BSP beats Hopewell to reach last four
UNION >> After battling its was to the New Jersey American Legion title a year ago, the Broad Street Park Post 313 baseball team did not want to hear that the odds were not in its favor Sunday.
Instead, manager Mike Petrowski’s players went out and created new odds.
Despite not having beaten Hopewell Post 339 since the 2015 season, Post 313 turned the tables on manager Mike Coryell’s Mercer County American Legion League champions on the final day of National Division pool play in the State Final 8 at Kean University’s Jim Hynes Stadium.
With Mason Fitpatrick throwing well for 6 innings before moving over to first base and making a diving grab in foul ground for the final out, Broad Street Park defeated Hopewell, 9-3, Sunday to set up a three-way tie atop the National Division.
With Brooklawn Post 72 Red defeating Bordentown Post 26, 11-3, in the final game Sunday, the trio ended up with 2-1 records in the division.
Because of that, the headto-head runs against of those three teams were then compared.
Brooklawn only allowed seven runs to Hopewell and BSP, which makes them the bracket’s first-place team.
Post 313 and Post 339 allowed 10 runs (versus each other and Post 72), but by virtue of its win over Hopewell, Broad Street Park finished in second place.
That means Petrowski’s 23-6 squad will play American Division champion West Deptford Post 100 (23-3) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the state semifinal round. Brooklawn (25-101) plays Whitehouse Post 284 (32-3-1) in the 4 p.m. semifinal that day.
“I had kind of struggled on the mound all year. That’s why I only started three games,” said Fitzpatrick, a 6-foot-5½ sophomore-to-be at Monmouth University. “Mostly, I was not getting the drop I needed when I’d pitch. With the big mound here, it worked for me.”
Even though the tall righthander gave up a run to Post 339 in the first inning when Andy Blake tripled and Liam Cleary singled him home, Fitzpatrick shut down Hopewell the next three innings while his team went to work.
Broad Street Park evened the score in the second inning when Andy Jaquez singled, moved to second on a ground out by Fitzpatrick and scored on a single by Connor Luckie.
The damage was worse in the third inning when Kiefer Goss led off with a double and was singled in by David Zamora. With one out, Fitzpatrick singled before Luckie doubled in two more runs for a 4-1 lead.
Hopewell starting pitcher Grayson Russo did not survive the fourth inning as Bryce Egan singled with one out, then Goss was hit by a pitch before Zamora and Jaquez came through with RBI singles.
New pitcher Josh Gaynor hit Luckie with two outs to load the bases before Justin Wiltsey doubled in all three runners for a 9-1 lead.
“We hadn’t beaten them in a long time, but when it counts we came to play,” Fitzpatrick said.
His team backed him with 12 hits, and even though Post 339 added a run in the fifth when Blair doubled, Blake singled and Cole Hare got the run batted in. But Fitzpatrick would not wilt on the mound until his pitch count ran out when Blair singled with one out in the bottom of the seventh.
“He had one of his best outings of the year,” Blair said of Fitzpatrick. “And they capitalized with runners in scoring position. We got our bats on the ball (nine hits), but mostly we were hitting it where they were. We were in the driver’s seat (at 2-0 in the National Division), and we let it get away.”
Hopewell (28-6) did its best to make up for the loss of second baseman Kenny Tagliareni to an injury Saturday night, but could only get one other run when Blake (3-for-4) ripped his second triple of the game when Zamora took over on the mound in the seventh.
In an interesting move, Petrowski then issued intentional walks to Cleary and Hare to load the bases before Zamora struck out Dylan Galgano and got Drew Brodine to pop into foul ground near the BSP dugout where Fitzpatrick made a sliding catch to cap his big day.
BroadStPark (23-6) 013 500 0 — 9 12 0 Hopewell (28-6) 1000101—390 2B: Goss, CLuckie (BSP), Blair (H); 3B: Blake 2 (H); RBIs: Zamora 2, Jaquez, CLuckie 3, Wiltsey 3 (BSP), Blake, Cleary, Hare (H). WP — Fitzpatrick (2-1); LP — GRusso (6-3).
BROOKLAWN 11, B’TOWN 3
Despite giving up seven runs early, Post 26 stayed close with a run in the first and two more in the third before Post 72 extended its lead.
Will Mesa went 3-for-4 and knocked in a run for Bordentown, while Johnny Schroeder was 2-for-2 with another RBI. Dylan Wood drove in its other run.
Nick Nocella went 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs for Brooklawn Red, while Jake McNellis went 3-for-4 with a a double, a triple, three runs scored and an RBI.
Brooklawn (25-10-1) 340 200 2 — 11 11 0 Bordentown (24-8) 102 000 0 — 3 9 2 2B: McNellis, Conklin (BR), Mesa (B); 3B: McNellis (BR); HR: Nocella (BR); RBIs: McNellis, Conklin, Manuola 2, Nocella 4, Hughes 2, Coyle (BR), Mesa, DWood, JSchroeder (B).
WP — Cerveny; LP — Marchetti (5-1).