BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer
Brookdale Community College’s baseball season may have ended without a national championship, but it did little to take away from the extraordinary season the Blues enjoyed on the diamond.
Johnny Johnson’s team finished its 42-4 season last week at the USA Baseball Complex in Millington, Tenn., playing in the National Junior College Division II World Series.
“They’re a good team,” coach Johnson said, “one of the top eight teams in the country.
“We played great baseball during the season and everyone was a little disappointed [with the tournament result],” he added. “These kids have no quit. They gave it everything they had.”
The Blues dropped their first two games at the World Series to be eliminated from championship contention. They lost to Parkland (Ill.) College, 14-6, in their first game, and fell in 10 innings to Copiah-Lincoln (Miss.), 5-3.
In the first game, the Blues fell behind 5-2 after one inning and had to play catch-up the rest of the game. Dave Lorber was 3-for-5 with three RBIs, and Damian Walcott was 2-for-3 with a run scored.
Robbie Hine was 2-for-4 with two runs scored, and Doug Ford was 2-for-3 with two RBIs in the loss to Copiah-Lincoln.
“We were just as good as the other teams, talent-wise,” said Johnson, who took the Blues to the World Series in 2002. “There are eight good teams in the tournament and you can’t make mistakes. You have to play the perfect game.
“It comes down to who is the hot team,” he added. “You have to do all three aspects [hitting, pitching, defense] well. We didn’t come through when we had to.”
In game one, Johnson noted, his pitching staff, a strength all season, didn’t keep the team in the game for really, the first time all year. The Blues battled back, plating six runs, but it wasn’t enough.
In the extra-inning loss, the Blues, who had made so many clutch hits during the season, couldn’t buy one. They left 12 runners on base, which kept Copiah-Lincoln in the game, allowing them to win in extra innings.
Still it was a memorable season for the Blues. They enjoyed a school-record 33-game winning streak during the season and won three titles. They captured the Garden State Athletic Conference championship, the Region XIX Tournament and the East District playoff to qualify for the World Series.
“The kids did a great job,” Johnson said. “I’ll miss these kids.”
There were plenty of postseason honors awaiting the Jersey Blues with third baseman John Marzella (Morristown) being named the Region XIX Player of the Year.
The sophomore batted .446 with 75 hits in 168 at-bats. He had 18 doubles, six triples, eight home runs and 55 RBIs. He also scored 41 times.
Catcher/designated hitter John Romano (Staten Island, N.Y.) and pitchers Bill Lawson (Panhandle, Fla.) and Matt Coulson (Freehold Borough) were All-Region First Team picks with Marzella.
Romano, who led the nation in hitting for much of the season, finished the year at .464 with 77 hits. He had 20 doubles, 11 home runs and 64 RBIs. He scored 59 runs.
Coulson was 9-0 with a 2.32 earned run average (ERA) over 58 1/3 innings of work, in which he struck out 36. Lawson was 9-1 with a .073 ERA. In 49 innings, he gave up just 29 hits and struck out 35.
Second Team All-Region honors went to second baseman Lorber (Freehold Township), catcher Nick Mullins (Brick Township) and shortstop Hine (Brick Township).
Lorber batted .368 with 20 RBIs and 51 runs scored. Mullins hit .364 with 16 doubles, four home runs, 36 RBIs and 37 runs scored. Hine finished the season batting .376 with 23 RBIs and 20 runs scored.
Johnson was named the Division II Northeast Coach of the Year.