Velez rewards Salem CC with walk-off single against national No. 3 Brookdale in first game of doubleheader; Blues win nightcap for split

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Angel Velez was ever so thankful when Salem CC coach John Holt gave him a chance to play college baseball after two previous college experiences didn’t work out. He paid the Mighty Oaks back for that confidence they showed in him Friday with the game-winning hit in their biggest win of the season one day before his own special day.

Velez delivered a bases-loaded single with one out in the bottom of the ninth to propel the Oaks past Brookdale CC 7-6 in the first game of their Region XIX doubleheader, handing the third-ranked Jersey Blues their first loss of the season. Brookdale bounced back to win the nightcap 15-1 and gain a split.

“Make a statement, make some noise in this conference,” Velez said between games. “Everybody tries to write Salem off. We’re a good ballclub. When we play together, it shows.”

For a long time it didn’t look like college baseball would be in Velez’ future; he hadn’t played in two years. He went to Northampton CC out of Reading High School and worked with the baseball team in the fall, but “it didn’t work out.” The experience was similar when he went to CCBC Essex, so he took the next 18 months off and worked in his family’s landscaping business.

He connected with Holt and the Oaks after playing on a summer team with former SCC outfielder Nick Toms. 

“He had to grow up a little bit and he did,” Holt said. “He’s kind of figured it out a little bit.”

Coming into the game there weren’t a lot of outsiders who would’ve given the Oaks (7-9) much of a chance. The Blues won their first 16 games by an average of 10-plus runs and Salem was coming off losing three straight to No. 6 Northampton.

But the Oaks had what Holt called a “really good” week of practice in which they emphasized specific skills and functionality and demonstrated what they learned in winning the first game. Velez dove into it head first.

Brookdale hadn’t given up more than five runs in any game this season, but the Oaks scored six in the fifth inning to take a 6-4 lead before the Blues rallied to tie it in the sixth.

“If felt all along if we could play a clean game, like I said to the team at the beginning of the day, play to our standard, which is just make routine plays and throw the ball over the plate I think we’ll be OK,” Holt said, “and in the first game for the most part we did that.

“That’s the kind of the team we can be when we lock in and play up to our capabilities. I still feel like we haven’t played our best baseball yet; our best baseball is still ahead of us. We’re looking to get better each and every time out. If we play to our standard I think we’re going to be OK.”

Oaks left-fielder Nick Ciesielka saved his team in the ninth when he went above the fence to steal a leadoff homer from Brookdale’s Rocko Brzezniak. He ran down another long ball from the next hitter as well. All three Salem outfielders made spectacular catches during the course of the game.

“At first I took a left step and was like, ‘Oh, shoot, this ball might be out,’” Ciesielka said. “I turned to my right, felt my knee hit the wall, stuck my glove up and took it back.”

Ciesielka got the Oaks’ winning rally started with a single on the first pitch. Demetrius DaRamus followed with a single and they both advanced on a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt by cleanup hitter Matt Murphy.

The Blues intentionally walked Lee Rodriguez to load the bases and Velez, who delivered a two-run go-ahead single earlier in the game, followed by pulling the first pitch he saw inside the first-base bag for the game-winner. Once the ball went through, the players poured out of the dugout and eventually mobbed the freshman catcher around second base.

It was an early birthday present for a player whose 22nd birthday is Saturday.

“I can’t explain it; I can’t put it into words that feeling, man,” Velez said. “Coach always talks about playing to a standard, playing to our standard, we did that today. They walked the (batter) in front of me. I believe he wasn’t trying to pitch around me, so I saw the first pitch, put a barrel on it and it worked out.

“I was ready. I was ready since the eighth inning.”

It also made a winning pitcher of J.D. Wilson. The hard-throwing righthander from Pennsville pitched the last three innings, retiring all nine batters he faced with heat that consistently ran from upper 80s-low 90s on the 43-degree day. His strikeout pitch to end the seventh checked in at 92.

“It’s a little cold, I didn’t have my max velo, but it felt good, the team had my back,” Wilson said. “I kind of go out there and let it fly. I challenge everybody the same. I was giving a lot of fastballs … but it was working so I just kept rolling with it.”

Cover photo: Players pour out of the Salem CC dugout after the Mighty Oaks scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth to hand third-ranked Brookdale its first loss of the season.

Oaks mighty in first inning erupting for 10 runs, ride it to 21-3 victory in first game back from Myrtle Beach trip; DeRamus homers again

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – If there’s one thing Salem CC baseball coach John Holt knew about his team it’s that it could score runs once it got comfortable with the college game.

The Oaks erupted for 10 runs in the first inning Tuesday and rode it to a 21-3 victory over Delaware County CC in their first game back from Myrtle Beach, where they learned a lot about themselves and the college way.

In their four-game winning streak since a 5-3 loss to Rays Collegiate at the beach, the Oaks (6-5) have scored 21, 16, 14 and 9 runs. The 21 were the most they’d scored in a game since putting 26 on Delco in May 2021. They scored 21 in a win over Bergen CC last April.

“We’re a very Jekyll and Hyde kind of program; we’re either really good or really not there,” Holt said. “What this crew needed to do was learn the college game, the difference between having an offense as opposed to hitting.

“Early on, we were swinging a lot of first pitches and not executing and not working pitchers. We kind of emphasized that pretty big down south, let’s start working counts, let’s get into bullpens, let’s have collegiate at-bats, not just (go) up there to try and whack the first great ball you see. When they started to buy into that, that’s when we started to (produce). We’ve swung it pretty good lately. I think they just really needed to learn the college game.”

The Phantoms gave them a lot of help, walking 17 batters and hitting 10. The Oaks had 56 plate appearances in their six innings of hitting and 27 official at-bats. Every spot in the lineup 1 through 5 and 9 had at least two walks; the 3-hole got five. Every spot from 4 down was hit at least once and every spot had scored at least once by the second inning.

At one point in the first two innings they were 1-for-4 with seven RBIs with the bases loaded. They collected 13 RBIs in the game with the bases loaded.

The Oaks put up a brand new scoreboard in right field that was under construction during their season opener and they “broke” it the first time they got to use it, scoring 10 runs in the home first when only nine would fit in the window.

“You can’t ask for a better way to get a game going,” Holt said.

They sent 16 batters to the plate in the inning, collecting three hits, seven walks and three hit batsmen. The big blow of the inning was Demetrius DeRamus’ three-run homer. It was his third homer in the last four games. 

“That felt good; I kind of knew it was already out,” the centerfielder said. “I was just trying to stay within myself, not try to do too much and let the ball come in. I just try to hit the ball hard somewhere. If it goes out, that’s just really a plus.”

After DeRamus’ blast, 10 of the next 11 batters reached base. Cole Dawson had a two-run single, Yen Rodriguez singled home a run and Angel Velez, Elijah Real, Matt Murphy and Jared Vanderstuer had RBIs.

“That was pretty crazy,” DeRamus said. “We kind of did that in Myrtle as well, so we brought that momentum down from Myrtle to here. I was pretty happy with how we showed.”

Delco freshman Daniel Guinan didn’t make it out of the first inning of his first college start, giving up all 10 runs in one-third of an inning with the seven walks and three hit batters.

It didn’t stop there. The Oaks sent eight men to the plate in each of the second and third innings and batted around again in the fourth.

The long innings weren’t easy on Oaks starter Ryan Silnik, either. The sophomore right-hander from Washington Twp. pitched the first four innings, giving up no runs, two hits and striking out seven. The first inning was so long, he got up twice to throw on the side to stay loose – and then struck out the side in the second. He retired seven in a row at one stretch and 10 of the last 12 batters he faced.

The task gets tougher this weekend when the Oaks play JUCO D-III No. 6 Northampton CC (11-1). Opening Day starter Ben Foote will draw the Friday road start. Left-hander Sean Kelby gets Game 1 of Saturday’s home doubleheader with the nightcap starter TBA depending how Friday goes.