BY: Sean Moylan Sports Writer
As successful as the talented Bordentown Patriots have been over the past eight years, they still find themselves waiting to win the “big one” in the South Jersey Men’s Senior Baseball League.
This year the Bordentown Patriots made the move up to the 35+ American Division and they thought they had the team to win it all. Unfortunately, they ran into a hot Tabernacle baseball team with a scorching hot pitcher named Shawn Senior in the league championship series.
Senior struck out nine and pitched Tabernacle to a 5-1 victory over Bordentown in Saturday’s championship game at Gilder Park. Previously, the Patriots had split a pair of playoffs games with the Tigers to set up Saturday’s big match-up.
“Shawn Senior beat us both ways (pitching and hitting) because he also hit a big solo homer,” said Kurt Appleby, who helps run the Patriots’ baseball program. “This guy just mowed us down.”
While Appleby, one of the Patriots’ best hitters, did manage to single and steal a base in the first frame, he didn’t have any luck against Senior the rest the way. And according to Appleby, Senior featured an equally nasty breaking pitch to go along with his impressive heater.
Despite the loss, right fielder Vince Tripodi had an amazing game for the Patriots. Not only did he single and score the Patriots’ only run of the game on a Dave Lebak fourth-inning base hit, he also made an unbelievable throw in the sixth to nail a Tabernacle baserunner at the plate by 15 feet. Tim Tyler and Tom Walls had Bordentown’s only other base knocks in the contest.
Mound workhorse Keith “Rat” Trout started the game for the Patriots and pitched seven strong innings (five runs allowed). Then Walls and Mark Hoppe each came in and gave Bordentown a solid scoreless inning of work on the hill.
With a tropical storm coming into the area, many players and fans were surprised to see Bordentown and Tabernacle get the game in at all on Saturday.
“We were all pretty skeptical. It was overcast but we beat the storm and we were done by noon,” said Appleby.
After posting a fantastic 15-6 overall record and winning a divisional title, the Patriots had to look on as Senior and Tabernacle rained on their potential parade to a championship.
“This is our eighth season and we’ve made it to the final weekend four times but we’ve never won it all,” said Appleby, who is currently playing fall ball for a team out of Delran, but already misses the guys on the Patriots. “A lot of us grew up together and have played together for a long time.”
Chemistry is not the Patriots problem. Bad luck is. They just never seem to get a break. In fact, Senior actually pitched in at least parts of all three playoff games versus Bordentown. Hopefully the Patriots luck will change next season and they’ll be able to match their ace Jason Medina, who is expected to fully recover from a broken arm, against Senior. Still, the Patriots did have a fantastic first year in 35+ American Division.

