GALLOWAY – The Red Raider baseball team continued its second-half surge with a 9-5 win at Absegami Wednesday, May 18.
Ocean City completed the season sweep over the Braves behind a big fifth inning and a pair of homers from Evan Taylor.
“Sometimes you’re going to get a no-hitter and sometimes you’re going to have to score nine or 10 runs to win the game,” head coach Andrew Bristol said.
Duke McCarron, who started on the mound for the Raiders, helped his own cause with an RBI double in the top of the first.
He then worked around a lead-off knock and a hit batter in the home half of the first to get out unscathed.
“It felt great,” Taylor said. “We knew we had our pitcher Duke on the mound and he was going to show.”
The Raiders then put together an unlikely rally in the second after the first two batters were retired.
“I thought we hit the ball well,” Bristol said. “Evan obviously hit the ball well, Tommy had a shot, Dante had a shot. But I think the key was that second inning – two outs, nobody on, and Riley Gunnels drew a walk. We ended up getting two more runs. When you have a three-run lead early like that you settle in a little better.”
Shawn Repetti followed Gunnels with a single to left, Colin Thompson singled up the middle for a run, and a throwing error brought home another.
The whole complexion of the game changed from there as the Raiders were able to play loose and aggressive.
“You can do things as an offense that you might not want to do in a tie game,” Bristol said. “You take an extra base where maybe you might hold that runner. We were lucky to get those runs in and stretch that lead. As you can see, we needed every run we could get. It was a game we need to learn from; we haven’t had one like that in a while. It was good.”
“It really assures the pitcher and helps our defense a lot too,” Taylor said.
The Raider hitters looked comfortable against Absegami ace Krish Sheth.
“We were just thinking fastball and adjust off-speed,” Taylor said, “and try to hit a ball hard in play.”
Ocean City saw the lead threatened in the bottom of the third when the first three Braves batters reached base.
McCarron was able to reach back and get a key strikeout, Tommy Finnegan made a heads-up play to nail the lead runner at home, and McCarron was able to draw weak contact to get the final out to work out of the jam.
Taylor led off the fourth with a solo shot down the left field line that got out in a hurry.
“I was just thinking up the middle and hit a ball hard,” Taylor said.
“I think the hunger has been there first, and now the confidence has been built as they’ve started to hit the ball,” Bristol said.
The Braves answered with a run of their own to cut it to 4-1.
A pair of hits and another hit batter loaded the bases with two outs and a four-pitch walk forced a run home. In fact, the Raiders issued seven walks and hit four batters in total.
“I said to the guys, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to make it through another year,’” Bristol joked. “I’m going to get gray hairs soon. It’s tough. But I trust these kids and they battle. They were young early, but this time of year they’ve grown up a lot. So I just try to stay as calm as I can and not yell and scream. They’re in a good place and now it’s on them to just finish. They finished today.”
After getting out of another pinch, the Raiders exploded for four runs in the fifth inning.
With new pitcher Andrew Baldino taking the hill to start the frame, Jack Hoag greeted him with a base hit, then swiped second. McCarron drove him home. Finnegan singled.
Taylor then hit one just out of the reach of the right fielder to bring home another run with still just one out.
Dante Edwardi kept the Raiders rolling with a hard-hit ball to the outfield.
“I don’t think we’re at our peak yet,” Taylor said. “We can tighten up our defense a little bit more and I think we can hit even better.”
Gunnels then hustled down the line to beat a potential double-play ball and score another.
The Raiders led 8-1 when the dust settled and it appeared they could put it in cruise control the rest of the way.
To their credit, the Braves kept fighting.
Michael DeBlasio belted a two-run home run (after another walk) to wake up the home dugout and pull back within five.
Aiden Zack followed with a line drive off McCarron’s leg for an infield single.
McCarron was pulled from the game out of an abundance of caution with the big lead.
Tom Lex checked in and hit the first batter, lead-off hitter Vraj Sheth, in the helmet (one of three times Sheth was hit in the game).
A walk then loaded the bases before Lex pitched his way out of trouble.
Edwardi then took over pitching duties and worked a quick sixth inning.
Taylor hit a two-out solo homer in the seventh to center to push it to 9-3.
“I was pretty sure I got both of those,” Taylor said, smiling.
Then the game went from a laugher to a nail-biter late as the Braves eventually sent the tying run to the plate in the final inning.
Two walks and a hit batter loaded the bags.
With two outs, Adrian Wiggins worked an RBI walk. Matt Johansen singled home another run to pull within four. Manny Torres fouled off a series of pitches, each one raising the pressure. Finally, Edwardi got the game-ending strikeout for the 9-5 win.
“I feel like I went through labor,” Bristol said. “We didn’t have one clean inning, so we persevered. We got out of a bases loaded, no-out jam. That was huge.”
For all the great pitching performances the Raiders have had this year, in this one they had to outhit their mistakes. It shows the team can win in different ways.
“They need to do that, right? They need to understand that every time Tommy and Duke take the mound, they can’t just think if they get a run they’ll win the game. They can’t rely on that,” Bristol said. “At the beginning of the year they thought that. When Duke would take the mound they just thought they were going to win and we didn’t have to hit, and we didn’t hit. We lost some games early and they realized after Florida – you have to hit the ball.”
Two days later the Raiders took down Hammonton 5-3 to make it 12 wins in their last 13 games.
“Is it?” said Bristol. “I don’t even know, I don’t keep track. I just know one. I know we won one.”
Ocean City will host St. Augustine at 4 p.m Thursday. “We’re trying to win a state championship,” Taylor said, a feat they accomplished a year ago.
By KYLE McCRANE/Sentinel Sports