Salem CC baseball keeps foot on the gas, blanks Lehigh Carbon to win 15th in a row, guarantee winning season
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT – With their first playoff berth in 13 years safely tucked in their back pocket, the Salem CC baseball team played a game without pressure for the first time in about two months and looked like it.
The Mighty Oaks played loose and active Thursday. They pounded out 15 hits, three pitchers combined for a two-hit shutout and the defense played a clean game in the field as they crushed Lehigh Carbon CC 12-0.
The win was their 15th in a row and 18th in their last 19 games. It also guaranteed the Oaks (26-20) a winning season.
“It was fun, but we still owed these guys a little something (from) the first two games of the series,” catcher Angel Velez said. “We had them on the calendar for a while.
“It felt good, it felt really good. The last couple weeks we had a goal, we’ve been trying to hit it, and now that we’ve hit it, it’s like the weight’s off your shoulders.”
The Oaks clinched their first playoff berth since 2011 when they swept a doubleheader from Anne Arundel on the road Tuesday. It’s been a long road back – at one point this team was 8-19 – but even with a main goal secured they didn’t take their foot off the gas.
Eight of the nine spots in the lineup got at least one hit.
“I tried to enforce to them that regardless of where we are nothing needs to change yet,” Mighty Oaks coach John Holt said. “At the end of the day the goal is a lot more than just getting into the playoffs. These guys have really bought into the premise of what we’re trying to do here. Just because we made the playoffs, I don’t want that to be the end game for us. I want them to continue to feel that grind and continue to push through.
“That’s kind of hard sometimes when you go through the grind that they had to just to get into the playoffs. Some of them can see that as the finish line and that’s not where we’re at.”
Velez and Demetrius DeRamus led the offense. Velez went 4-for-4 with an RBI. DeRamus went 3-for-3 with a sacrifice fly and two RBIs. Nick Ciesielka and Cole Dawson both had a pair of hits.
Even guys who hadn’t been around for a while contributed. Chris Kelly played in his first game since March 10 (broken hand) and delivered a pinch single in the sixth inning.
Velez is 24-for-46 (.522) with nine multi-hit games during the winning streak. DeRamus is 30-for-69 (.435) with 29 RBIs during the turnaround.
“I got with Coach Z (Justin Zbikowski) and we both agreed to just start slapping the ball, not trying to do too much,” Velez said. “A feel like in the beginning I was trying to do too much in my swing. Down in Myrtle, it was rough down there, so I feel like I figured out when we came back just learn how to hit my pitch, hunt the fastball, keep catching barrels and I’ve been doing that.”
Hard-throwing starter Aiden Ewe allowed one hit and struck out seven over the first innings. Mike Ochmanski and Matt Decker each pitched a scoreless inning to preserve the shutout. The Cougars only had three runners reach scoring position.
The Oaks jumped out front with two runs in the first inning. DeRamus sliced an RBI triple into right field and scored on J.D. Wilson’s double. They added two more in the fourth on Eli Real’s two-run single.
They broke it open with seven runs in the fifth. Eleven batters came to the plate. Two runs scored when the Cougars misplayed Velez’ single in the outfield and he later scored on a wild pitch. Dawson had a two-run single, Ciesielka singled home a run and DeRamus produced his sacrifice fly.
Lee Rodriguez plated the Oaks’ final run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
“I’ve been playing a lot looser lately and I see it in everyone else,” DeRamus said. “We’re just hungrier because we really wanted to make it to the playoffs. There were a lot of technical things a lot of us cleaned up on and it’s been really showing. I know earlier in the season I was just so frustrated, but lately it’s just letting the ball come in deeper and trusting my hands.”
The Mighty Oaks return to action Friday to start a three-game series with RCSJ-Gloucester, a potential playoff opponent, that wraps the regular season. The series and Oaks’ regular season wraps with a home doubleheader Saturday.
“We’ll try to make a statement,” Velez said. “Try to take at least a game, let them know (they’re going to be a factor) and try to knock them down a seed. They want us bad, we want it more. They don’t want to lose to us.”
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