Familiar ground

Salem CC baseball returns wins its home opener after returning from Myrtle Beach trip, starts stretch of six games in four days

COLLEGE BASEBALL
Salem CC 12, Northampton 2, 8 inns.

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT — After a less-than-satisfactory Myrtle Beach trip best described as humbling, the Salem CC baseball team came home looking for a couple breaks to get its season back on track.

The Mighty Oaks got two big breaks in the form of defensive miscues in the fourth inning Wednesday that extended an eventual four-run outburst that carried them to a 12-2 Region XIX win over Northampton in their home opener. They walked it off on Cliff Wysinger’s bases-loaded triple with two outs in the bottom of the eighth.

Salem went south with high expectations and a handful of poll mentions despite playing only four games, then went 3-9 on the trip. They got plenty of offense, but were set back by their defense. Things started going their way when they got home.

“It’s very welcoming because a lot of those things didn’t go our way when we were away,” Mighty Oaks coach John Holt said. “We didn’t seem to catch too many breaks. At the end of the day sometimes you need to get that to get going.”

The game was tied 1-1 when the Mighty Oaks’ fortunes changed, and the way starter Seth McCormick was going early they were fortunate to be that close. But it all changed in the fourth.

They scored the go-ahead run when first baseman Tyler Reichenbach dropped shortstop Danny Qualteria’s throw on Aiden Nestor’s grounder that would’ve been the third out of the inning. Nestor later scored when third baseman Shane Henrick tried to tag Wysinger after collecting Chase Hortiz’ grounder and the contact knocked the ball free.

Wysinger then scored on a bases-loaded walk to Tyler Hacker and J.J. Pankowski scored when Rocco Sting was hit in the hands with bases loaded to make it 5-1. They never trailed again.

“That inning was very needed; it really got us on top of things,” Wysinger said. “That brought everything together.”

“In Myrtle we had a lot of those situations ourselves and (the opponents) took advantage of them, so we know how important it is to take advantage of it when we can get them, too,” Hacker said. “Baseball’s pretty hard, so when we can take advantage of their mistakes, helps us score runs, win the game.”

Wysinger, hitting in the 9-hole after opening the season as the leadoff man, came within a homer of hitting for the cycle. Trevor Hernandez had three hits, Hacker had two hits and two RBIs, and String drove in a pair of runs.

McCormick was credited with the win in what will go down as one of the strangest outings of the year. He threw 127 pitches over seven innings, but he threw 76 in the first two – and still only gave up one run.

He hit two and walked two in the first when the Spartans scored their first run. He hit another batter in the second and had another runner in scoring position, but Pankowski saved him with a diving catch in center. The Spartans loaded the bases in the third, but McCormick got out of that striking out the side.

“It was a rough start to the game,” he admitted. “I tried to do it all on my own instead of using my teammates. After the first two innings I was good . It was like a rolling stone at that point. You couldn’t stop it.”

He faced only 14 batters over his last four innings and at one point retired eight in a row, 10 if you count the double play he started in the seventh. He had a 12-pitch inning and a seven-pitch inning. When it looked like the sixth would be his final frame, he threw his final pitch at 86 mph that sounded a lot faster when it hit catcher Trevor Hernandez’ mitt. And then he told Holt he could go an inning more.

“I started pitching more for the team than I did for myself,” McCormick said of the turnaround. “I feel like I hit my spots better, I let them make contact, I let my defense work. I was just being selfish the first two innings. I went into the game thinking I was better than what I was and I got a reality check. I had to bear down, use my teammates more, play for the team.”

Some coaches may have pulled their pitcher after that kind of start, figuring the command just wasn’t there this day, but Holt stayed committed to his sophomore right-hander.

“Seth pitched his tail off all day and wanted to keep going and I had to shut him down for the sake of him not knowing any better,” Holt said. “He’s got to be a guy we’ve got to look for seven out of, especially in these nine-inning games. That’s his role. That’s what we worked with him and built him up to.

“We know we can get a solid 100 pitches out of him,. We overextended him a little bit today but he’s got plenty of time to rest and he’s had plenty of time to rest. It’s go time now. Now it’s time he has to step up and be the guy.”

ACORNS: Colin McLaughlin’s RBI double in the sixth inning brought big cheers from the Mighty Oaks’ dugout since they know how much the freshman infielder has struggled this year. McLaughlin had 17 strikeouts in 29 at-bats entering the game … The Northampton series concludes with a doubleheader in Bethlehem Thursday, then the Mighty Oaks return home for three with Atlantic Cape Friday and Saturday.