If there’s ever a baseball program that deserves to celebrate after not winning two state championships, it’s the Hamilton Babe Ruth League.
The HBR’s 13- and 14-year-old All Star teams each went on gutsy runs in the Southern New Jersey State Tournament. Both fell into the loser’s bracket after their first games in the double-elimination tournament. The 13s, playing in Atlantic Shore, won five straight to reach the title game, while the 14s, playing host at Switlik Park, won six straight to reach the winner-take all final.
On Friday, July 15, the 13s fell to Atlantic Shore, 5-1, after forcing the “if” game with a 10-3 victory. That same night, the 14s lost to Millville, 5-1, after extending it with a 2-1 win.
“I’m real proud of my team,” said Justin Wiltsey, a pitcher/outfielder for the 14s. “We came back from losing our first game to the championship. That says a lot about my team.”
The 13s had the same pride and, while it looked as if that would have to be enough, they got a bonus on Sunday night, July 17, when manager Jim Petersohn was informed his team was invited to the Mid-Atlantic Regionals in Queensbury, N.Y., after the Maryland state champ dropped out.
Unfortunately, the 13s were unable to take advantage of the situation and on Monday the decision was made to not attend the regionals.
“We had to bail this morning,” Petersohn said on Monday afternoon. “I knew I had a few that couldn’t make it, but in the end it became too tough to put everything together for other families in this short turnaround period. Some parents couldn’t get off work after they rescheduled time off after we lost Friday night.
“If we knew we were going on Friday night, it would have changed everything. Rooms were off the charts and most were booked solid. It really is a shame, but we also didn’t want to go there with half the team and tarnish the successful season we had.”
The irony of the situation is that after the 13s lost their state opener to Atlantic Shore, Petersohn rented a block of hotel rooms in Queensbury in order to show his team how confident he was in its ability to come back.
Despite being unable to play in the regionals, as president of HBR, Petersohn took tremendous pride in all three all-star teams. The 15-year-olds advanced to the elimination bracket final before falling.
“I could not be prouder of Hamilton Babe Ruth baseball, overall to have three teams in the loser’s bracket final and then two teams that actually made it to the finals and force the if game,” Petersohn said. “And I will give a shout-out to Hamilton Little Lads (12-year-olds), who finished second in the states to make the regionals. So the future is very bright, including (manager) John Costantino bringing over a very strong Sunnybrae group next year.”
The brunt of the 13-year-old team was made up of last year’s Little Lads All-Stars that won district and state titles; along with an infusion of Sunnybrae players. The squad rolled to the District One title by winning four straight games all by the 10-run rule.
“That was a great feeling to win districts, and it was something we fully expected to do,” Petersohn said. “We had expectations. We’re not looking at districts now; we’re looking at this team as a state and regional contender year after year for the next few years. That’s the goal we’re putting in, a commitment level and workmanlike attitude on this team.”
In the state opener, Hamilton fell to Atlantic Shore, putting it in a must-win situation for the remainder of the tournament. The 13s reeled off five straight wins against Millville (9-4), Marlton (24-1), Atlantic West (9-4), Washington Township (11-1) and Atlantic Shore. In the final, Atlantic Shore bounced back to beat stubborn Hamilton.
“I’ve been reviewing the entire game in my head since 6 a.m.,” Petersohn said on the Saturday after the elimination game. “We made four very costly errors. Three of them were double play balls. The other team played solid defense and took advantage of our errors. It was uncharacteristic. One of the things we do very well is play good defense.”
Petersohn felt his team had a tremendous opportunity to win twice on the final Friday as he had his two best pitchers ready to go in David Zamora and Tyler Solymosi.
“Honestly, we really thought we had it,” he said. “Our pitching was lined up. Where do you go into a tournament where you lose the first game, win five straight and still have your One and One-A available? It just doesn’t happen.”
The manager quickly pointed out that those two were available at the end, thanks to pitchers John Gibbs, Zac Brown and Anthony Wilk stepping up during the five-game winning streak. Wilk, Zamora, Brown, Tommy Cramer, Solymosi, Jack Bouffard and Gibbs all hit over .400 in the districts and states combined.
“We also had Connor Luckie, who was probably the best catcher in the entire state,” Petersohn said. “He was a rock down there for us.”
The skipper felt that a great chemistry was created when the Sunnybrae players joined an already solid nucleus of Little Lads players.
“The Sunnybrae kids who came over were absolutely incredible,” he said. “They fed from our entire season last year. It was like they were almost there with us. We kept referencing that, about how being in the loser’s bracket and how you can come back and everything else.”
Aside from booking hotel rooms in Queensbury to show his confidence in the team, the 13s also got inspiration from coach Mike “Mo” Moceri. Despite honeymooning in Greece, Moceri continued to inspire the team from the banks of the Mediterranean Sea.
“Every day, he would give us another pre-game speech,” Petersohn said. “He was driving his mother and father nuts texting to see what we were doing. That commitment is unbelievable. He doesn’t have a kid on the team but he just cares. He was planning on a second honeymoon in Lake George next week.”
Rounding out the team were Nate Rodriguez, Noel Olivarria, Devion DeLeon, Ryan Taylor, Andrew Nixon, Jackson Wakeley and Solomon Rios.
“It really was a total team effort,” Petersohn said. “It’s unbelievable, they come to practice and want to get better every day. You find that hard to come by with 13 year olds with everything else going on in their world. They really just come and focus at practice.”
Unlike the 13s, Joe Beczo’s 14-year-old team did not carry the momentum of a District One championship into the states. Hamilton went 2-2 in the districts, and would not have advanced had it not been the host team for states.
After losing to Atlantic Shore in the opener, optimism was not running rampant among the Switlik gang.
“I thought we were two and out,” Beczo admitted. “When we left the districts and got beat that first game against Atlantic Shore, I thought our season was over. I thought this wasn’t going to be good.”
“I thought we were done, I thought we were gonna lose the next game,” Wiltsey said. “After that, we just said we don’t have anything to lose. Let’s just go out there, throw our bodies out there and give it our all. And then we just started to hit.”
With no margin for error, Hamilton defeated Washington Township (1-0), Mount Holly (6-0), Lawrence (5-4), Atlantic Shore (6-4), Mount Laurel (7-1) and Millville (2-1) to force the “if” game.
There were clutch pitching efforts throughout. Jason Diaz shut out Washington Township before Jared Werts had a phenomenal 16-strikeout game against Mount Holly. Nick Diaz and Ryan Beczo combined to beat a tough Lawrence team. In the rematch with Atlantic Shore, Travis Holonics allowed one run in five innings after not pitching in a month, and Beczo finished up. Jason Diaz threw six innings and Nick Diaz one against Mount Laurel to advance to the championship game.
In the Friday night championship opener, Wiltsey pitched an outstanding complete game. But in the if-game, Millville’s big hitter unloaded a two-run homer and Hamilton could not rally one last time.
“I think we started running out of gas a little bit,” Beczo said. “When you play every night, it’s tough. They played four or five games, we played eight. Once you get down in a championship game like this after we beat them the first game, it’s tough.
“After Jason Diaz threw the 1-0 game against Washington Township, we felt, hey, we can hang in close games. Our pitching was phenomenal in this tournament. In eight games, the most we gave up were six runs.”
Wiltsey felt the team got a boost when arch-rival Nottingham was ousted by Mount Laurel.
“Nottingham’s a good team, and Mount Laurel was a little shaky,” he said. “Then we beat Atlantic Shore, that gave us the boost to say, ‘We think we can win this and go all the way.’”
Rounding out Hamilton’s roster were Zach Posivak, Tim Toomer, Angel Ortiz, Keifer Goss, Logan Barber and Bryan Cooper.
“They rose to the occasion six times,” Beczo said. “If we went 6-2, in a lot of tournaments I’d be happy. I really can’t figure out what happened. They just started clicking. Once you start clicking, you know how it works. It’s just like a ball rolling and rolling. It just keeps going and going. Unfortunately, it didn’t roll the right way the last game.”
Beczo has been in baseball his entire life and has played with and coached some memorable teams. He admitted this one will have a special place in his heart.
“They gave it all they could,” the manager said. “They played their hearts out. I cannot be mad. I can say some things they did wrong, but let them enjoy it. Anyone who wins six must-win games in a tournament, you have to be happy. You figure you’ll have a bad one in there, but it didn’t happen until the end.
“This was a very good team, I like this team. They had fun, that’s what it’s all about. Hopefully, this will continue on next year. That’s what we’re hoping for. It’s great to play that much baseball in a short time but you do get tired. But when we lost against Atlantic Shore, I thought our season was over and we’d play two state games. We played eight in the states. It wasn’t a bad summer.”
,
Hamilton Babe Ruth 14-year-old All-Star Nick Diaz dives to make a catch in right field during Hamilton’s 2-1 win against Millville July 15, 2016. (Photo by John Blaine.),
