Coach said his team was ‘dangerous’ come playoffs; Mainland boys pull off string of upsets, knock off top seeds on way to sectional title
FRANKLINVILLE — After a 12-2 drubbing by Millville and sporting a sub-.500 record, Mainland Regional baseball coach Bill Kern was still searching for consistency late in the season but was convinced his team could be “dangerous” come playoff time.
He wasn’t wrong.
In 92-degree heat under Friday afternoon’s sun in Franklinville, Mainland was behind 4-2 through the end of the fourth inning in the South Jersey Group III sectional final. But a big swing by Jack Haines proved Kern’s point to Delsea Regional High School’s team.
Haines’ big bat — he was 3 for 4 with two doubles on the day — sent all three Mainland runners home and gave the Mustangs a 5-4 lead. After a Bryan Perez single sent Haines across the plate, pitcher Cohen Cook and his teammates made sure the 6-4 margin held up.
Finally at .500 with a 13-13 record, the No. 9 seed Mainland Mustangs defeated No. 2 seed Delsea (20-7) to become South Jersey champions, finishing an unlikely sectional run that included knocking off top seed Shawnee along the way.
Well, call it unlikely by an observer just looking at records and seeding.
The Mustangs entered the sectional tournament with a 9-13 record and upset their way to the final, first beating No. 8 Cumberland (13-9) 4-1, then surprising No. 1 Shawnee (22-4) 3-1 and shutting out No. 4 Hammonton (15-12) 3-0.
“All we ever talk about in the playoffs for as long as I’ve been here is they are a series of one-game elimination tournaments,” Kern said. “The seeding only matters as to where you’re going, are you home or away. Once you get on the field, you don’t score runs based off your seed. All we’ve been saying is be better than the team across from us for that seven innings on that day and they’ve responded every single time.”
“We just came into this game with so much confidence,” Haines said. “The teammates cheering you on from the dugout … just having them behind me, having my back, means everything. You really can’t do it without them.”
Haines said he wasn’t watching the fielder trying to chase down his hit. “I really wasn’t,” he said, laughing. “I just started running.”
The designated hitter said the Mustangs never gave up on themselves this season.
“Every game has been a battle. We weren’t counting ourselves out at all,” he said. “We weren’t worried about anything. We knew we were going to battle until we pulled out the win.”
He did note that the win over Shawnee gave them an added confidence boost in the playoffs.
“We just had so much confidence coming into every game,” Haines said. Beating the top seed “helped us so much. Everyone was just enjoying themselves. We wanted this so bad.”
“Top to bottom, these 22 guy we have in our dugout are just competitive, they grind, they know what they can do, offensively and defensively. We just needed a little spark of cohesion to come together,” Kern said of the up-and-down season. “We just needed one win to convince them, I would say, of how talented they are. We got it going at the right time.
“They stayed together throughout those ups and downs. There was no finger pointing at each other, at the staff, which is easy to do when things aren’t going well. It’s a testament to their character. Everything they’ve done these last couple of weeks they earned it.”
The coach noted he has been impressed with Haines’ performance and that of another player he’d like to convince to stick with baseball.
“Jack has been our DH pretty much our whole season long. It’s tough mentally to be a designated hitter on a high school team and he was money for us all day long,” Kern said of Haines. “He was just the right man in the right spot in that scenario and I’m so happy for Jack. He’s grinded so hard this year.”
The coach had high praise for Cook, who is a standout athlete in basketball and plays football as well as baseball.
“He’s a baseball player. He just loves basketball so much,” Kern said, laughing. “I keep trying to convince him that if he decides to, there’s a Division 1 school somewhere that’s going to make the right decision on him.
“Turning the ball over to him after Shawnee and what he does in every other sport, there is just no situation that he comes up on that he hasn’t been in. He’s just calm, collected and I’m glad he’s on our side.”
The game
In the top of the first, junior Christian Elliott got hit by a pitch and took first base. Joe Sheehan hit a grounder to the infield, beating the throw to put runners on first and second. Nick Wagner bunted, putting Elliott on third as Sheehan was thrown out at second. Cook singled to score Elliott and give Mainland a 1-0 lead.
Delsea put together its best in the bottom of the first, scoring 3 runs, the first runner stealing home on a wild pitch, the next two runs on singles.
Delsea was up, 3-1.
In the top of the second, Haines started the inning with a double to the fence. After a strikeout, Jake Blum slammed another double to the fence, scoring Haines and making it a 3-2 game.
In the bottom of the third, Delsea’s Zach Maxwell walked to start the inning then stole second. Maxwell advanced to third on a ground out, then scored on a tight play at the plate to make it 4-2.
After a scoreless fourth, Mainland came up big in the top of the fifth.
After two fly outs, Mainland got going when Wagner earned a walk. Cook singled and Wagner raced to third. Brady Blum earned a walk. With two outs and the bases loaded, Haines sent the ball sailing to the outfield.
The center fielder raced to make the catch and was able to turn and get his glove on the ball, but he couldn’t bring it in. Wagner, Cohen and Cook all crossed the plate and Haines ended up at second.
Mainland was up, 5-4.
Bryan Perez hit a shot into the outfield, scoring Haines for the 6-4 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, Delsea got two runners on base but the Mustangs turned a double play to end the threat.
In the bottom of the sixth, Cook, looking stronger than before, struck out the side. In the bottom of the seventh, Cook struck out the first batter and got a fly out on the second but a single put the tying run at the plate. The Mustangs handled an infield grounder with a throw to first to end the game and start their celebration.
Cook finished with 5 strikeouts, a single, a run scored and an RBI. Jake Blum had 3 hits, including a double, and an RBI. Perez had a hit and an RBI. Elliott had a hit and a run scored. Haines finished with two doubles, a single, two runs scored and 3 RBI.
Photos and story by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
