Hamilton-NB advances to 15s championship round

HAMITLON » The prize was a berth in the championship round.

Would Hamilton-Northern Burlington bounce back after an emotional defeat to Atlantic Shore?

Or would West Windsor-Plainsboro continue its torrid hitting from a win over Lawrence?

It was Hamilton-NB reaching the championship round, erupting in the middle innings for a 10-2 win over West WindsorPlainsboro in the Southern New Jersey 15-year old state tournament being played at Switlik Park.

The win sets up a rematch of Sunday’s 11-10 classic H/NB game with Atlantic Shore. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Switlik Park.

Hamilton/Northern Burlington will need to down the Shore guys twice to be declared Southern New Jersey State champs.

“It’s great to be able to play Atlantic shore again,” said H-NB’s Matteo Mannino, who was the winning pitcher and he pitched with a broken nose. “We are looking to come out and beat them two times.”

The loss for West WindsorPlainsboro ends a great run from 13-year old to this 15-year old tournament. They battled every year and never quit.

The game was tied at 2-2 through three innings and it wasn’t until the fourth that H/

NB had a base hit.

But, the Switlik Park Crew banged out three hits and scored three in the fourth.

After one out Nate Mains, who has been stellar behind the plate, walked, Andrew Stizza singled to center. Mains scored on a wild pitch and then with Richie BrownLuden at the plate Jim Petersohn, the H/NB manager put the squeeze on and Brown-Luden did it perfectly and it was 4-2 Hamilton-NB.

The final run in the inning came home on an overthrow.

“We played our typical Hamilton ball,” said Petersohn. ”We wanted to use our speed and manufacturer runs. We like to keep the pressure on the defense and we’ll continue to do that. This was a nice bounce back game.”

Mannino, was hit in the nose in the first Atlantic Shore game and suffered the broken nose, but he’s a gamer and took the mound.

“It was tough and when I heard I was pitching I knew I had to get through it,” said Mannino. “I had some success with my fastball and I feel when we get down we are playing better.”

Five runs in the fifth settled things and gave H/NB a much needed win.

Billy Sikorski came off the bench and had a pair of hits and two RBI for the winners. Stizza, Brown-Luden, Reese Pillik and Isaac Acosta all had RBI.

It all sets up another showdown at Switlik.