OCEAN CITY — A brutal top of the first inning looked like it was going to put a severe damper on Senior Day on May 9 at the Ocean City High School baseball field.
After more than a dozen seniors on the team lined up with their parents and gave their mothers flowers before the game started, things took a decided downtown. But that downturn quickly turned around.
Ocean City senior pitcher Dante Edwardi gave up four runs in the top of the first inning as he had trouble getting his pitches consistently in the strike zone. That included loading the bases and walking in a run.
Head coach Andrew Bristol said he stuck with Edwardi for a number of reasons. One was that with a rematch planned the next day against Vineland, he didn’t want to use up all of his pitching in the first game.
“I also thought there were a couple of bad breaks in that inning and that he was wild,” he said. “I don’t think he was loose. I’ve been around Dante long enough to know when he doesn’t have it and when he does have it. … I thought if he could settle in we still had six innings to go. I trusted him.”
The coach decided to give him one more inning to see how he did. “After that I was going to make a change,” Bristol said, but his decision paid off.
Edwardi settled down and settled in on the mound after that, helping to hold Vineland scoreless the next four innings as he and his Red Raider teammates put seven runs on the board through the fourth inning to win, 7-4. Evan Taylor came on in relief in the sixth inning.
The Red Raiders started turning things their way as soon as they had a chance to wield their bats.
“Our bats have been really good this year,” Bristol said. “We were down 10 runs to Hammonton and came back and lost with the bases loaded down one run in the last inning. So we came back there, we came back against Millville once, we came back against Northern Burlington, so they’re used to coming back and they’ve actually won games coming from behind.
“There’s no panic in a team that’s led by a lot of seniors. It’s a senior-laden team. Some of them are banged up a bit and young guys have stepped in to get some experience so that’s worked out too,” he said. “That’s why we’re up and down, the injuries and young guys having to step up quickly.”
There’s that and being in what may be the toughest conference in South Jersey. “I agree. There’s no day off. They’re all very good and we’re lucky to split with some of these teams.”
In the bottom of the first, senior Jack Hoag walked and then designated hitter Duke McCarron, a fellow senior, slammed his team-leading fifth home run of the season to get his team right back into the game, 4-2.
In the second inning, after two fly outs, Edwardi, looking strong on the mound, struck out the third Vineland batter to retire the side in order.
In the bottom of the third, sophomore Colin Thompson got things going with a hit. Taylor, a sophomore who leads the team with 28 hits and 31 RBI, sent the ball to the center-field fence. His triple also sent the runner home to narrow the gap to 4-3. After that, McCarron’s sacrifice fly brought Taylor home and evened the score.
In the bottom of the fourth, senior first baseman Riley Gunnels earned a walk and moved to second when Noah Herrington laid down a nice bunt. Herrington used his speed to race to first, beating the throw.
With runners on first and second, Sean Repetti hit a single to load the bases.
Hoag came up and hit a deep shot, allowing Gunnels to tag up and race home to give Ocean City its first lead, 5-4.
“When (Hoag) hits and gets on base, our winning percentage is pretty good,” Bristol said.
Thompson came up and hit a deep shot, scoring Herrington and Repetti to give Ocean City the 7-4 lead that would hold up the rest of the way.
Edwardi picked up the win for his work through five innings.
The Red Raiders were 9-10 through the end of last week. They were playing Middle Township on Tuesday after the Sentinel sports section went to press. Ocean City hosts Williamstown at 4 p.m. today and Oakcrest at 6 p.m. Thursday at Amanda’s Field in Upper Township to wrap up the regular season.
“I think if we can get hot and put together some wins with the seniors, they’ve been there before in the playoffs, they know how to play in the playoffs, it’s not going to be new to them. The moment’s not going to be too big for them,” the coach said. “I think if they can get through these three games with a little confidence and some wins and get hot at the right time, we’ll see what happens.”
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
