InterAc All-Stars rally in late innings again, topple Tri-Cape All-Stars in bottom of ninth for first Carpenter Cup title
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PHILADELPHIA – Over the past four summers the Tri-Cape All-Stars have experienced almost every emotion a baseball team can feel. They’ve been over the moon winning Carpenter Cup championships in 2021 and 2022 and they felt the despair of losing in the championship game last year.
But even as the rosters change each year nothing could compare to the hurt they felt Wednesday when they lost this year’s title game in Citizens Bank Park after leading with six outs to go.
InterAc, a championship game first-timer with at least one big-league prospect on its roster, pushed across two runs in the eighth inning to tie the game and then scored an unearned run in the ninth to pull out a 3-2 win.
“It’s awful,” Pennsville junior Peyton O’Brien said. “To come all this way and then to lose, especially when we were up the whole game and we thought we were going to win and to lose it late it just sucks. You always hate losing no matter what.”
Tri-Cape led 2-0 going into the bottom of the eighth, but InterAc tied the game on Cole Kirschner’s two-run double to right center. They scored the game winner off William Grayson (Oakcrest), one of two pitchers Tri-Cape manager D.J. Gore added late Tuesday night to give them enough arms to compete.
The ninth started when Tri-Cape third baseman Guy Lynam misplayed leadoff man Lucas Albert’s bunt into a two-base error. Albert (Germantown Academy) went to third on a wild pitch and scored the game-winner with a head-first slide on Jimmy Amplo’s sacrifice fly to left field.
It was a familiar scenario for InterAc. They won their semifinal game against defending champion Jersey Shore Tuesday with a four-run rally in the ninth.
“I like them,” Gore assessed of the InterAc team. “It’s an all-star team. For us, when we talk about, like, our St. Augustine Prep and Gloucester Catholic, it’s similar to what that is over there.
“Very good franchise. You see a Louisville commit, potential major-league draft pick, start the game against us. We had our 1 going, too, and I think it was a treat for the fans to watch there. It’s a really good franchise. They do things the right way. We just needed to play a little better today.”
Tri-Cape did have the go-ahead runner in scoring position twice in the top of the ninth, but couldn’t bring it home. They also came up empty with a runner at second and one out in the fourth and bases loaded with two outs in the seventh after having Jack Mustaro (Gloucester Catholic) cut down in a collision at the plate earlier in the inning.
“There were opportunities; I think we could have put the game away and we just didn’t do it,” Gore said. “You can’t do that in all-star caliber kind of baseball. Give credit to them for what they did and being able to withstand and make some plays when they needed to make some plays.
“You have to execute in some situations. There were some things we’d like to have back to do but we didn’t, but you can’t fault anybody’s effort or anything like that. These kids have given up three weeks of the summer to represent the Tri-Cape franchise and I couldn’t be any prouder of a group of kids.”
InterAc started Tague Davis (Malvern Prep), the son of former major-leaguer and Phillies studio host Ben Davis, and Tri-Cape countered with Miami commitment Tate DeRias (Gloucester Catholic). Both pitched the first three innings. Davis gave up two hits, an unearned run and struck out five. DeRias pitched three no-hit innings.
Tri-Cape’s first three pitchers threw seven shutout innings, giving up four hits and one walk.
“It feels really good getting a chance to go out there and throw (in a major-league stadium),” DeRias said. “You step on the mound and it’s kind of like, ‘Wow, this is where all the pros play, this is where the guys I look up to pitch.
“It’s pretty cool to soak it in and go out there and throw three hitless innings. Not many guys might have the chance of that happening in the future, so hopefully it was taste of the future for me. I’d love to come back as a major league ballplayer and pitch (here).
”All three Salem County players batted in the game.O’Brien (first base) and Chase Burchfield (designated hitter) drew starts and Schalick’s Luke Pokrovsky went into right field late in the game and chased down Kirschner’s game-tying double in the eighth.
O’Brien was a last-minute addition to the starting lineup and went 1-for-2. He drove in Tri-Cape’s second run of the game with a single in the fourth after fouling off three straight payoff pitches. He went 3-for-7 with two RBIs in the tournament.
“It was awesome,” he said. “I was up in a big spot, man on third, one out and I was refusing to strike out. I knew I had to put a ball in play and try to make things happen and that’s what I did and got the RBI.”
Burchfield was 0-for-2 and Pokrovsky, who pitched in each of Tri-Cape’s first three games and was given his first chance to hit Wednesday, went 0-for-1 and hit by a pitch.
Carpenter Cup Championship Game
InterAc 3, Tri-Cape 2
| Tri-Cape | 001 | 100 | 000- | 2 | 8 | 1 |
| InterAc | 000 | 000 | 021- | 3 | 7 | 2 |
WP: Hunter West (1-0). LP: William Grayson (0-1). 2B: Hunter Ray (TC), Jack Mustaro (TC), Sergio Droz (TC), Cole Kirschner (IA).
Cover photo: The players from the InterAc All-Stars raise the Carpenter Cup after beating Tri-Cape in the tournament championship game. (The Phillies/Miles Kennedy)
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