Said he pitched the best game of career in 3-1 win against South Jersey Group III’s top seed
LINWOOD – On the road against the No. 1 seed Mainland Mustangs, Kameron Street locked in and pitched a gem for the Ocean City Red Raiders.
Street held the high-flying Mustangs to one run in his six innings of work as the Raiders beat the Mustangs 3-1 and eliminated their cross-bay rival from the postseason Friday, May 30. With the win, No. 9 seed Ocean City advanced to the semi-finals of the South Jersey Group III bracket.
“Mainland and O.C. are rivals in every single sport, so to win a game like this is huge to me and I’ll remember it for the rest of my life,” Street said.
Both teams came into the game scorching hot with strong second halves of the season. Mainland had won 10 of its last 11 games while Ocean City won eight of its last nine. However, what often happens when these cross-bay rivals meet, the teams threw out the records and were set for another close game after the two regular season games were both settled by a single run. Each team won 3-2.
Mainland found some early success against Street and scored in the first inning to take the lead thanks to a single by Brady Arena. Street put the first inning behind him and stayed aggressive throughout the game. He did not walk a single batter (though he did hit three) and finished with six strikeouts and allowing four hits.
“This was probably my best game I ever threw,” Street said. “I was competitive with every single pitch and did not take a pitch off.”
“Coach (Ed) Terry said to me in the third inning that if he (Street) wants to, this could be his coming out party,” Ocean City head coach Andrew Bristol said after the game. “He was thrown in as a freshman and got his feet wet. He took some lumps as a freshman, but he wanted to keep getting better and kept getting better. I have a saying with him that I say to him all the time which is ‘be elite.’ Every inning I said that to him, and he kept doing it.”
With only three outs remaining, Street picked up one more out before passing the baton to freshman closer Preston Pahang.
The cool-headed Pahang inherited a runner and later had men on second and third base but did not crack under the pressure. The tying run was stranded at second base as Pahang held onto the lead and was met at the mound by the entire Raiders’ dugout.
Asked about his mindset walking up to the mound, Pahang said, “I was calm, I was just calm. I want to get these guys really bad as rivals. I did not get them last time I was pitching but this time I got them. This time I had way more experience and I pitched in the last playoff game which prepared me for this kind of baseball.”
In his freshman season, Pahang has been the closer for both Raiders’ playoff games so far and solidified himself as a mainstay in the rotation. He got the final three outs of Ocean City’s 6-3 playoff win over Cherry Hill West after coming in for Evan Taylor.
“I’ve had confidence in him all year,” Bristol said. “Last game Evan said he reminds him of when he was a freshman. I feel that Preston is that same kind of makeup so I knew there is no moment too big for that kid. He has been in big moments for all his baseball career, so this did not faze him.”
On offense the Raiders faced off against senior pitcher Jake Lodgek. Lodgek pitched against Ocean City earlier in the season and continued to be tough to crack. He went six innings, but the Raiders managed to sprinkle in a couple of runs throughout the game.
After Mainland took the lead, Street hit a leadoff double in the second inning and later scored off a Josh Pashley single. Travis Large brought the go-ahead run home in the fifth inning while Pashley added one more insurance run in the next inning with a bunt that brought Taylor home.
The Mustangs’ season ended earlier than they would have liked, but they still did something no other team in school history has ever done. In his first year as Mainland’s head coach, Joe Smith led the team to its first ever Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic championship and brought the Mustangs to the No. 1 seed in the playoffs after a 7-8 start. They finished the season with a 17-10 record.
Ocean City’s playoff run continued into the semifinals with a matchup against Toms River South High School (17-9) on Tuesday, after the Sentinel went to press. Toms River is the No. 5 seed in the bracket and reached the semifinals after two close wins by a single run.
With a win, the Raiders (14-11) would advance to the sectional title game two days later on June 5. Their opponent would be the winner of the second semifinal between No. 6 Shawnee High School (14-11) and No. 2 Toms River East (18-6). Against either opponent, Ocean City would be on the road for the title game.
“The first thing I said to them was that this is a big win, but we are not settling on this,” Bristol said. “We want to keep winning and we have a pride to keep winning. Now we have this opportunity to continue and believe we are as good as anybody.”
– STORY by WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
