Hamilton Post 31 pitcher David Stec and hurled seven strong innings against Flemington picking up the win. File Photo by Amanda Ruch Photography

By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com

July 25: One team was starting pool play and the other was ending it.

Both scenarios worked out well for the baseball teams from Hamilton Township.

Hamilton Post 31 took an 8-1 win over defending champ Flemington at Moody Park Tuesday to finish 2-1 in the American Division pool of the New Jersey American Legion Tournament. That puts Rick Freeman’s squad into Wednesday’s semifinals, where it will play a 4 p.m. game against either Hopewell or Brooklawn.

Meanwhile, back in the township, the Hamilton-Northern Burlington Babe Ruth 14-year-old All Stars took a 9-0 win over Adirondack (N.Y.) to win the first of their three pool games in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament at Switlik Park. H-NB returns against Severn (Md.) at 1:30 Wednesday.  

Post 31 was coming off a weird 24 hours, where it won by forfeit over West Deptford on Monday, allowing pitcher Dave Stec to come back again Tuesday and pitch seven strong innings against Flemington. Ryan Meszaros and Chris Cote each threw one relief inning.  

“Yesterday was just crazy,” said Stec, who allowed one run, six hits and three walks with two strikeouts. “We came here ready to play, as always, we find out after a half inning it’s a forfeit and then today we just wanted to come out and play hard because we knew if we won, we moved on. There was a little bit of pressure but we liked that.”

And how did Stec manage to mentally prepare himself for a starting assignment in two straight days.

“I couldn’t tell you,” he said with a grin. “It’s baseball. Anything can happen. You always gotta be ready to throw whenever you have to.”

Stec was ready. Despite not being his sharpest, he gutted it out and got four double plays behind him. Three were turned by shortstop Joey Sacco and second baseman C.J. Pittaro and one came on a fly ball when a Flemington runner took off as if there were two outs instead of one.

“I didn’t have my best stuff today but my teammates had my back,” said Stec, who retired the side in the first inning Monday before the forfeit was called. “We were able to put up eight runs, so all I had to do was throw the ball and let them hit it. I couldn’t ask for a better middle infield behind me. They always make plays. Getting four double plays is huge, it saves pitching, it helps out a lot.”

Getting 15 hits doesn’t hurt either, as Hamilton scored one run in the first and third and broke it open with four in the fourth.

Jake Beyer, the MCALL Player of the Year Jake Beyer had a hit, run, and a RBI. File Photo. Photo by Amanda Ruch.

“The way we were performing was great,” leftfielder Chris Harkness said. “We were feeling great coming into this game. Throughout the whole lineup we were producing runs.”

Harkness had two hits and two runs scored out of the nine-hole. Starting at the top of the lineup and working downward, production came from Sacco (2 hits, 3 runs, RBI), Pittaro (single, double, RBI), Ryan Mostrangeli (3 hits, 2 RBI), MCALL Player of the Year Jake Beyer (hit, run, RBI), Matt Ricci (2 hits, run), Chris Cote (2 hits) and Brady Plunkett (hit, RBI).

“I was feeling good at the plate,” Mostrangeli said. “I was seeing a lot of fastballs and I was driving them, doing the job. It was strange today, especially coming off a forfeit that kind of took us out of our mojo a little bit. But we came out here ready to play, all hyped up, and got the job done.”

Knowing they had Stec on the mound didn’t hurt. It was the team’s biggest benefit from the forfeit, other than a free win.

“It was nice having Dave come in today,” Harkness said. “He was throwing great. He came out today knowing he had to do a good job, he threw pitches and we made plays.”

“He really battled,” Mostrangeli said. “Maybe he didn’t have his stuff, but he worked, found the strike zone, pitched to contact.”

Hamilton Northern Burlington Coach coach (Mike “New Father”) Moceri talks its over with his players. File Photo by Michael A. Sabo

Stec wasn’t the only one throwing well for a township squad, as Hamilton-Northern Burlington notched its third straight shutout. Tommy Niedermaier threw four innings of three-hit ball, Jake Babuschak tossed two hitless innings and David Zamora finished it up. H-NB hurlers have fired 22 straight scoreless innings.

“Everyone’s confident we’re always going to win our next game, and that our pitching’s going to get us there,” said Gavin Martin, who had two RBI singles.

Hamilton usually needs two or three runs to secure a win, but Martin says his team can’t think that way.

“Sometimes that’s a problem,” he said. “We get two runs and we think that’s enough, but sometimes we have to get more throughout the whole game.”

H-NB looked like it took its foot off the pedal after taking a 3-0 lead. But the Switlik Crew broke it open with six runs in the sixth inning. Mike Giambelluca, Carson Wehner and Martin had RBI singles in the inning, Zac Brown drew a bases-loaded walk, and two runs scored on the same wild pitch.

Martin and leadoff hitter Danilo Perdomo provided another strong 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup, combining for three hits two RBI and two runs.

“You just try to get base hits, do your job and get on base for other people behind you to get you in, Martin said.

If there was a key moment in the game, it came when H-NB had a 2-0 lead and Adirondack got its first two runners on in the third. But Niedermaier escaped with the help of a line drive double play to end the inning.

“That was very important,” the hurler said. “It was already 2-0 and we wanted to keep the lead. I personally get a little stronger (with runners on). I don’t want them going anywhere, I don’t want them to score, so I get stronger, my pitches get stronger.”

Hamilton NB can celebrate again with their win against Adirondack (N.Y.)

The victory came over an East New York team that reached the finals of the 13-year-old Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament last year before falling to eventual World Series champion Mifflin County.

“This was a very good win,” manager Jim “Uuummmm” Petersohn said. “It was a very good team win. I keep preaching ‘Team, team, team,” and coach (Mike “New Father”) Moceri does the same thing. We’ve been getting a lot of results from starters and subs up and down the lineup. It doesn’t matter who we plug in, we just expect them to perform and they’re all buying in. It’s tough with 15 kids but they’re all quality. We’ve gotten the entire lineup in every game, for districts, states and now regions.”