Hamilton High West relief pitcher Tim Sharpley stymied the Northstars and picked up his third win. Photo by Michael A. Sabo
By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
May 1: April could not have ended on a more depressing note for the Hamilton West baseball team, but May could not have started on a higher note for the Hornets.
Coming off a walk-off loss at Hopewell Valley Monday in which it allowed two two-out runs, Hamilton got its biggest win of the season tonight by taking a 5-4 victory over Nottingham in the season’s third Patriots Games contest at Veterans Park.
The Hornets (8-7) stunned the DeMeo Field crowd by scoring five runs off Nottingham ace Nick Houghton in the second inning, and riding an outstanding relief job by Tim Sharpley to hang on. The loss cost Nottingham (14-3) a share of the CVC Valley Division crown, as Allentown takes the title outright.
Centerfielder Ryan “Mini-Dweller” Beczo, who had an RBI single, noted, “Yesterday’s loss was devastating but coming back and beating these guys is a really good feeling.”
“This was a great win,” agreed Hamilton coach Mike “Mo” Moceri. “With us being a young team I never know how we’re going to come back after a very tough loss like yesterday at Hopewell. I’m very proud of these guys the way they came back, showed some fight and really got it done today.”
And what does it mean?
“I think it shows that we’re maturing,” said Moceri. “That’s what I’ve been preaching. Keep learning every single day. We’re a young squad and Tim, our senior, really stepped up.”
Did he ever. After Nottingham answered the Hornets uprising with four runs in the top of the third, Sharpley entered with no outs and a man on first in the fourth. With the tying run getting to third with one out, the senior got a strikeout and pop-out.
“He’s been coming out of the pen for us all year, doing an absolute great job,” Moceri said. “We were kind of going inning by inning because he doesn’t really bat. He had to hit in (the fourth) inning, we were going inning by inning but me and coach (Matt) Mayo looked at each other and said, ‘He’s got it tonight.’”
Over the final three frames, Sharpley allowed a two-out baserunner each inning. He finished by allowing two hits and one walk with five strikeouts.
“This is probably my best outing,” said Sharpley, whose record rose to 3-0. “I took it like it was zero-zero every time I went out there. I just come in and try to get the job done, get the guys back in the dugout with no runs on the board, get a chance to swing and break this thing open.”
That never happened, as Houghton returned to form after Hamilton’s explosion. He allowed just one hit over the final four frames and finished with nine strikeouts.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”130″ gal_title=”Hamilton West Baseball vs Nottingham Patriot Games – May 1, 2018″]
But in the second, the Hornets bats were hitting ropes. Justin Wiltsey had a double in the inning while Tyler Springett and Sean Elefant had triples. Connor Luckie drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly, while Elefant, Beczo, Tyler Springett and Kiefer Goss had run-scoring hits.
Beczo’s knock came on an 0-2 pitch, thanks to some help from “The Dweller” himself.
“As soon as I stepped out of the box after he threw the fast ball, I looked at my father (Joe) and he said, ‘Watch it,’” Beczo said. “He wanted me to watch for the slider and I got it, up and away.”
Moceri admitted he never expected to see that kind of inning against Houghton.
“He shut us down, struck us out 14 times the first time we faced him,” the coach said. “I told our guys just lay off the ball in the dirt and get the ball up in the zone and I think we did a pretty good job of that.”
Houghton didn’t let the inning affect his hot hitting as he gapped a two-run triple to pull Nottingham within 4-2 in the top of the third. Bryce Fremgen added a sacrifice fly and Wyatt Baker singled home David Scott, who had doubled.
Neither team would score from that point, as Houghton shrugged off the second to excel for the remainder of the game.
“Other than that inning we got one other hit,” Moceri said. “He could have come back after giving up five runs and given up two more and he gave up nothing but zeroes. The kid’s a great player and good luck to him at Monmouth, I know he’s going to do great things.”
Nottingham coach Jim Maher felt Houghton did a good job of rallying from his tough inning.
“Nick settled in,” Maher said. “He made some mistakes, got some balls up but I don’t blame this one on pitching or defense. I blame it on poor at-bats in big spots. Bad at-bats in key spots cost us a championship.
“The issue right now is we’re getting production from four guys and the other five guys we’re not getting anything. That’s why we’re not winning games (3-5 in the last eight). You can’t win with four guys hitting. And I mean bad outs. Too many strikeouts, weak pop ups, weak groundballs with runners in scoring position. You just put a ball in play you get a run.”
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The Mercer County Tournament seedings were released today. First-round games are May 7 and all three township teams are home, as No. 3 Nottingham hosts No. 14 West Windsor-Plainsboro South, No. 4 Steinert hosts No. 13 Princeton Day School and No. 8 Hamilton hosts No. 9 Notre Dame.
The quarterfinals are May 9 at the higher seed, with the semifinals (May 12) and finals (May 15) at DeMeo.
