Pirate baseball team faces South champ Jackson today
By: Bob Nuse
EWING Don Hutchinson knows baseball is a funny game. He realizes that as easily as his team won Friday’s Central Jersey Group IV championship game, the result could have been different.
"We could play this same team tomorrow and the score could be just the opposite, but that’s baseball," said Hutchinson, whose team captured the first sectional baseball title in school history with an 11-0 win over Middletown North on Friday at Moody Park in Ewing. "But my attitude had been that we’re playing real good baseball right now and I felt like we were going to win this game. Of course scoring six in the first inning is a lot better than I could have imagined. I think that put pressure on them and relaxed us."
The Pirates were as relaxed as any team could be in a sectional championship game, scoring six runs in the first and five more in the third on their way to a win that was halted after five innings by the 10-run rule.
While the bats were doing their part, sophomore Alex Goldberg got the job done on the mound, allowing just two hits over five innings. He did not strike out a batter, but did not walk any either.
"We were going to go with Goldberg as long as he was going well," said Hutchinson, who was able to get through the game without using ace Justin Muir, who had won the sectional semifinal game three days earlier. "I told Justin he had to tell me how long he could go. He said he was ready if we needed him, but he had just thrown 92 pitches on Tuesday and I was glad we didn’t need to go back to him (Friday).
"The fact that we were able to win the game and not have to use Justin at all was a dream come true. Now he’s fresh for the next game."
That next game is today at Campbell’s Field in Camden, where the Pirates will face Jackson, the South Jersey Group IV champion. The game is slated for a 3 p.m. start at the home of the Camden Riversharks.
"I was nervous out there at the start of the game, so it certainly helped for us to score six runs like that in the first inning," said Goldberg, who was also the winning pitcher in the Mercer County Tournament championship game. "I think it also helped that I was able to go out there in the top of the first and get out of the inning throwing four or five pitches. No one hit the ball hard, so I felt pretty good. Then we came out and scored six runs in the bottom of the first, so that really helped.
"By the end of the first inning I was a lot more confident. And scoring six runs helped a lot because I went back out there a lot less nervous than I had been."
Hutchinson couldn’t have been happier with the effort from Goldberg, who is now 4-1 after missing the first half of the season with an ankle injury.
"Other than the four batters he hit, Alex was right around the plate all day," Hutchinson said. "He’s a kid that doesn’t seem to get rattled. He goes out there with his shirt hanging out and people look at him and must wonder what he’s all about. I think he’s a kid that’s just oblivious to all the pressure."
The Pirates as a team are playing as if there is no pressure. After scoring 10 runs against second-seeded Piscataway on the CJ IV semis, they came back with 11 in the final against the top-seeded Lions. While some shoddy defense by Middletown North helped the cause, the offense also came through with some timely hits.
Muir, Tim Woodhull and Jeff Fisher all knocked in runs in the first inning. J.T. Hutchinson, Evan Cheresnick and Muir knocked in runs during the five-run third inning.
"That’s what I like about this team, there are so many guys that can do it," said Hutchinson, whose team would move into Saturday’s Group IV state final at Middlesex Vo-Tech in East Brunswick with a win today. "At first a lot of people thought we were only going to go as far as Justin could take us. But I think we’ve shown that we have a lot of different people that are capable of doing it on this team.
"I like the way we’re playing right now and I like the attitude the kids have. We’re playing well at the right time of the year."
And now the Pirates get a chance to see if they can keep playing well for two more games.