Brookdale baseball is back as Blues capture Region title
Super Region is next
for Johnson’s nine
FARRAH MAFFAI Brookdale’s Stephen Echevarria is congratulated by teammates after crossing home plate during the Jersey Blues’ win over Sussex on Thursday in Lincroft.
It’s never easy replacing a legend, let alone a hall of famer. In Johnny Johnson’s first three years at Brookdale Community College, Lincroft section of Middletown, he had his Jersey Blues in the finals of the Region XIX Tournament each year and had never won fewer than 24 games.
By any measure it was success. Unless, the yardstick you are being measured against is a hall of famer like Paul MacLaughlin.
"Everything at Brookdale is measured by wins and championships," said Johnson, a star catcher for Middletown High School from 1979-81.
MacLaughlin, who started the Brookdale program from scratch and went 829-235 during his 28 years at the helm, built Brookdale into a junior college national power in which region championships and trips to the national championships were a habit.
Last weekend, Johnson took a major step in forging his own identity at Brookdale when the Jersey Blues beat Mercer, 12-5, in Lincroft to win the Region XIX crown, the school’s first since 1997.
"It’s the greatest feeling I’ve ever had, except for the birth of my daughter," said Johnson. "It’s a big monkey off my chest. I’m proud of the kids."
The Jersey Blues, who also won the Garden State Athletic Conference regular season title, have become Johnson’s kids, and they won one for him Sunday.
When Mercer jumped all over Brookdale, 11-2, to force a deciding game in the double-elimination tournament Sunday, the Blues were in an all too familiar position.
Brookdale had been down this road before. In each of the last three years, Brookdale had advanced to the final game of the Region XIX Tournament only to come up short.
The 2002 edition of the Blues let their coach know it wasn’t going to be deja vu.
"When we got into a huddle before the game, the kids said, ‘We’re not going to let you down; we’re not leaving here losing,’" Johnson said. "They just wanted it. After three tries, it was finally our turn."
While losing the region finals, Johnson learned what it took to get over the hump. He needed quality pitching and plenty of it, and that’s what he went out and got, stacking his team with arms. He also built a very athletic team designed to put constant pressure on a team. A walk or a single could be as good as a double because the Blues were going to run no matter what the score or situation.
They also had something else working for them, a No. 1 starter a team can jump on the shoulders of and ride to a victory in the overpowering left-hander Alex Perez.
"We’ve never had a legitimate No. 1 pitcher who can dominate," said Johnson.
Perez was 2-0 over the weekend, earning the Most Valuable Player award. He won his Saturday start against Mercer when he fanned 14 in Brookdale’s 8-3 win. The sophomore came back on Sunday to pitch three strong innings in relief and pick up the win as Brookdale scored nine runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to run away from the Vikings.
"After throwing 130 pitches the day before, Alex gave us three great innings," said Johnson. "Our bats came to life in the late innings.
"Of all the teams I’ve ever coached, this team is never out of a game," he added. "Our hitting is very contagious. We can score runs quickly."
That’s what the Blues did against Mercer when, trailing 4-3 after five and one-half innings, the bats caught fire.
Mike Pierre, Antonio Mirando and Dave Komar sparked the late-inning rally. Komar, starting his first game on a coach’s hunch because Mercer was starting a lefty, had three RBIs, one on a sacrifice fly, another on a squeeze and the third on a single, which was his first hit of the season.
Marc Savard’s double was the only extra base hit as the Blues relied on their running game to make things happen.
Pierre lifted his single-season and career school stolen bases mark to 52 over the weekend. He has only been thrown out one time. Brookdale has stolen a school record 175 bases this year.
The Blues took Johnson and their fans on a very wild ride over the weekend.
It all began Friday morning against Sussex, a team that Brookdale had handled easily twice during the regular season. Johnson gambled by holding Perez out, figuring he could out hit Sussex. Falling behind 6-1 was not in the game plan, but that’s what the Blues did.
Kyle Boturla gave the Blues seven and one-third innings of strong relief to keep the team in the game. A two-out, two-RBI single by Marc Savard in the fifth seemed to wake the Blues up.
They would tie it at 6-6 with three in the seventh, but Sussex would get two in the top of the ninth to regain the lead, 8-6.
Staring at a quick trip to the loser’s bracket and the hard road to the final, the Blues came up with three in the ninth to win it. Pierre got the game-winner on a single with two outs. It was part of his 4-6, three stolen bases and two runs scored.
John Kokotajlo, who always seems to deliver the clutch hit for Brookdale, had tied the game with his two-out double and he scored on Pierre’s single.
Antonio Mirande (3-4, two doubles, two runs and RBIs) had brought in the first run of the game with a double.
In relief, Matt Cangilose picked up the win to improve to 3-1.
"I rolled the dice there," Johnson said of his decision to hold Perez back.
The poor start, as much the result of some poor field conditions as anything, was attributed by Johnson to the youth of his club.
"You never know what you’ll get with freshmen," he said. "We had seven on the field and I think they were a little nervous at first, but they settled down."
The come-from-behind win put Brookdale up against Mercer Saturday morning in a winners’ bracket game. Perez had things in hand with his 14-strikeout effort, and Brookdale had the 8-3 win and a trip to Sunday’s final.
The loss put Mercer in the losers’ bracket and it came back later that day to best Del-Tech Owens, 12-2, to get another shot at the Blues for the regional title.
Mercer, coached by former Major Leaguer Dave Gallagher, had to beat Brookdale twice on Sunday to win the title. The Vikings (32-9) showed they were serious when they hit the Blues hard, 11-2, to force a second game for all the marbles.
Brookdale’s depth at pitching proved to be decisive. The Blues got six good innings from Brian Rabbit and then handed the ball to Perez for the final three innings. Despite his 130-pitch effort on Saturday, the big lefty, who is headed for the University of Miami, Florida, fanned five in his three innings of work as he improved his record to 8-1.
"Alex promised that we’d win a region title while he was here, and he delivered on it," Johnson said.
The offense went to work in the last three innings and it was Brookdale that was moving on.
"Mercer is a well-coached team and they’re the best defensive team in the region," said Johnson. "They had no pitching left and got tired in the second game."
Brookdale will take a 32-12-1 record and the No. 11 ranking in the country to the Super Region, the Northeast District Tournament in Mercyhurst, Pa. This is a four-team double-elimination format of regional champions with the winner advancing to the World Series in Millington, Tenn., May 25-June 1. Brookdale’s last trip to the series was 1997 when the Blues finished fifth.
Postseason awards followed the Blues’ big season. The Blues who made the 2002 Division II All-Region XIX first team were Pierre, Perez and outfielder Jon Forte. Making the second team were outfielder Steve Echevarria and pitcher Boturla.
Pierre, Forte and Perez also made the 2002 All-GSAC first team. Infielder Savard, Echevarria, catcher Yuri Lopetegui and Boturla made the second team.