached team and they were just that,’’ said H/NB manager Jim Petersohn. “The game could have gone either way, we put ourselves in some bad situations with some poor defensive play which we usually don’t have. We knew it was going to be a typical Hamilton/Northern Burlington and Atlantic Shore game.’’

This one had a little bit of everything, but it really came down to the last three innings.

H/NB tied the game in the sixth on a balk at 7-7, then AS took a 9-7 lead in the home sixth on a couple of hits and two Hamilton/ Northern Burlington miscues.

But, some of the ghosts of

District One and SNJ baseball like Harry DeBonis and George O’Gorman weren’t going to let this end, typically.

Hamilton/Northern Burlington scored three times in the top of the seventh and led 10-9 heading to the home seventh. Chris Nodeland, who hit a grand slam earlier, laid down a perfect squeeze bunt for the goahead run.

“We hit the ball well, so I knew we were still in it,’’ said Bill Rauzzino, a veteran Babe Ruth guy in his own right and the Atlantic Shore manager. “I knew we were in it, but when it gets down to your last out it’s tough.’’

Nick Wagner scored the tying run on a base hit by Riley Gunnels, and Jack Hoag running behind him tried to end it there but was cut down at the plate to send the game to extra innings.

H/NB had runners on first and second with just one out in the eighth before AS’ Tommy Lex got the final two out on strikeouts.

“We never got down,’’ said Pat Lonergran, who scored the winning run and has seven hits in eight trips in two game for Atlantic Shore. “We knew we could win the game.’’

Lonegran led off the eighth with a single, was sacrificed to second by Brandon Sharkey and scored when Frank Gargione lined a single over short.

“I thought the shortstop might catch it and then when it got to third I saw the overthrow, I thought I could make it,’’ said Lonergran. “This feel great to get this win here.’’

But, don’t count this H/ MB team out just yet.

“We’re not totally upset,’’ said Petersohn. “We are not in horrible shape with arms, but we knew it was going to be tough.’’ LAWRENCE 5,

MT. LAUREL 2

Lawrence got some timely hitting and excellent pitching to stay alive in the Southern New Jersey State 15-year-old tournament with the win.

Next up for Ralph Floyd’s team will be West Windsor-Plainsboro on Monday night at 6 p.m. at Switlik Park.

“This was a great win and the kids came out to play,’’ said Floyd. “I was very impressed with the kids and now we get to play another day.’’

Lawrence got key hits from Colm Corcoran and Tobie Mitchell and Nabeel Hasan handled the mound chores.

“I felt good and we had great defense behind me,’’ said Hasan, who was followed to the mound by Kellen Moore. “I was able to throw strikes and that was a key. We play tomorrow (Monday) and we have a lot of arms behind me.’’