Mighty Oaks are in

Salem CC baseball gets into the Region XIX field of eight without a play-in game after sweeping Union Saturday, looking for help from eliminated Ocean to get a better seed

REGION XIX BASEBALL
Saturday’s Games
Salem CC 16-8, Union 2-5
Camden 6-16, Northampton 5-5
Middlesex 5-10, Atlantic Cape 0-0
RCSJ-Gloucester 19-19, Delaware County 0-2
Brookdale 7-14, Ocean 1-5
RCSJ-Cumberland 4-22, Bergen 0-1
CCBC-Essex 7-13, Lackawanna 6-5

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT — The Salem CC baseball team got what it needed in the first game of Saturday’s regular-season ending doubleheader with Union. The Mighty Oaks got what they wanted from the day in the nightcap, but they had to work for it.

The Mighty Oaks secured the final spot in the eight-team Region XIX Division III playoff bracket with an dominating 16-2 rout in the opener, then they rallied from four runs down midway through the nightcap to win that 8-5 and give themselves a chance at a more favorable seed.

The doubleheader — and series — sweep, along with Brookdale’s sweep of Ocean, allowed the Mighty Oaks (23-26, 18-15) to make the bracket without having to deal with a play-in game with Ocean. Now they’ll become the biggest Ocean fans, hoping the Vikings can knock off Montgomery County Monday to give the Mighty Oaks the seventh seed and avoid top seed and three-time defending national champion RCSJ-Gloucester in the opening round.

If Montco wins the Monday game, the Mustangs and Mighty Oaks would finish tied for seventh in the region standings, but Salem would be the eighth seed since the Mustangs hold the tiebreaker. The best-of-3 first-round series start Saturday at the sites of the top four seeds.

The Mighty Oaks were held scoreless for four inning in the nightcap. Meanwhile, the Owls (7-29) scored four in the third as Salem starter Logan Peters lost the plate and his defense lost its focus. The Owls threatened again in the fourth, but Nick Reckard came on to get the final out before giving way to Tyler Hacker for the final three innings or however long it was going to take for the Mighty Oaks to pull it out.

The Mighty Oaks came to life in the fifth and tied the game on a pair of two-run singles by J.J. Pankowski and Hacker. The Owls retook the lead with an unearned run off Hacker in the bottom of the fifth, but Salem took the lead for good in a two-run sixth when Roman Hernandez took a pitch off the helmet after the Owls intentionally walked Hacker in front of him to load the bases.

They added two insurance runs in the seventh on Chase Hortiz’ long sacrifice fly to left and Jason LeBold’s RBI single past third.

Hacker stared down threats in each of his first two innings on the mound. In the sixth the Owls loaded the bases with one out, but he got out of it with a strikeout and ground out to third.

Salem CC coach John Holt handed the ball to Pat Seitzinger for the game that would get the Mighty Oaks in the playoffs. Seitzinger, pitching on Carneys Point mound for only the third time in 12 appearances this season, although it was technically a road game.

The sophomore left-hander threw 90 pitches over five innings, giving up two runs, five hits and struck out four. He walked two and hit two. Joe D’Amato worked the last two, facing eight batters, striking out three and getting a double play.

The Mighty Oaks had 10 hits in the first game, but took advantage of five Union errors and 20 walks and three hit batsmen.

Colin McLaughlin enjoyed his first-ever four-hit college game, going 4-for-4 with a sacrifice fly. His kept it going in the nightcap with a single in his first at-bat and two walks in four plate appearances.

Unlike Friday’s series opener that was tighter than it should’ve been, the Mighty Oaks took control with their destiny with three runs in each of the first three innings. Roman Hernandez had a two-run double in the first, Tyler Hacker had a two-run single in the second and Mclaughlin’s sacrifice fly and two bases-loaded walks (among five passes in a row) highlighted the third.

This story will be updated.

NOTES: The Mighty Oaks serenades assistant coach Jake MacNellis with a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” in the outfield huddle after the game … Hacker picked up his national leading 60th stolen base of the season in the opener. He needs eight for 100 in his JUCO career … If the playoffs were to start today, RCSJ-Gloucester would host Montco, Brookdale would host Salem, RCSJ-Cumberland would host Northampton and Middlesex would host Camden. There are six game the next two days that would impact the standings, the most significant for Salem being Montco at Ocean.

Salem	333	141	1-	16	10	0
Union	010	100	0-	2	5	1

Salem	000	042	2-	8	7	5
Union	004	010	0-	5	5	5

REGION XIX D-III	R19	ALL	GSAC
RCSJ-Gloucester	27-5	33-10	19-5
Brookdale	25-8	38-10-1	20-5
RCSJ-Cumberland	24-9	32-11-1	18-6
Middlesex	23-10	33-15	18-8
Camden	21-11	24-15	14-10
Northampton	21-11	30-17
SALEM CC	18-15	23-26	15-11
Montgomery	17-15	17-15
Ocean	15-18	18-21	10-15
Bergen	11-22	13-29	11-16
Atlantic Cape	5-27	5-27	2-22
Union	3-28	7-31	0-25
Delaware County	1-32	2-32

SUNDAY’S GAMES
Union at Northampton (2)
Monroe-Bronx at Brookdale
Suffolk CC at Middlesex (2)
Sussex at UConn-Avery Point (2)
MONDAY’S GAMES
Camden at Delaware County, resumption
Montgomery at Ocean
RCSJ-Gloucester at Atlantic Cape
Bucks County at Northampton