Darius Land of Broad Street Park Post 313 drilled a two run homer agianst North Warren in the New Jersey State American Legion District 2 fianl at DeMeo Field. File Photo by Michael A. Sabo.
By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
July 16: For Broad Street Park, it was a case of win or go home.
It has now become a case of win and go into the Lion’s Den.
By virtue of its 10-1 victory over North Warren in tonight’s New Jersey State American Legion District 2 loser’s bracket final at DeMeo Field, Broad Street Park has reached the State Final 8 at Moody Park for the first time since 2014.
Post 313 has, however, been placed in the same pool as the Cherry Hill/Point Pleasant winner, along with perennial state powers Brooklawn and Whitehouse (Flemington). The opposite pool has Mercer County qualifiers South Brunswick, Hamilton and defending champion Hopewell, along with Washington.
Manager Mike Petrowski has decided this is an opportunity to get the heavy lifting done early.
“I look at it a couple different ways,” Petrowski said. “If you’re on the other side, which is supposed to not be as strong; guess what. You’re going to play Brooklawn and Flemington in the final four anyway.
“If you beat one of them and beat whoever else you play, Cherry Hill or whoever, you’re in. We know we can compete with the other side, we’ve played them all year. Personally, I like it to be like this. You go 2-1, you get to the final four and who knows what will happen there.”
Petrowski’s players share his enthusiasm, especially since they have never been there before.
“I’m ready, I’m excited,” centerfielder Darius Land said. “I’ve wanted to play on a winning team and now I got it.”
“I can’t wait,” added second baseman Brien Cardona. “I love these situations. We’re ready, I believe (what Petrowski said) one hundred percent. I’d rather play those teams first.”
BSP will be going into the fray on a high note, as a re-shuffled lineup produced 11 hits, four for extra bases, eight walks and 11 stolen bases in 11 attempts.
Six of them came in the first inning, when BSP set the tone. Cardona, who moved from seventh to second, singled and stole second, third and home. The last came on a double steal with Kyle Harrington, who stole third and scored on a throwing error.
“That really helped,” Land said. “When we steal like that, get on base and have that energy we can’t be stopped.”
“No doubt we needed a couple runs in the first inning to get our pitcher (Mason Fitzpatrick) going, and give him some run support,” Cardona said. “We’ve been lacking in our hitting lately. I’m not too fast like Darius and Jose (Rodriguez), but I know how to steal bags and get on and stuff like that.”
Petrowski felt the running game could help spark a stagnant offense.
“I really didn’t know the catcher at all besides what we saw before the game,” the manager said. “But the pitcher’s leg kick was way up there and once you see that with our team speed you’re not gonna throw us out most of the time. In these big games a lot of times people get tight and don’t play aggressive. I told them we’re going back to the way we played.”
Speed gave way to power in the second inning. Land moved from clean-up to leadoff but hit like a clean-up hitter with a two-run homer.
“I was just seeing the ball good, seeing it out of the hand,” said Land, who led off for the first time since playing for Cumberland County College last spring. “I saw the curveball out of his hand and just took it for a ride.”
One out later, Kyle Harrington hit a home run that might still be traveling it left the park so quickly. It didn’t quit rank with Steinert’s Adam Riese putting it out at Arm & Hammer Park in the Mercer County Tournament earlier this decade, but it was nearly as impressive with its height and distance.
Land finished with two runs scored and three RBI while Cardona was 2-for-3 with a double, walk and run scored. Rodriguez dropped from leadoff to fifth and had three hits and an RBI, while Shane Hoffman had two hits, two runs and an RBI and Connor Luckie hit an RBI double and scored. Stephen Meckel and Justin Wiltsey each walked and scored.
The beneficiary of the outburst was Fitzpatrick, who allowed two hits, four walks and two hit batsmen while striking out nine. He caught six batters looking, including two in the top of the first with the bases loaded. Nick Diaz did his usual stellar job with two innings of scoreless relief.
“Fitz hasn’t pitched in nine days,” Petrowski said. “You could tell he had something on his balls; it’s just once you’re off that long your control’s not there. But 83 pitches in five innings, that’s pretty stressful so I wanted to get him out, make sure he’s rested for the Final Eight.”
A Final 8 in which BSP welcomes the challenge it will face.
