Mighty Oaks get their help

Ocean’s win over Montgomery gives Salem CC seventh seed in upcoming Region XIX playoffs, Mighty Oaks open post season at Brookdale as opposed to RCSJ-Gloucester

MONDAY REGION XIX BASEBALL
Camden 30, Delaware County 0
Ocean 12, Montgomery 11
RCSJ-Gloucester 9, Atlantic Cape 2

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

For one night, the Salem CC baseball team became big fans of an Ocean CC Vikings team they swept in three close games earlier this season.

The Mighty Oaks needed a little help to enhance their position for the upcoming Region XIX playoffs and they got it in the way of Ocean’s 12-11 win over Montgomery.

With the result in Toms River, the Mighty Oaks finish seventh in the Region XIX Division III standings and projected to play at region runner-up Brookdale in the opening round series that starts Saturday. Had the Ocean-Montco game gone the other way, the Mighty Oaks would have been reduced to the eighth seed due to tiebreakers and destined to open the tournament at top-seeded, three-time defending national champion RCSJ-Gloucester, a team that beat them in three one-sided games on Sophomore Weekend.

“The Oaks were all Vikings fans today,” first baseman Tyler Hacker said. “We all watched the game.”

The projected first-round pairings: Montgomery (17-16) at RCSJ-Gloucester (34-10), Northampton (30-17) at Middlesex (33-15), Salem CC (23-26) at Brookdale (38-10-1), Camden (25-15) at RCSJ-Cumberland (32-11-1).

“We’re excited to be a seventh seed as opposed to an eighth,” Mighty Oaks coach John Holt said. “Excited to be back in the regionals and establish Salem as a program that’s expected to be there year after year.

“I feel like if we play the way we are capable and play Salem baseball we can compete with anyone. Both of the teams we could have played are among the best in the country. Looking forward to the opportunity to get after it against the best.”

The Mighty Oaks were swept by Brookdale in the season series split apart by the weather that plagued the early portion of their schedule. They lost the doubleheader in early March right before their Myrtle Beach trip  (17-7, 6-3) and lost Game Three a month later 21-5. They led Game Two 3-0 in the second inning, then gave up four unearned runs.

“Playing Brookdale or Gloucester, they got us during the regular season and we want to beat both,” Hacker said. “The closest games we had were with Brookdale, so we’re looking forward to playing them. We hit their pitching well, just came down to playing defense those games and we didn’t have it. Since then we’ve cleaned up our defense and are looking forward to winning two and meeting Gloucester back in the Final Four like last year.”