Pay it forward

Velez rewards Salem CC with walk-off single against national No. 3 Brookdale in first game of doubleheader; Blues win nightcap for split

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Angel Velez was ever so thankful when Salem CC coach John Holt gave him a chance to play college baseball after two previous college experiences didn’t work out. He paid the Mighty Oaks back for that confidence they showed in him Friday with the game-winning hit in their biggest win of the season one day before his own special day.

Velez delivered a bases-loaded single with one out in the bottom of the ninth to propel the Oaks past Brookdale CC 7-6 in the first game of their Region XIX doubleheader, handing the third-ranked Jersey Blues their first loss of the season. Brookdale bounced back to win the nightcap 15-1 and gain a split.

“Make a statement, make some noise in this conference,” Velez said between games. “Everybody tries to write Salem off. We’re a good ballclub. When we play together, it shows.”

For a long time it didn’t look like college baseball would be in Velez’ future; he hadn’t played in two years. He went to Northampton CC out of Reading High School and worked with the baseball team in the fall, but “it didn’t work out.” The experience was similar when he went to CCBC Essex, so he took the next 18 months off and worked in his family’s landscaping business.

He connected with Holt and the Oaks after playing on a summer team with former SCC outfielder Nick Toms. 

“He had to grow up a little bit and he did,” Holt said. “He’s kind of figured it out a little bit.”

Coming into the game there weren’t a lot of outsiders who would’ve given the Oaks (7-9) much of a chance. The Blues won their first 16 games by an average of 10-plus runs and Salem was coming off losing three straight to No. 6 Northampton.

But the Oaks had what Holt called a “really good” week of practice in which they emphasized specific skills and functionality and demonstrated what they learned in winning the first game. Velez dove into it head first.

Brookdale hadn’t given up more than five runs in any game this season, but the Oaks scored six in the fifth inning to take a 6-4 lead before the Blues rallied to tie it in the sixth.

“If felt all along if we could play a clean game, like I said to the team at the beginning of the day, play to our standard, which is just make routine plays and throw the ball over the plate I think we’ll be OK,” Holt said, “and in the first game for the most part we did that.

“That’s the kind of the team we can be when we lock in and play up to our capabilities. I still feel like we haven’t played our best baseball yet; our best baseball is still ahead of us. We’re looking to get better each and every time out. If we play to our standard I think we’re going to be OK.”

Oaks left-fielder Nick Ciesielka saved his team in the ninth when he went above the fence to steal a leadoff homer from Brookdale’s Rocko Brzezniak. He ran down another long ball from the next hitter as well. All three Salem outfielders made spectacular catches during the course of the game.

“At first I took a left step and was like, ‘Oh, shoot, this ball might be out,’” Ciesielka said. “I turned to my right, felt my knee hit the wall, stuck my glove up and took it back.”

Ciesielka got the Oaks’ winning rally started with a single on the first pitch. Demetrius DaRamus followed with a single and they both advanced on a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt by cleanup hitter Matt Murphy.

The Blues intentionally walked Lee Rodriguez to load the bases and Velez, who delivered a two-run go-ahead single earlier in the game, followed by pulling the first pitch he saw inside the first-base bag for the game-winner. Once the ball went through, the players poured out of the dugout and eventually mobbed the freshman catcher around second base.

It was an early birthday present for a player whose 22nd birthday is Saturday.

“I can’t explain it; I can’t put it into words that feeling, man,” Velez said. “Coach always talks about playing to a standard, playing to our standard, we did that today. They walked the (batter) in front of me. I believe he wasn’t trying to pitch around me, so I saw the first pitch, put a barrel on it and it worked out.

“I was ready. I was ready since the eighth inning.”

It also made a winning pitcher of J.D. Wilson. The hard-throwing righthander from Pennsville pitched the last three innings, retiring all nine batters he faced with heat that consistently ran from upper 80s-low 90s on the 43-degree day. His strikeout pitch to end the seventh checked in at 92.

“It’s a little cold, I didn’t have my max velo, but it felt good, the team had my back,” Wilson said. “I kind of go out there and let it fly. I challenge everybody the same. I was giving a lot of fastballs … but it was working so I just kept rolling with it.”

Cover photo: Players pour out of the Salem CC dugout after the Mighty Oaks scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth to hand third-ranked Brookdale its first loss of the season.