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.

Salem CC opens its baseball season with a loss, but top of the lineup, three late hard-throwing relievers impress

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT — A lot of baseball players when they enter into a circumstance for the first time, whether it’s a new career, a new team, a new season, they’re secretly hoping to make a big splash with the first opportunity they get to impress.

It’s more a dream, but it’s magical when they pull it off.

Salem CC freshman Yen Rodriguez lived the dream Friday in the Mighty Oaks’ 7-5 season-opening loss to Ocean.

The highly prized signee from Vineland couldn’t have dreamed for a better start to his college career. The first chance he had to make a play in the outfield, he helped gun down a runner at the plate to end the top of the first inning. Then he led off the bottom of the first with an inside-the-park home run, a feat to open the season Oaks coach John Holt said he hadn’t experienced in 30 years in the game.

“It’s amazing, I don’t see a different way to start it off,” Rodriguez said. “I got a lot of love from my teammates. They trusted me when I went up to the plate. I did my job; they trusted me. Once I got that ball in right field, threw the guy out, they loved me and I love them, and that’s our job.”

Most of the time, the dream of hitting a homer in your first at bat entails driving a ball far over the fence. Think of what it meant to the Phillies’ Weston Wilson last year or any of the other 135 guys who homered in their first at bats in the big leagues. Only three were inside-the-park homers and probably none of those outside of Heinie Mueller – a Phillie in the late 1930s – led off their team’s season.

Rodriguez, whose high school career started with a walk, did hit three over-the-fence homers in the fall, but with the way the wind was blowing straight into the Carneys Point Rec field Friday, it was doubtful anyone was going to get one out of the park on this day.

A switch-hitter batting righty to open the season, he sent a ball into left centerfield that Eli Santiago got a late jump on. Centerfielder Tom DeMarco tried to bail out his leftfielder, but couldn’t get to the ball and when he finally did retrieve it, his throw to the plate was well up the line and Rodriguez easily ran under it.

“It was a half-swing and I see a fly out that’s probably 200 feet high,” he said. “I’m going to second hustling as hard as I can thinking that’s a fly out and as soon as the left centerfielder dove for it and didn’t get it, I was like I’ve got to hustle even faster to get to home plate.

“Hitting it out of the park is one thing, hitting it inside is way harder. As soon as I got to the field today my teammates were like ‘we trust you, you’re going to hit a home run first pitch.’ I was like ‘I don’t think I’ve got that power.’ As soon as I hit it, they all came up to me and said you hit it and I was like I appreciate that, guys; you trust me.”

He had a full head of steam coming into third and there was no way Holt stopping him. 

“He busted it out of the box; that’s the only reason that happened,” Holt said. “If he doesn’t hustle, it’s a double. We preach going hard out of the box. He bought in.”

He ended up going 3-for-5 with a homer, double, three runs and two RBIs in his first college game. 

The Oaks never led in the game, but threatened in the eighth and got Rodriguez to the plate with another chance to deliver. He came up with two outs and bases loaded, a triple short of the cycle, with the go-ahead run at first. There was every expectation in the dugout he was going to deliver again.

Even if Rodriguez only kept the line moving and didn’t clear the bases, Nick Ciesielka, who had three hits in his first three at-bats, was right behind him with similar expectations. Batting left-handed for the first time in the game against a right-handed reliever, the freshman struck out chasing a high 3-2 changeup to end the threat.

“He got me,” Rodriguez said. “All props to the guy. It was a great pitch.”

Later in the game, the last three pitchers Holt used in relief – Aiden Ewe, J.D. Wilson and Sean Kelby – impressed with their velocity and command.

Ewe, a sophomore right-hander from Pitman, threw 31 pitches in two innings with 26 of his 27 fastballs topping 90 mph and maxing out at 95. Wilson, a freshman right-hander from Pennsville, threw a 16-pitch eighth and hit 90 with 13 of his fastballs. Sean Kelby, a 6-foot-5 freshman lefty from Delaware coming off elbow surgery, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.

Ewe is a converted catcher learning how to pitch and as he continues to learn his role on the mound will expand. Wilson will be an end-of-game guy. Kelby figures to be a starter.

The Oaks and Vikings were scheduled to conclude their series with a doubleheader at Ocean CC Saturday – with Kelby starting Game One – but the games were postponed due to advancing weather. The next time the Oaks take the field will be Monday to open their 10-game trip to Myrtle Beach. Sophomore right-hander Ryan Silnik will draw the Monday night start against Cairn University JV.

Last year, they opened their season on the Myrtle Beach trip and went 4-5. They were 3-5 there the year before. There is no set target record for this year’s swing.

“We just want to come back better than we are right now,” Holt said. “Continue to compete, continue to work on things, continue to get those innings under our belt so when we come back we’re ready for conference play.”

OCEAN CC 7, SALEM CC 5

Cover photo: Salem CC baseball coach John Holt explains the grounds rules at the Carneys Point Rec Field during the lineup card exchange before Friday’s season opener against Ocean CC