Salem CC sophomore breaks out of slump with homer in Mighty Oaks’ rout of Montgomery County
REGION 19 BASEBALL
Salem CC 20, Montgomery 7
RCSJ-Cumberland 16, Ocean 0
Delaware Tech 6, Morris 2
Lackawanna 14, Raritan Valley 1
Camden 10, Bergen 0
Mercer 9, Sussex 2
RCSJ-Gloucester 5, Northampton 4
Middlesex at Union
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
BLUE BELL, Pa. – Chris Kelly has been having an awful time at the plate since the Salem CC baseball team returned home from its trip to Florida. But one swing Friday may have gotten him back on the right path.
The sophomore third baseman belted a three-run homer – his first college home run – in the fifth inning in the Mighty Oaks’ 20-7 rout of Montgomery County CC.
Before the blast – his first college homer – he had gone 2-for-18 with 10 strikeouts since coming back from Florida and, compounding the frustration, made an unfortunate error on a potential inning-ending bouncer in the ninth inning as a late-game defensive replacement Wednesday against Mercer.
But he came up with two on and two out against the Mustangs and sent left-hander Brayden Morton’s second pitch of the count deep to left field to put the game into run-rule territory.
“The batter before got four straight balls and my first pitch was a ball,” Kelly said. “I was expecting to get the take sign from Coach Holt, but he gave me the green light. Coach Ty (McGarvey) said find the mistake. I went up there and found the mistake and did what I was supposed to with the mistake.
“It brought a lot of confidence back after struggling against Cumberland. It felt good to produce for the team, to get a nice three-run RBI (that) helped out and got us the 10-run rule and kind of went from there. It felt good to get the swing feeling good again.”
You could almost feel the cloud lift as Kelly rounded the bases. He playfully engaged with first base coach Chip Chapman and when he rounded third to approach the plate you could hear his teammates calling out “Welcome back.”
“It was a big relief,” Kelly said. “Hearing that just kind of like boosted me up even more and then seeing everybody once I got there it definitely was relieving.”
The Delsea product had never been through an extended hitting slump like this before. While he didn’t lose any sleep over it, he was thinking about it “a lot.” Admittedly it had reached a point late in the Cumberland series where he dreaded going to the plate. But always in the back of his mind he felt he’d eventually find a way back.
“I wish I knew (the cause); I kind of just felt off at the plate,” he said. “I wasn’t as good, the approaches weren’t there. We talked after practice yesterday, went to no stride, did it for a little bit and it paid off today.”
His approaches were good throughout the day. He hit a deep fly to center in his first at bat and drove in a run in the fourth inning with a ground out. He walked in his two at-bats following the homer.
Throughout the slump, Mighty Oaks head coach John Holt expressed support for his third baseman. Kelly had been hitting .395 before the slump. He was back in the starting lineup Friday and delivered in a big way.
“I’m obviously happy for him,” Holt said. “He’s a good kid. He’s been with us two years now. He does everything we ask of him. It’s just nice to see that hard work paying off.
“Hard work pays off. He made adjustments. He’s worked with our hitting coach. Even with the home run he’s still not satisfied with where he is. I think he’s hungry to get better every day.”
Kelly’s bomb was one of three homers the Mighty Oaks (11-14) hit in the game. Demetrius DeRamus hit a three-run shot in the first inning – his second in three games – to get them started. Cole Dawson hit his first homer of the season leading off a five-run fourth.
Dawson had two hits and two RBIs. Yen Rodriguez went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Every player in the lineup scored at least one run, seven had at least one hit and seven had at least one RBI.
“The approach was good at the plate,” Holt said. “They worked themselves into good counts to hit in and when they do that we’re a real good baseball team.”
Jon Gambone pitched a complete game to get the win. He threw 109 pitches and struck out five. And even though he gave up a season-high 12 hits and six earned runs, none of it really hurt him the way the offense was delivering.
“He was a bulldog for us,” Holt said. “We extended him today as far as we’ve extended him pitch-count since the injury and he responded well.
“We’ve been talking lately with them about playing team baseball is lot more than patting somebody on the butt, about the offense picking up a pitcher when the pitcher needs to be picked up or the pitcher picking up the defense when it falters or vice verse, and that hasn’t been happening a whole lot very early in the season.
“I think once we got through Florida our guys started to figure that piece of the puzzle out and today the offense picked up the defense and Gambone when he needed it. Playing team baseball like that, they’re starting to understand that a little bit.”
The series concludes with a doubleheader at the Carneys Point Rec Complex Saturday starting at noon. The Mighty Oaks are scheduled to start Jared Vandersteur and Pat Seitzinger on the mound in the two games.
| Salem CC | 430 562 0- | 20 | 10 | 2 |
| Montgomery County CC | 202 120 0- | 7 | 12 | 9 |
Photo: Salem CC third baseman Chris Kelly (L) is greeted at the plate by teammates Angel Velez (7) and Tyler Hacker (28) after hitting a three-run homer to give the Mighty Oaks a 16-5 lead. (Photo from Gamechanger video)
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