Pennsville senior homers in his first at-bat back in the game, drives in 3 in Eagles loss; Burchfield collects 100th career RBI
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
MILLVILLE – Peyton O’Brien never dreamed of having a return like that. It was the kind of thing he could have brought back as a souvenir from Disney on the senior class trip.
The Pennsville senior made his long-awaited season debut Saturday morning at Millville. And wouldn’t you know it, five pitches into his senior season, less than eight hours after getting to bed from that senior trip, he drills a two-run opposite-field homer to give the Eagles a lead.
But it didn’t stop there. He added an RBI single in his next at bat and wound up going 2-for-2 with two walks and three RBIs in a game the Eagles lost 6-5.
“I couldn’t have expected that at all; I kept saying it was like a Disney movie,” O’Brien said. “It was something you only see in the movies. I wasn’t expecting that.
“That was one of the most nervous times I’ve been ever in a baseball game. From not playing in a baseball game since last July … it was crazy. I was not expecting that.”
O’Brien was expecting a banner senior year, but he has been on the mend since feeling something pop in his elbow throwing a pitch during a baseball showcase last September. What he initially thought was just a fracture in his elbow turned out to be a fracture that damaged his UCL. Tommy John surgery was required to repair it with a six-month recovery process.
He missed the rest of football season and skipped the entire basketball season to protect the injury. He only was cleared to hit and run the bases April 30 while in the Magic Kingdom. He was doing some baseball work during the season while coming along, but he didn’t see live pitching for the first time until Saturday morning.
Eagles coach Matt Karr joked during O’Brien’s rehab that he was going to be the greatest trade deadline acquisition in baseball history when he returned. And after one game he has lived up to the analogy.
“It was awesome,” Karr said. “I usually write the lineup on the whiteboard when they come in on game days and I didn’t have it up on the board because we were making some changes, but he knew he was playing today. He just didn’t know that I was going to put him right back in the 3-hole, but that’s his spot and he makes us so much better when he’s hitting there.
“Peyton, forget baseball, he’s one of the best kids I’ve ever coached top to bottom. He’s a leader, he’s a good kid, a locker room guy. He came in this morning on like three hours of sleep, walked past the coaches’ door and was like, ‘Morning, coach, let’s get it done today.’ I’m like, awesome. To have him back in the lineup and then first at-bat to do what he did was freaking awesome.”
Unless he gets a favorable report when he returns to the doctor next week, the Harford (Md.) CC signee is likely will be the Eagles’ designated hitter going forward and even that Karr will take “100 times out of 100.”
Think of the way the Dodgers used Shohei Ohtani after his injuries or the way Bryce Harper returned to the Phillies last year. O’Brien just wishes he could have gotten back that soon. Still, his wait was only about 10 days longer than Harper’s.
The original plan was for him to return Monday against Clayton, but the timetable moved up when Karr was able to get a game with Millville for when the seniors returned from the trip to Disney. O’Brien didn’t really have a lot of time to think about his return, having gotten back in his bed from the trip at around 3:30 Saturday morning.
“I woke up this morning just amped up, just ready to go,” he said. “I started freaking out a little bit before the first at bat. When I saw I was in the 3-hole I started freaking out a little bit, but as soon as I got in the box I settled down a little bit and my confidence came back.”
He took his first pitch for a strike and fouled off the next pitch to fall into a quick 0-2 hole. He drew a ball, fouled off another pitch, then sent the next offering over the centerfield fence, scoring his brother Mason ahead of him.
“It was awesome,” he said. “It would’ve been a little bit better if we had won the game, but it’s just nice to get back. I just hated having to sit in the dugout and watch and not contribute or anything. It feels good to be back and help out my team in any way possible.”
O’Brien’s return wasn’t the only landmark event for the Eagles. Chase Burchfield was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fourth inning for his 100th career RBI. He collected his 100th hit on April 18.
As the ultimate show of respect to the new guy, the Thunderbolts intentionally walked O’Brien to load the bases to get to one of the best hitters in South Jersey and then they hit Burchfield in the leg to force in the tying run.
Month: May 2025
Early exit
Salem CC softball eliminated from Region 19 Tournament in two games
REGION 19 TOURNAMENT
Friday’s games
Delaware Tech 10, Salem CC 4
Mercer 5, Lackawanna 1
Lackawanna 9, Salem CC 0
Mercer 9, Delaware Tech 3
Saturday’s games
Delaware Tech vs. Lackawanna, 10 a.m.
Del Tech-Lackawanna winner vs. Mercer, noon
If necessary, 2 p.m.
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
WEST WINDSOR – A tough season ended in a tough way for the Salem Community College softball team Friday.
The Mighty Oaks had hoped to carry the energy they had in a spirited opening-round loss to Delaware Tech in their elimination game with Lackawanna, but it just didn’t materialize.
They were held to two hits and five base runners and lost to the Falcons 9-0 in five innings to exit the Region 19 Tournament in two games.
“It was a tough Game 2, it looks like we just left a lot of our energy in that Game 1,” Salem coach Angel Rodriguez said.
The two pitchers the Mighty Oaks faced in the tournament hurt them at the plate as well as in the circle. They were a combined 4-for-7 with two homers, two doubles and 10 RBIs.
Del Tech’s Kylee Hill snapped a 2-2 tie with a three-run homer in the first-round game and Lackawanna’s Jillian Heimberger put the Falcons out front with a two-run homer in the first inning of the elimination game.
“Their hitters,” Rodriguez said. “They’re two-way athletes.”
The Falcons doubled their lead with two runs in the third and broke it open with five in the fourth highlighted by Heimberger’s two-run fielder’s choice. The Mighty Oaks threatened in the third, loading the bases with two outs, but couldn’t get the runs home.
The Mighty Oaks finished the season 19-25. Fourteen of their losses came to the other three teams in the tournament.
“We just wanted to get here and compete,” Rodriguez said. “We started out that way, it just didn’t end that way. We just have to make sure we’re getting better for next year.”
The only two hits the Mighty Oaks managed off Heimberger were Callie Rozak’s leadoff single in the second inning and Ella Hayes’ two-out double in the fifth.
The loss brought to a close to Hayes’ decorated JUCO career.
The sophomore shortstop, who was the Region 19 Player of the Year as a freshman, finished with a .586 career average with 154 hits, 117 runs, 16 homers and 115 RBIs. She was aggressive all the way to the end. Her final Salem at bat was a two-out double in the fifth inning to keep the inning alive.
“I’ve been in that position before,” Hayes said. “I remember one game, it was a big game and it was pretty close. We had two outs on us, no runners on, and my dad’s behind me (saying) put the pressure on the next batter. That kind of stuck with me, so that scenario was very similar – two outs, put the pressure on the next batter and keep it going. That was going through my mind the whole time.”
Del Tech 10, Salem CC 4
The Mighty Oaks will go into the afternoon session of the first day of the Region 19 tournament with a different vibe than they did a year ago.
Last year they went into Round 2 with a sense of confidence after knocking off the top seed that handled them in the regular season in the opening round. This year they go to the afternoon session with a sense of urgency after falling to top-seed Delaware Tech 10-4.
It’ll now take four wins to take the title.
“It’s a different year, we weren’t really comparing both, but we knew going into the playoffs everyone is 0-0,” Salem coach Angel Rodriguez said. “There was pressure being the 4 seed, we knew we had to go out there and compete and get some momentum.”
For a while early on it looked like the Mighty Oaks might find that first-round magic for the second year in a row.
Facing a pitcher who had one-hit them in their last meeting, the Mighty Oaks took a 2-0 lead in the third on Chantelle Haskie’s two-run single and some aggressive baserunning by Ella Hayes and scored two more runs in the fourth. Hayes scored a run in each inning from first base on hits by Haskie.
But Del Tech answered each outburst with five-run innings of their own to take control. Pitcher Kylee Hill snapped a 2-2 tie with a three-run homer in the third and had a two-run double in the fifth.
Hill had allowed the Might Oaks one run and five total hits in the two games she faced them this year. Salem got seven hits off her Friday morning and that gives Rodriguez reason for optimism going into the afternoon.
“We played our best game against a team we only got four hits off the whole season,” he said. “I think our momentum is there and confidence is there, now we’ve just got to go out there and play like we just did and hopefully things will go our way this time.”
It didn’t.
Walkin’ on the Ocean
Salem CC takes advantage of 17 walks to walk over Ocean CC, move closer to clinching a home playoff series
REGION 19 BASEBALL
Salem 17, Ocean 5
RCSJ-Gloucester 6, RCSJ-Cumberland 4
Middlesex 14, Bergen 8
Montgomery 22, Delaware County 6
Northampton 16, Union 8 (Thur.)
Brookdale 10, Morris 0
Camden vs. Cape Atlantic
By Riverview Sports News
TOMS RIVER – You could say the Salem CC baseball team walked on water Friday afternoon.
The Mighty Oaks took advantage of 17 walks – three in a row with bases loaded in the inning they took the lead – and walked over Ocean CC 17-5.
With one win in Saturday’s home doubleheader or a Middlesex loss in its twinbill with Bergen the Mighty Oaks (24-22) will clinch fourth place in Region 19 and play at home in the playoffs for the first time since they revived the program in 2019.
“It’s nice to pick up the win, but we’re trying to take it one game at a time and focus on winning one game at a time,” Salem coach John Holt said. “Getting ready for the playoffs.”
Nine of the Mighty Oaks batters drew at least one walk. Demetrius DeRamus had four. The four pitchers Ocean used threw 247 total pitches. Salem starter Jon Gambone threw 100 pitches in eight innings.
The 17 walks tied the most Salem has had in a game since the revival. Delco passed 17 Mighty Oaks in March of last season. Four of the walks forced runs home. Eight came around to score.
The Mighty Oaks fell behind 2-0 in the second inning, but took the lead in the fourth inning on consecutive bases-loaded walks to Cole Dawson (four pitches), Yen Rodriguez (six pitches) and Demetrius DeRamus (six pitches) and a wild pitch.
When the Mighty Oaks did make contact, Rodriguez went 2-for-5 with four RBIs, Jared Vandersteur went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and Dawson went 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Angel Velez also had two hits.
Rodriguez’ two hits left him four shy of becoming the fourth Salem player this season to collect his 100th career hit. DeRamus needs 11 RBIs for 100 in that career category. He did score his 100th run.
“We put together a lot of good at bats and executed on offense,” Holt said.
Tired and rushed
Schalick suffers first loss of season in Diamond Classic; in a span on 16 hours, seniors come back from class trip, play the game, then go to prom
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PITTSGROVE — Schalick was making its first appearance in the Diamond Classic in 29 years, but the circumstances of a senior year kept the Cougars from being their best.
It was a tired, rushed group of Cougars that suffered their first loss of the season, 10-4 to Haddonfield in the opening round of the 51st Classic Thursday. And there were reasons for it.
The team’s five seniors had gotten back in their South Jersey beds from the Senior Trip to Orlando at 3 a.m. Thursday morning. And they were back at school and the ballpark at 10 a.m. for the 3 p.m. game.
But that was only the half of it. The prom was scheduled to start at 6 p.m. and most of the players, seniors or otherwise, were going. The game ended at 5:30 and they still had to clean up and slip into their tuxes, meaning a lot of prom dates were waiting at the door.
Senior Luke Pokrovsky drew the start for the Cougars (10-1) against Haddons’ ace Marty Foust.
Understandably, Pokrovsky wasn’t sharp. He came out with one out in the fourth inning, down 4-0 after giving up three hits and striking out seven, but walking four and hitting one. He wound up being charged with five runs.
“I’m really tired,” he said. “I came out trying to do something for the team but it was hard. Very hard.
“It’s been a long week, trying to get everything done and then having this game scheduled right on prom and getting home at 3 o’clock and having to be going into school early it’s hard to play as a team, especially for seniors, when half our team is seniors. Nobody was ready to play today.”
Pokrovsky’s first inning was very Luke-like, with the left-hander setting down Haddonfield in order on 12 pitches on a fly to left and two strikeouts. He worked through two runners in scoring position with one out and bases loaded with two in the second inning. It started to get away in the third and that’s when Cougars coach Sean O’Brien knew the effects of the schedule had kicked in.
The Haddons (10-4) scored three runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings. Their three runs in the third came with only one hit. Half of their runs were unearned.
“As much as you don’t want to make excuses you could see when we did I/O we were kind of flat, not doing things we usually do,’ Cougars coach Sean O’Brien said. “I knew it could go either way where they’d come out and maybe surprise me or we’d come out and look like we hadn’t played in a week. That’s the way we looked.”
Woodstown faced a similar scheduling squeeze against a smaller Diamond Classic field last year and decided not to play. If his seniors wouldn’t have been back in time to play O’Brien might have considered declining the invitation, but with three decades between appearance if at all possible he wanted his players to have the tournament experience.
“It does make it hard with the short window you can play, but I think it was more unfortunate of the scheduling with the school having prom and the senior trip back-to-back,” O’Brien said. “It’s too long of a layoff and there’s too much could go wrong in that situation where the kids just don’t have time to recuperate.
“I just wanted for these guys, the seniors, to have an opportunity to play in it because they’ve worked hard to get to this moment so they deserve it. If they couldn’t play I probably would’ve thought about it, but as long as the seniors were out here we’re going to give it a shot.”
Lucas D’Agostino, another senior, followed Pokrovsky to the mound and worked an inning and a third. He collected his 100th career strikeout during his stint, but didn’t realize it until he was in the outfield after being lifted in the fifth.
“The part of the seniors being away for the whole week wasn’t even so much the tiredness, it was just the team chemistry,” D’Agostino said. “They weren’t here to lead practices, weren’t here to make sure we were ready for this game and prepared. The tiredness does come into effect off little sleep, but … it was more mental than physical.
“We knew it was going to be a challenge, for sure. We tried to keep our head up as much as possible, but it was tough definitely to keep the mental strength to do that.”
The Cougars, the No. 1 team in the South Jersey Group I power points standings, came to life in the fourth inning, finally getting on the board on Jamari Whitley’s RBI single. Whitley dropped a two-run single into right field in the seventh, too.
Photo by Brian Tortella
Riverview Sports News 