By CLYDE HUGHES/Special to the Sentinel
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP – The Ocean City High School baseball team may be playing their best baseball as the season winds down. The Red Raiders beat Egg Harbor Township on the road 4-0 in their most convincing win of the season Friday.
Last week Red Raiders improved to 11-6, 7-1 in the Cape-Atlantic League’s American Division, going into the final week of the regular season. Ocean City played perennial power St. Augustine Prep on Monday. The Red Raiders will play their final regular-season home against Middle Township Wednesday.
They will conclude the regular season at Holy Spirit on Thursday and at Hammonton on Friday.
“I think I think we’re right at [playing our best baseball of the season],” Ocean City coach Andrew Bristol said after the big win that kept the Red Raiders in the hunt for the CAL American Division title.
“We’re really close to it. I think we’re taking steps in that direction. I don’t know if I would say we beat up on [Egg Harbor Township]. We were luckier today than they were today. You know that we can play each other 10 times and all of those games would be very close.”
Egg Harbor Township would have wrapped up the American Division title with a victory over Ocean City, but the Red Raiders’ late rally dashed those hopes and gave O.C. new life in the race.
“They are a great team,” Bristol said of the Eagles, “but I think we’re on our way to our best baseball. We’re going forward, not backward right now, which is where you want to be at this point of the season.”
Egg Harbor Township showed up at last Friday’s game undefeated in division play and just needed the win to wrap up the American Division crown. They already owned a tight 2-1 contest win at Ocean City on May 6.
Red Raider Matt Nunan and Eagle Ethan Dodd were in a 0-0 pitching duel when the Red Raiders broke through with four runs in the fifth inning.
“I just came out here trying to pound the zone,” Nunan said of his pitching performance, one of his best of the season. “We needed this win after a tough loss [last Tuesday] to Shawnee. They came back in the last inning and scored three runs. We needed this one to go into the playoffs.”
Nunan said the victory will not only boost Ocean City’s confidence but improve their playoff position as well.
“We definitely wanted to come out here and show them who we are,” Nunan said. “They beat us the first time so we wanted that revenge. That helped us big time with our Power Points because I think we were seated No. 4 for now but we may have jumped up to No. 2, so that helps us go on into the playoffs.”
The key hit in the inning was a Joe Repetti double to left that scored Ocean City’s final two runs. Dylan Oliver reached first base on a fielding error to start the inning. After a sacrifice moved him to second, Duke McCarron advanced on a throwing error.
Brady Gannon walked to load the bases and Ben Hoag grounder to second turned into a throwing error to home, plating the Red Raiders’ first two runs. That led up Repetti’s big hit to essentially put the game out of reach.
“We have struggled to put games away,” Repetti said. “We’ve lost a lot of close games this year. We just need insurance runs every chance we can get them and I just put the bat on the ball and got it through two guys for the team. It was a great team win today. We had great pitching and everything and put it all together.”
The Eagles had their chance to take an early lead in the second inning. Tristin Trivers singled and with two outs Jacob Dembin walked and Frank Firetto was hit by a pitch, loading the bases for Egg Harbor Township’s leadoff batter Dodd. Nunan, though, was able to get Dodd to ground out to end the threat.
In the sixth inning, EHT’s Frank Wright walked and with two outs, Braeden Thies walked to load the bases. But a great centerfield catch on Dembin’s long fly ball ended the threat. A dispute erupted between the umpires when it appeared the centerfield dropped the ball at the conclusion of the play, leading the home plate umpire to rule that the catch was not made.
After a meeting between the two umpires, the home plate umpired ruled in agreement with the field judge, leading to an argument with Egg Harbor Township coach Bryan Carmichael without success.
Bristol said the team actually got an assist from former Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, who led Philadelphia to the 2008 World Series title, and legend Larry Bova, when the two visited their practice this week. (See related story in this edition.)
“They talked to the guys about hitting and you can see some of them took what they said to heart today,” Bristol said. “They gave us some words of wisdom. They told us to be short to the ball. I think a couple of guys did that today and at the right time and good things happened in being short to the ball. [Repetti] proved that out with a nice, quick little swing in that line drive down the line. One of my assistants was a clubhouse manager for 30 years and knew those guys. It was great that they came down.”