Salem CC baseball make strides on multiple fronts in scoring first doubleheader sweep since February 2022

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – The Salem Community College baseball team and two of its pitchers trying to find their way all took big steps forward Saturday afternoon.

Starting pitchers Sean Kelby and Aiden Ewe both pitched historically into the seventh inning of their games and behind them the Mighty Oaks scored their first doubleheader sweep since February 2022 in beating Bergen CC 12-3 and 4-2.

The Mighty Oaks had won two games in one day during their trip to Myrtle Beach in March, but their two wins over the Bulldogs was their first true twinbill takedown since sweeping Rockingham (N.C.) CC on Feb. 20, 2022. They have won three in a row.

“It’s a step forward,” Oaks coach John Holt said. “These guys are growing up as a team. We’ve got a lot of young guys here and they’re buying in. They’re buying into playing like a team. It’s a good time to start coming together.”

Kelby, a well-traveled freshman left-hander, pitched into the seventh inning for the first time in as near as he figures six years in the opener. His teammates rewarded him by batting around in the fifth and sixth innings to break open a close game.

Ewe, a hard-throwing sophomore right-hander and converted catcher, worked the longest outing of his career. He had a no-hitter with 10 of his 11 strikeouts over the first 4 2/3 innings. His longest outing previously was 4 1/3 innings in a no-decision at Lehigh Carbon CC on March 26.

“We needed those guys to step up and they did,” Holt said. “They both wanted the ball today. There’s something to be said when guys want to put the team on their back and they did. With what we’ve got this week, we needed to get length out of our guys and they gave us that length today.”

“I thought today was a big step for the team,” Kelby said.

Perhaps for no one in particular as much as him.

Kelby’s old enough to be finishing a college career much less start one. He went to Towson out of high school, then Delaware, fell out of baseball after tearing ligaments in his pitching elbow and foregoing Tommy John surgery, worked for a couple years, but missed the game and in 2022 had the operation before landing on Salem’s doorstep this winter. 

Holt gave him a shot because he throws hard. He’s a 23-year-old with freshman eligibility, which means he could be a 27-year-old senior somewhere down the road, but that’s not his path. His plan is to hook on with an independent league team after this season to get his timeline back on track. 

“I wanted to do a lot this year and as you’ve seen through the games there’s been a lot of stuff I have to acclimate to for the past 5-6 years of not playing,” he said. “Today was a big step. I was kind of learning how to pitch again while I was out there.

“That was a big thing when I was going earlier. I’d get so worked up for the game you go out too hard and by that second or third inning it’s wearing down on you.”

He hears the clock is ticking, but he’s determined to keep playing.

“I’m still young,” he said. “You see guys in the major leagues making their debuts at 29, 30, 31 years old. For me, if I’m making that progress as I’m seeing it, I know what I’m capable of.”

Kelby gave up a home run in the second inning, but that really was his only mistake as he and Bergen starter Luixander Polanco were locked in a pitcher’s duel for four innings.

Polanco’s first time through the Salem order was easy with a pickoff and double play allowing him to face the minimum through three innings. The second time wasn’t so kind. Demetrius DeRamus’ RBI single tied the game in the fourth, then the Mighty Oaks erupted for five in the fifth and six in the sixth.

Matt Murphy and Cole Dawson had two-run singles in the fifth inning. Yen Rodriguez highlighted the sixth when he hit a bases-loaded triple to right field and scored when the relay throw to get him at third got away. DeRemus and Murphy both had two hits in the game.

Kelby gave up just three more hits after the homer through the sixth and while he wasn’t overpowering every time the Bulldogs tried to put something together he grinded through to turn them away. He wanted to go the distance, but came out after loading the bases in the seventh.

“I felt better (as the game went on),” he said. “I don’t know if it’s jitters or just getting comfortable, but usually that third or fourth inning I start feeling loose with the arm. At that point today it was like let’s go all the way here.”

Ewe, meanwhile, came to the Oaks as a catcher. He grew up catching, loved the position and that’s all he wanted to do. Then one day last year he starting throwing off the mound and was hitting “some pretty high numbers” on the radar gun, so he figured he’d give pitching a shot. Once he did, he said, “it just started to take off.”

Holt put him in three games last year, but never for more than an inning.

He always threw it hard, but his command was lacking. He had 37 walks in 19 innings coming into Saturday’s game. He changed his approach against the Bulldogs – he didn’t rely on the fastball, he gave up the hitch in his windup and he stopped looking at the radar gun – and had only three walks in six innings. He struck out the side in order in the first.

“Today he pitched,” Holt said.

“I made a few adjustments,” Ewe said. “I realized I was kind of all over the place just throwing it rather than being a pitcher. I usually go up on my toe, but I got rid of it today. I figure why not try something new. I feel like I need to be more accurate and it turned out definitely a lot more accurate.

“I’m fired up. I’m locked in now. I feel like that’s all I needed to do was make a little adjustment and it’s go time now.”

Ewe needed to be sharp because the second game was close throughout, but the Mighty Oaks used the long ball to prevail.

Rodriguez hit a leadoff homer in the first and it stayed 1-0 until DeRamus’ two-run homer in the fifth. Bergen made it 3-1 in the sixth, but the Mighty Oaks got the run back in the bottom of the inning on back-to-back doubles by Lee Rodriguez and Dane Thomas.

Salem travels to Bergen Monday to complete the series. Woodstown’s Ben Foote is expected to draw the start.

Salem CC baseball rallies with four runs in each of the last two innings to snap a seven-game losing streak, Pennsville’s Vandersteur earns the save

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

BLUE BELL, Pa. – Salem CC scored four runs in each of the last two innings and then turned back a threat in the bottom of the ninth to beat Montgomery County CC 14-11 and snap a seven-game losing streak.

The Oaks (9-19) rallied four times to either tie the game or take a lead.

“The boys just kept battling today,” Salem coach John Holt said. “They kept competing. Showed a lot of heart.”

The Oaks fell behind 5-0, then scored five runs in the fifth inning to tie the game, but Montco reclaimed the lead with a run in the bottom of the inning.

The Oaks tied it 6-6 on Yen Rodriguez’ sacrifice fly, but the Mustangs (8-11) scored two in the bottom of the inning and another in the seventh to go up 9-6.

Salem took its first lead in the eighth. Nick Ciesielka’s two-run bases-loaded double drew the Oaks within 9-8 and they went ahead when the Mustangs misplayed Demetrius DeRamus’ fly to left and two runs scored.

Montco retied it with a run in the bottom of the inning, then the Oaks finally took the lead for good in the ninth.

Pennsville’s Jared Vandersteur got the rally started by reaching on an error. He was sacrificed to second and stole third. He scored the go-ahead run by beating the throw to the plate on Hunter Cohen’s grounder to third.

Rodriguez followed with an RBI single (12-10), DeRamus drew a bases-loaded walk (13-10) and Matt Murphy’s grounder to first brought the inning’s fourth run home.

Sophomore right-hander Inaki Hutchinson gave the Oaks 3 2/3 innings of relief on the back end (65 pitches), but needed help to close it out. Vandersteur came on in the ninth with the tying and later winning run at the plate and recorded a seven-pitch save – his first college save.

“(Starter John) McAllister pitched well; didn’t give up an earned run (in four innings),” Holt said. “Hutch wanted the ball. There’s a lot to be said about wanting to be the guy to pick your team up. We kept Vandy ready and hoped we didn’t have to use him, but he got the job done.”

Murphy stayed hot with two hits and three RBIs. Rodriguez, who left the field after Tuesday’s loss on crutches, also had two hits and three RBIs.

Catcher Angel Velez took a page out of Phillies’ catcher J.T. Realmuto’s book – or maybe it was vice versa. 

Velez came out of Tuesday’s loss to Middlesex in the first inning after taking a pitch in the neck that bounced in the dirt. His status going forward wasn’t immediately known, but he returned to the lineup Wednesday and got hits in each of his first three at bats. Realmuto left the Phillies’ game in St. Louis Tuesday night after taking a pitch in the throat that bounced in the dirt, but he was back in the lineup Wednesday and played a big role in their win.

The Oaks return to action Friday when they open a three-game weekend series against Bergen CC at the Carneys Point Recreation Complex. The final two games of the series are at Bergen Saturday.

Salem CC freshman Wilson asks to start, pitches six strong innings after rough start, leaves with lead, but Mighty Oaks can’t hold it

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – J.D. Wilson has never asked for a start on the mound since he got to college, but this time he just seemed compelled to do it.

The freshman right-hander from Pennsville absolutely wanted the ball in Salem CC’s Tuesday series finale with Middlesex College. He was going to get it anyway, but he wanted it from the start.

After a rough adrenaline-filled opening inning that could have turned into a be-careful-what-you-wish-for moment, Wilson settled in and proved worthy of the ask. He left his first college start after six innings with the lead, but the Mighty Oaks couldn’t hold it and fell to the Colts 6-5 for their seventh straight loss.

“I went up to (coach John Holt) before the game and he was like you’re coming in in relief today (and) I was like I kind of really want to start because I don’t really want these kids to hit the baseball,” Wilson said. “It was the first time this year I’ve said that.

“They took two from us on the weekend, pissed me off a couple things they did. I just went out there angry. Wanted it more than they did.”

The way things started it looked like he might have bitten off more than he could chew. He threw hard as usual, but he walked six of the first nine batters he faced and walked in a run in the first inning. But once he settled down, he allowed only one hit – a single in the fifth inning – and struck out 10. He retired 14 of the last 15 batters he faced.

“J.D. pitched great, J.D. pitched his tail off,” Holt said. “He deserved a better result.

“He wanted the ball. (Ben) Foote was coming off a short rest and (Wilson) was a guy who wanted the ball. He’s never asked for it so I assumed he felt great. I figured let’s roll with it.”

Wilson blamed his early struggles on rushing himself after a short, 10-pitch warmup in the bullpen. Once he got comfortable – and got his slider working – he lasted through just about 100 high-velocity pitches.

The Oaks (8-19) gave their starter a 5-2 lead with four runs in the fourth inning. The first three batters all reached base and Nick Ciesielka’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly tied the game. Dane Thomas walked to reload the bases and Matt Murphy followed with a two-run double just inside the left-field line to give the Mighty Oaks the lead. Mike Ochmanski’s sacrifice fly made it 5-2.

“I just had a clear mind,” Murphy said of his at-bat. “When I get in my head I usually don’t hit well, but I had a clear mind up there. He threw a hanging curveball and I put a good barrel on it and got a double on it.”

Murphy, a freshman outfielder from Vorhees, changed his walk-up song just prior to the game from “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin – the Chase Utley walk-up song – to “Knock, Knock” by Mac Miller and it seemed to help him. He’d had only one RBI in his previous eight games (since March 26).

“That kind of played in it, too,” he said. “I talked to my parents about it. My dad was like if you ever make it you can’t have that song when you go in because that’s his (Utley’s) song.”

The Colts put their rally together against reliever Ben Foote. Conor Drury’s two-out RBI single to left field gave them Colts the lead after Joshua Rodriguez’ two-run double tied it. Brett Lukachyk’s RBI double the game.

The Oaks threatened in the eighth. Thomas hit a leadoff double, but between Murphy and Ochmanski being hit by pitches, Thomas was picked off second and it drained the Oaks’ momentum. Colts reliever Sal Della Fave retired the next two batters to end the inning, then set Salem down in order in the ninth.

Both teams scored a run in the first inning. Middlesex scored on a bases-loaded walk to Drury. The Oaks matched it in the bottom of the inning when Yen Rodriguez raced home from third when the Colts had to play a dropped third strike to first.

NOTES: The loss was the Oaks’ 14th in the last 16 games after a four-game winning streak in early March that had them over .500 … Starting catcher Angel Velez left the game in the top of the first after taking a ball that bounced in the dirt in the neck. He’s likely headed to concussion protocol. Ochmanski replaced him in the lineup. Thomas was a last-minute replacement for an ailing Demetrius DeRamus.