Cote, Stec help lift Hamilton past BSP and into the American Legion State Final 8

Chris Cote hamilton post 31 American Legion Baseball
Hamilton Post 31 3rd basemen Chris Cote makes the scoop on a throw as Broad Street Park’s Jose Rodriquez steals the base. Photo by Michael A. Sabo

By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com

July 15: With so much on the line, ancient township rivals put on an entertaining show today in their own backyard.

Facing each other in the New Jersey American Legion District 2 tournament game at DeMeo Field, Hamilton and Broad Street Park kept the outcome in doubt until the final pitch before Post 31 secured a 3-2 victory and a second straight berth in the State Tournament’s Final 8.

Chirs Cote of Hamilton Post 31 singles in the 6th inning. Photo by Michael A. Sabo

Last year, Hamilton (16-7) ran out of pitching and lost to Hopewell Valley in the championship game.

“We played well last year,” third baseman Chris Cote said. “We just have to keep focused, play like we can play, keep our heads in it and we’ll be good.”

David Stec, who threw his second straight complete game by tossing a five-hitter with six strikeouts, is hoping to take things a step further this time.

“It’s always a special time getting to the state finals,” the right-hander said. “Last year, obviously we had a tough game in the final, got screwed over by the pitch count rule and had no pitching left. We’re excited to give it another shot this year.”

The Final 8 begins with pool play at Moody Park on July 21. BSP will try to join its township counterparts when it meets North Warren, 7 p.m., Monday at DeMeo with the winner advancing.

Hamilton Post 31 pitcher David Stec Delivers to the plate against Broad Street Park. Photo by Michael A. Sabo

It was a frustrating loss for Broad Street (19-5), which allowed two unearned runs.

“We’ve yet to be beaten,” manager Mike Petrowski said. “(In losses to) Hopewell we made three or four errors in both games. We’ve beaten ourselves and they know that. It’s just a matter of fixing it.”

Petrowski got a strong outing from starter Adam Drosos, who matched Stec pitch for pitch into the sixth. But then CJ Pittaro walked and Cote singled to lead off the inning. Brendan James bunt was fielded by Drosos and, with the rotation play on, he had Pittaro at third but threw wildly allowing the run to score. Kyle Harrington entered to escape a second-and-third, no-out jam, but was victimized by an unearned run in the seventh when Joey Sacco reached on an error and scored on Brendan James sacrifice fly.

That proved huge when Jose Rodriguez delivered a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh before Stec got a pop-out to give Hamilton its first win in three tries against BSP this season.

“We knew this was important to get to the Final Eight,” Stec said. “I had to do the job for my team, be the big horse.”

He was, and he needed to be with how strong Drosos pitched.

“Drosos threw well,” Cote said. “It was a high pressure game, he kept his composure, he threw well. But things happened that went our way today. That’s baseball.”

“He threw good but part of pitching is fielding your position so I’m sure he was upset with himself about that error,” Petrowski said. “But stuff-wise he was very good. He kept them off balance most of the time, he got a lot of off-speed stuff over for first pitch strikes, which he’s been struggling with. We just didn’t make the plays and get the clutch hit when we needed it, and Stec made big pitches when he needed to.”

BSP center fielder Darius Land makes Hamilton’s Joey Sacco (foreground) think twice about tagging up on a fly ball to center. Photo by Michael A. Sabo.

Cote, who has found himself in the cleanup spot in recent weeks, was a huge offensive spark, figuring in every Hamilton run. In the fourth he led off with an infield single, moved to second on Tyler Nielsen’s single and scored on Michael James’ single. Darius Land cancelled that run out with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth to tie it.

In the sixth, Cote’s single put Pittaro in scoring position on the bunt play and, in the seventh, Cote took one in the back to load the bases and set up James’ sac fly.

“It feels awesome (to contribute),” Cote said. “It’s nice when you know if you’re not having a good game, the rest of the team is behind you, so it makes it that much easier to relax and have a good game.”

Hamilton scuffled a bit this season as Stec and Cote were two of the few veterans on the team. But Rick Freeman’s players have had it when they’ve needed it the most.

“It all comes down to experience,” Stec said. “We started out as a very young team and had to grow together as a team. Not many of us have played together so we had some stepping stones to get to. We’re starting to click at just the right time.”

Broad Street Park reliever Kyle Harrington works against Hamilton Post 31 in the 7th inning. Photo by Michael A. Sabo

As for Post 313, it still has a chance if it can defeat a North Warren team that lost to Hamilton, 3-2, Saturday. Petrowski will throw Mason Fitzpatrick.

“Supposedly they’ve got a good guy throwing, a lefty,” Petrowski said. “But I’ve seen them play. We’re the better team. If we play our game we’ll win, if we don’t, they’ll beat us.”

About The Author


Rich Fisher has been around the Hamilton Township sports scene for so long that he actually got Rich Giallella’s autograph when Giallella was still a player! Proud product of Hamilton YMCA and Lou Gehrig baseball leagues and former teammate of Jim Maher on a very average Barton & Cooney rec basketball team, Fish graduated from Nottingham Junior High and Steinert High school and has covered township sports since 1980. His goal in life is to convince Maria Prato that Jersey tomatoes are at least 100 times better than California tomatoes.