Coach, players explain historic moment, what it took
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
HAMILTON TOWNSHIP – When second-baseman Ben Hoag made the game-ending double play and the Ocean City High School Red Raiders won the first state championship in program history Sunday, head coach Andrew Bristol turned and hugged his mentor, former head coach Craig Mensinger.
The two have been together for a quarter century, with Bristol as an assistant for some 22 years, and the two reversing roles in 2018. They had been to the state finals together before in 2010 and 2016, but the Red Raiders lost.
Not this time.
“The first person I hugged and I thought of was coach Mensinger because he is my mentor. I said I always wanted him by me when we win a state championship because that’s always been our goal,” Bristol said after celebrating the victory with the players and other coaches. “Our program is built to win a state championship and this year we were fortunate enough to do that. So my first thought was for coach Mensinger because I’ve been with him every step of the way. And to have him and be able to hug him first just meant the world to me. It’s starting to sink in a little bit now and it’s just surreal.”
Bristol added that he, Mensinger and assistant coach Ron Moretti have been together all of those years and he credited the other assistants, both long-tenured and short.
“It’s my coaches,” Bristol said. “They deserve all the credit. I’m just lucky enough to be the head coach.”
Bristol talked about the other coaches only after singing the praises of his players and the team that endured a tough season and won by playing small-ball.
His Red Raiders are “going to scratch out a couple hits here and there … and our pitching is going to keep us in every game and our defense is going to keep us in games. That’s what happened today. We just got enough to finally get a victory.”
Noting the seven extra innings of play his Red Raiders and Pascack Valley’s team endured after the regular seven innings ended up tied 2-2, Bristol said he had the right type of team necessary to win.
“If you’re going to play two games on top of each other you’d better have the pitching and we were built for this,” he said. “We had three guys and we still had (Tom) Finnegan ready. You got a sophomore, Duke McCarron, coming in with ice water in his veins. You have Matt Nunan, who hadn’t pitched in the tournament yet, who was just lights out, kept us hanging on, and you have Gannon Brady who just put everything he had into this game and did enough to keep us there and give us a chance.”
And then, Bristol said, “We did what we do best. We manufactured a run at the end the only way we kind of know how sometimes. It’s just small-ball and it worked and we were fortunate.”
Being the visiting team and having to bat first meant having to give their opponents an opportunity to win every inning starting in the seventh.
“We were just dodging bullets,” he said. “When you’re the visiting team, it’s that much tighter because there’s no room for error. At least if you’re the home team and you give up a run, you still have a shot, but when you’re on defense to end the game and they walk off with a run it’s just magnified.
“For our kids to be able to handle that just shows,” he said. “Our theme has been adversity all year. And they handled the adversity in seven extra innings. And didn’t bat an eye. They were ready for it.”
The coach also said it’s important to have players who can step up and make an impact. That player in the state Group III final was third baseman Jack Perry, who had 2 RBI in the game and made a sensational double play late in the game.
“When it comes to every level of baseball, it comes down to what team is going to have the guys who don’t normally come through in big spots, the bottom-of-the-order guys. Those are the teams that win championships because everybody has a top of the order,” Bristol said. “And everything is put on the top of the order to do all the damage, and when you play a good team like this, it’s going to come down to whose bottom of the order is going to come through and do the job for you.”
Bristol said there has to be a focus on every batter – one through nine – “and those guys down below if they execute you’re going win the game. And when you have a Jack Perry who gets two big plays there that’s how you win games.”
Hoag made his own big play at the end of the game with his double-play with one out in the 14th inning. He caught the ground ball between first and second base, tagged the Pascack Valley runner who was on his way to second, and then threw to first base for the final out.
“My heart dropped,” Hoag said when he saw the play developing. “Our school has never won a state championship before and I was just thinking ‘We’re going to do it.’ I threw it and I got him. We practice that play.”
Winning a state title feels “unbelievable,” Hoag said. “This just shows how our season went. We grinded 14 innings today and we came out (on top through) adversity.”
The (former) senior actually graduated earlier in the week so Ocean City’s baseball team was playing with a group of graduates from the class of 2021. Playing a state final almost a week after graduation was fine by Hoag.
“We don’t get to go to school any more. We just get to play baseball every day. It’s cool to see these guys one last time,” he said.
Fellow (former) senior Joe Repetti, the baseball team’s catcher who also plays varsity basketball and was the football team’s quarterback in the fall, was glad there was a championship to seek after last year’s spring season was canceled due to COVID-19 and there were limits on the other two seasons this year.
“It’s an outstanding feeling to come out here and actually finish the job,” Repetti said. “There were no championships in the fall and winter seasons so to be able to come out here and win a state championship and cap off a great career is an awesome feeling.”
He said the heat and humidity were draining.
“Every time I went into the dugout I felt like I was almost lightheaded … but everybody on the field just persevered and fought through the heat. Everyone was dying out there,” Repetti said. “We got Gatorades and waters from our parents over there. The coaches hooked us up with some fluids and we battled through it and came out with the W.”
He was glad this season’s Red Raiders put the team over the top in a state championship game.
“We’ve been here three times (2010, 2016 and 2021) and we couldn’t seal the deal the first two, so to come out here and finish it off with a great 14-inning victory today is outstanding,” Repetti said.
Sophomore Duke McCarron was the pitcher who earned the win on the mound, coming on in relief for the final innings after seniors Gannon Brady and Matt Nunan.
“I just wanted to pound strikes and keep that ball over the plate and let my teammates – I knew they would have my back,” McCarron said. It was a long game and he played the outfield before pitching. “We had to fight through.”
He put the victory in perspective.
“It’s great. It’s the first in school history,” he said. “Like the coach was saying, if we win today, we walk forever. We’ll remember this until the day I die.”