LINWOOD – Mainland Regional’s baseball team returns home on Wednesday after coming off two strong road victories last week. They have built an impressive start to the season at 5-1.
Mainland went to Cumberland County to defeat the Millville Thunderbolts last Thursday 13-7 after falling behind early, then hit the road again to Camden County on Friday for a 10-3 victory over the Gloucester Lions.
The bats of the Mustangs have been impressive so far, with Mainland averaging nearly 10 runs per game in their five victories. Out in the field, Mainland’s pitching and defense have been giving up an average of four runs per contest.
“It’s a great feeling overall about the start,” said Mainland pitcher Will Hoover, who inherited the No. 1 role from graduated New Jersey all-state selection Chase Petty this season. Hoover picked up the win against Millville, giving up three earned runs in five-plus innings of work.
“It’s still all new for me being the No. 1 starter. It’s insane. I just go out there and do my thing and throw strikes. Whatever happens after that happens. I just try to leave it all out there on the field and I’ve been pleased with the results so far,” he said.
So far, Hoover has 17 strikeouts over 13 innings pitched for Mainland’s ace while giving up eight earned runs. Sophomore Colin Cook appears to be developing into the Mustangs’ No. 2 starter. He picked up the win against Gloucester and overall has 12 strikeouts in 10.1 innings pitched.
Mainland will face Middle Township in Linwood on Wednesday and then travel to battle Hammonton on Friday. The Mustangs will then face another stiff test in back-to-back games against Cedar Creek on April 25-26.
Mainland coach Billy Kern stressed that the Mustangs would need to eliminate errors and mistakes behind his pitchers this season for them to be successful. That issue cropped up immediately in the Millville game.
The Bolts’ second batter Wayne Hill reached base on a fielding error and Millville’s best hitter David Rodriguez followed with a towering home run to put Mainland behind 2-0. Hoover shook it off and kept Millville off the scoreboard after that through the sixth inning.
“I just threw a bad pitch and misplaced it and frankly, he crushed it,” Hoover said of the Rodriguez home run. “I knew I had to just keep my head and keep throwing strikes and trust in my teammates, and that’s what I did.”
Ethan Mitnick quickly bailed Hoover out with a two-out, two-run RBI single in the top of the second inning to allow the Mustangs to pull even. Cohen Cook added an RBI single in the third inning and Sam Wood was forced home when Brandon Sharkey took a bases-loaded walk to put Mainland up for good 4-2.
“I am extremely proud of the kids,” Kern said after the Millville win. “We had a half-day at school to start spring break and you just never know getting off the bus what you’re going to get from them. I loved the way we batted and competed.”
After adding a run in the fourth inning, Wood removed all doubt with a game-confirming home run to lead off the fifth inning. Sharkey added an RBI fielder’s choice later in the inning to give Mainland a comfortable 7-2 lead.
“I swung and missed at a fast ball on the first pitch but I saw his hands switching off to a curve ball before the next pitch,” Wood said. “I saw it come out of his hand and I knew I just had to get my barrel out there and maybe I could get it in the gap. I looked up and it was out of there.
“I could feel an electricity go through the team and they made a lot of noise while I was going around the bases. It felt really awesome.”
Mainland wasn’t done with the home runs, with catcher Cole Campbell adding a two-run shot in the sixth inning and Nick Wagner contributing a leadoff home run in the seventh inning.
“The thing that stuck out to me the most in the game was how everybody was picking each other up after being down 2-0 and then continuing to extend the lead after that and not kind of sitting and relaxing and just playing seven innings of baseball,” Kern said. “We got to clean up some things defensively. But I like where we’re at so far.”
Some of those things played out over the final two innings of the Millville game in which Mainland surrendered five runs with the help of an error, two walks and a hit batter.
“There are still a lot of expectations for us after last year,” said sophomore Christian Elliott, whose brother played a critical role in helping Mainland reach the South Jersey Group III finals a year ago. Elliott had two doubles in the Millville game.
“I’m hoping that even though we lost our guys from last year, our guys this year come out and show that we can still do our thing. Millville’s a good team, they can throw the ball well and you can see they can score as well. We have to just keep competing and keep playing because your opponent is never really out of it until you get them out.”
There was no late comeback on Friday against Gloucester with Mainland scoring three runs in the first inning and holding the lead throughout. Cook pitched six innings, giving up two earned runs on five hits.
Wood continued his hot streak at the plate, going 2-for-4 against Gloucester, including a double and an RBI. Wagner pushed two other runs across during his at-bats and Cook scored three times.
There’s plenty of baseball left in the season as Mainland plays in the loaded Cape-Atlantic League National Division. The Mustangs compete not only against rival Ocean City and Cedar Creek, they also must face off against St. Joseph (Hammonton) and Holy Spirit, which have a combined two losses between them.
– By CLYDE HUGHES/Special to the Sentinel
