Mighty Oaks give a performance for the ages, stun No. 1, two-time reigning national champs in opening round of Region 19 D3 Final Four
REGION 19 TOURNAMENT
Thursday’s Games
Game 1: Salem 6, RCSJ-Gloucester 5 (12 inns.)
Game 2: Brookdale 9, RCSJ-Cumberland 8 (10 inns.)
Game 3: RCSJ-Gloucester 12, RCSJ-Cumberland 1 (5 inns.)
Friday’s Games
Game 4: Salem vs. Brookdale, noon (winner to championship)
Game 5: RCSJ-Gloucester vs. Game 4 loser, 3 p.m.
Saturday’s Games
Championship (2 if necessary), noon
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
CAMDEN — John Holt had one simple message for his blue-collar Salem CC baseball team before it boarded the bus for the trip up 295 for the Region 19 tournament.
We just have to win three, fellas.
Now they just have to win two – as long as they keep winning.
The Mighty Oaks shocked everyone in the JUCO baseball world except themselves Thursday when they stunned top-ranked, top-seeded and two-time reigning national champion RCSJ-Gloucester 6-5 in 12 innings at Rutgers-Camden.
The benefit of the win was to happily go back home early without having to play another game today and will play second-seeded No. 3 Brookdale Friday at noon. Jared Vandersteur, the region’s leader in ERA, is expected to draw the start for the Mighty Oaks (28-24) with Seth McCormick slated for their third game, which could be Friday’s 3 p.m. elminational game or Saturday’s championship game.
The win was Salem’s record 28th of the season and 401st of Holt’s coaching career. The Roadrunners fell to 47-5; they hadn’t lost to a Region 19 opponent since last May.
The Mighty Oaks (28-24) won despite striking out 21 times in the game.
“Our boys showed up today,” Holt said. “They played their hearts out, they really did. I’m as proud as I’ve been of a group in almost my entire career. These guys laid it all out there today. They played a tough game against a great team and they just out-toughed them today.”
It was the second time the Mighty Oaks have knocked off a No. 1-ranked team under Holt, the last being RCSJ-Gloucester in 2021.
The Mighty Oaks were defeated handily by the Roadrunners during the season, but they showed they could play with the best teams in the nation by hanging with now No. 2 SUNY-Niagara twice on their Florida trip in mid-March.
“Great that we get to go home early, enjoy the rest of the day, chill out, get ready to come back tomorrow,” third baseman Chris Kelly said. “It means a lot.
“It means everything, from 1 through 28, including the coaches, coming out here beating the No. 1 team in the country. No one else thought we could do it. We believed 1 through 28. We came into this weekend thinking we know we got it, we’re going to come in, dominate, and we did it. We did what we had to do.”
Heroes were plentiful, with Demetrius DeRamus and Matt Murphy at the top of the list.
Kelly brought Angel Velez home from third with the winning run on a two-strike sacrifice fly in the 12th.
DeRamus was down to the Mighty Oaks’ last strike of the game, but gave them life with a two-out, two-run homer over the park’s version of the Green Monster in right to tie it 5-5 in the visitors’ ninth. He had three RBIs in the game, leaving him three shy of 100 for his career.
Cole Dawson got the rally started with a one-out single, then stole second and went to third on a passed ball.
“I’ve been in that situation so many times, it’s just routine at this point,” said DeRamus, who hit a two-run game-tying homer in the 11th inning of a 12-inning win over RCSJ-Cumberland earlier in the season. “We work on it a lot in practice, two-strike approaches. I think it’s just something about RCSJ in general that lights the fire in me. I’m just lost for words right now, just happy we get to go to the next game.”
Jon Gambone gave the Mighty Oaks six strong innings as the starter, throwing 115 pitches on the heels of a 133-pitch effort in his previous tournament start. Pat Seitzinger pitched 4 2/3 shutout innings through the 11th and Murphy, pitching for only the second time in college, closed it out like a veteran in the 12th.
“We knew the last time we played them that wasn’t our team,” Seitzinger said. “I didn’t do good (in that series), but I did good today and that’s what matters more.”
Murphy had pitched only one Inning previously in his college career (March 8), but he had been getting up to 90 in his bullpens and Holt thought that velo in that situation with Murphy’s closer mentality was just what they needed. The head coach shifted the day’s lineup to put Murphy at DH – with Yen Rodriguez in rightfield and Jason LeBold in left (his first action since April 13) – for just such a circumstance.
The sophomore righthander worked through the 12th on 15 pitches. He ended the game on a double-play grounder that shortstop Dawson took himself to second and then fired to first to set off a raucous celebration in the dugout.
“I’ve been telling coach all year I’ve wanted to pitch,” said Murphy, whose last extended pitching appearance was June 1, 2022, at Eastern Regional High School. “He’s been telling me to get ready every series. I’ve been ready every series, I’ve just been waiting for it. He gave me the call and I did the best that I could. I was doing it for my team.
“All day we were picking each other up. I didn’t want to let my teammates down so I went in there, gave it all I had and a great outcome happened.”
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