By Wayne witkowski
Staff Writer
The thought astounded Joe Baatz — 23 years since any team won back-to-back titles in any district in the state for Williamsport Senior League 16-year-old baseball.
"Twenty-three years and it hasn’t been done," said Baatz, who first got involved in Brick American at about that time.
But the 16-year-old all-stars he managed accomplished that feat for District 18 on their own field Sunday night and beat a familiar opponent — Brick National — in a 5-4 thriller. Right-hander Joe Short pitched a four-hitter with eight strikeouts and four walks, and hot hitting battery mate Andy Case smashed a two-run single in the fourth inning for a 5-1 lead.
Brick American, which was only 2-2 in pool play but advanced to the double-elimination phase of the tournament because its sharp pitchers allowed only nine runs in those four games (runs allowed breaks ties for teams to advance in out-of-pool play), won all four games after pool play.
Brick American stays on its home field for its section opener tomorrow at 5:30 p.m.
Four players were on last year’s all-stars that won the district and lost to Freehold, 12-9, in the section championship game, including Short, Case, shortstop/first baseman Sean Birch and center fielder Rob Russo.
"I thought we had just as good a chance as last year," said Baatz. "We thought our pitching was better this year with Short and [Sean] Birch. We thought our fielding was better because last year, it was awful.
"But I didn’t think we had any thumpers. Guys like George Geran are 15 [years old] and we thought those guys would be overmatched. But everybody is hitting them [home runs]."
To the tune of 16 home runs in seven games.
Ironically, none of them came in the championship game after Case belted home runs in the three previous games. But he still did his damage in the title game.
"These guys are really close," said Baatz. "At every game, they insisted on being introduced as a team. But when they refused to announce it that way at one field and started introducing the players one by one, the guys all ran onto the field together."
While right-hander Short did his job with a change-up and a split-finger fastball, his teammates went to work at the plate with three runs in the third inning and two in the fourth.
Tom Pfeiffer led off the third inning with a single, and Rob Gonzalez legged out an infield hit before Case lashed his two-run hit.
Brick National pulled to 3-1 in the fourth inning when Chris Wilson lined a double and scored on a fielder’s choice. But run-scoring singles by Birch, Case and Geran in the bottom of the inning gave Brick American a 5-1 lead.
Brick National again battled back, this time with two runs in the fifth inning on a ground ball with the bases loaded that was thrown away, and in the sixth when Mike Phan lofted a sacrifice fly.
It was the second game in three days between the two teams.
On Friday night, Brick American had an easier time as Geran pitched a three-hitter and Case slugged a two-run homer in a 6-1 victory. Geran struck out four and walked six.Gonzalez led off the game with a home run, and Rob Russo and Matt Stillwagon batted in runs.
A day earlier, Brick American rallied from a 7-3 deficit with nine runs in the fourth inning and subdued Lakewood, 17-7, in a game stopped in the fifth inning by the 10-run rule. Pfeiffer got the victory, allowing two runs in five innings of two-hit relief.
In that fourth inning, Brick American belted four home runs — a three-run homer by Geran and two-run shots by Joe Baldasare, Russo and Case.
"After that inning, their coach passed our dugout while going to the coaching box and said, ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m shell-shocked,’ " said Baatz.
Case batted in four runs, one of seven players to knock in runs. Russo had three hits for two RBIs and Geran batted in three runs.