Oaks show mettle

Salem CC baseball falls in final home game, but effort against No. 1 team in country gives it confidence heading into playoffs

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT — Sophomore Day for the Salem CC baseball team may have been the last home game for a group of second-year players who built the current culture of the program, but for the first time since the Mighty Oaks brought back the program it wasn’t their last game.

The Mighty Oaks gave top-ranked RCSJ-Gloucester all it wanted through six innings Monday, but the Roadrunners scored two in the seventh to hand the Oaks a 6-3 loss that marked the end of Salem’s regular season.

But unlike past years when the final game of the regular season was the final game, it’s not the end of the line for Mighty Oaks (26-23). They play their first Region XIX tournament game since 2011 Saturday as the No. 7 seed at second-seeded Northampton CC. Gloucester (41-7) clinched the No. 1 seed with the victory.

“This gives me a lot of confidence knowing that we can compete with the No. 1 team in country,” reliever Inaki Hutchinson said. “I feel really good going into the playoffs, especially against Northampton, who we didn’t play very well against when we played them in the beginning of the season, but we weren’t as big of a team and a brotherhood as we are now.”

“Today was like we really know we can compete and we didn’t put our best guys in there,” added centerfielder Demetrius DeRemus. The Oaks were missing several starters and regulars due to injury and exams.

The Oaks never led in the game, but were in it start to finish. They were locked in a scoreless tie through three innings and when they fell behind got within 3-2 and 4-3 before the seventh.

Gloucester struck first with three runs in fourth off an RBI single, three-base throwing error and sacrifice fly. Hutchinson came on to put out the fire and then pitched a scoreless fifth.

“Really all I was trying to do was attack the zone (and) let my guys make plays,” Hutchinson said. “All I was trying to do was pitch to contact basically until I got to two strikes and once it got to 2-2, 3-2, I was trying to K ‘em up.”

The plan was to give starter Ryan Silnik three innings with Hutchinson and John McAllister each getting two. Silnik had fewer than 40 pitches through the first three innings, so coach John Holt extended him into the fourth.

The Oaks got two of the runs back in the home fourth. Cole Dawson drew a bases-loaded walk and Jared Vandersteur was hit by a pitch for the 20th time this season, also with the bases loaded. It looked like they were going to get more, but Roadrunners centerfielder R.J. Mustaro flagged down DeRamus’ deep fly right center for the final out the Oaks’ outfielder was convinced was gone for a grand slam.

The Oaks left six runners in scoring position over the first five innings.

“That’s just baseball; that’s the nature of the beast,” Holt said. “Sometimes they fall for you, sometimes they don’t and they just didn’t for us today. We put together some solid at bats most of the day and that’s what we preach.”

Gloucester went up 4-3 in the sixth, but the Oaks answered in the bottom of the inning on Cole Dawson’s leadoff double and a throwing error on Vandersteur’s chopper to third. Vandersteur reached base all four times he came to the plate.

The Oaks recognized their eight sophomores after the game. Six of them played in the game, including all three pitchers. The others are Nick Cielsielka, Eli Real, Mike Ochmanski and pitchers Ben Foote and Aiden Ewe.

The group has been part of 40 wins — and counting — over the past two seasons and a school-record 15-game winning streak this season that guaranteed the Oaks a winning record and a spot in the playoffs.

“These guys were kind of the beginning of what we were trying to establish in regards to a culture,” Holt said. “These guys, they did a lot more than just (what happened) between the lines. They helped build that culture here and if this thing continues to grow the way we think it’s going to grow these guys are going to have a lot to say about where it came from.”

NOTES: The projected first-round tournament pairings are as follows: Salem-Northampton, Ocean-Brookdale, RCSJ Cumberland-Middlesex  Gloucester has a first-round bye. Gloucester, Northampton and Brookdale are 1, 2 and 4, respectively, in this week’s JUCO Division III poll … If the Oaks win their first-round series, their second-round matchup is May 18-19. McAllister and Mighty Oaks softball outfielder Faith Penn have their wedding planned for May 18 … DeRamus was quite active in the outfield. He flagged down seven fly balls and almost threw out a runner at the plate in the seventh … With three more HBPs Monday, the Oaks now have 107, second nationally in JUCO Division III. Vandersteur is T-4 individually. Lee Rodriguez is T-9.

Cover photo: Salem CC recognized its eight baseball sophomores after Monday’s game with RCSJ-Gloucester.