In a season where the Nottingham High baseball team won the first NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III title in school history while also reaching the Mercer County Tournament finals, the Northstars could take equal pride in the loss that ended their magical season.
On June 7 in the wilds of South Jersey, Nottingham trailed Ocean City 10-3 in the top of the seventh in the Group III state semifinal. Before the game at Cumberland County College had ended, Nottingham had scored five more runs and had the bases loaded before the final out was made.
It’s not what you would call ending on a high note, but it was still an impressive note.
“We never gave up,” senior second baseman Mike Suosso said. “All the kids in the dugout believed that we could come back and win. We almost showed that at the end, that we could. We were just a little short.”
“We’re a team, we’re gonna battle ‘til the end no matter what,” sophomore first baseman Bryce Fremgen said. “We’re not going to roll over and just give them an easy 10-3 win. You just want to make it a game.”
“I really thought we were going to come back and win that game,” added senior catcher Joe Garey. “I was pretty proud of us. That was a pretty good moment when we got back to 10-8. We just didn’t have enough to come back. We made too many mistakes early in the game, leaving runners on.”
They nearly overcame those mistakes with a lot of fight. The kind of fight that Jim Maher instilled in the program when he took over as head coach two years ago.
Maher’s hiring was controversial, as there were some who felt he could not be hard on players like he was in the past.
It didn’t matter to some that he won a state title at Hamilton West, played for a state champ at Steinert, guided three straight Nottingham Babe Ruth teams to the World Series and won a collegiate league championship with the Trenton Generals two years ago. For good measure, he came back four years ago and guided the Nottingham 13-year olds to a Babe Ruth district title.
But too many people felt Maher’s stern methods would no longer work, since he had not coached at the high school level for over a decade.
He may have mellowed somewhat, but not all that much. He still came in feisty and proved that quickly last year by benching several returning seniors and starting three freshmen: Nick Houghton, Fremgen and Tom McParland.
That resulted in a 12-16 season after the Stars won five games a year earlier, and culminated with a stunning upset of second-seeded Steinert in the first round of the state tournament.
This year, the Northstars finished 19-11 and, after a 2-4 start, won 11 of 13 before falling to Steinert 7-4 in the MCT finals. Less than 24 hours earlier, they had dropped a 12-11 night game at Ewing in which they did not leave the field until 11:30 p.m.
A slight lull hit after the MCT final, as the Stars lost two of three before winning five straight to claim the CJ III crown.
Make no mistake, Maher didn’t turn cuddly and nice. There were some guys who still got aggravated at what went on and no doubt some feelings may have gotten hurt (and umpires chastised). But the bottom line is, he won again with a team of predominantly underclassmen.
And for most players, the toughness was a fair trade for the winning.
“He was always on us, always making sure we were in the game, always giving us the mentality that we always had the chance to win the game,” Garey said. “When you win he doesn’t get on you as much, but as soon as you start losing, it’s hell. That gives you motivation to win.”
“He turned the program around,” Fremgen said. “We went from a five-win team to (almost) a 20-win team for two years. He got in players who wanted to play baseball, not just roll over on games and not take it seriously. He wanted guys to play baseball. And you do have to take it seriously with him.”
Suosso got a taste of playing for Maher, as he was on the 13-year-old district champ four years ago.
“It is tough but it is rewarding,” he said. “It was good to have him as our coach. He put the winning mentality in us. It’s fun to win. It was well worth everything and a great way to go out.”
Maher also had a quality staff of Thomas Carr, Rob Nosari and pitching coach Mike Petrowski.
In the end, of course, it is the players who make the difference, and Nottingham had a slew of good young talent that came of age.
It started with a quality pitching staff of Houghton, junior Ronnie Voacolo and senior Ahmed Tahoun.
Voacolo emerged as the staff ace, going 9-1 with a 2.08 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 57.2 innings. Houghton went 6-4 with a 1.78 ERA and 52 Ks in 59 innings, while Tahoun was 2-3 with a 2.84 ERA.
“When Nick and Ronnie were on, they were pretty hard to hit,” Garey said. “When Ahmed hit his spots, he had good enough stuff to get swings and misses. T.J. (McKenzie) could also pound the strike zone.”
The leading everyday player was senior Sean McGeehan, who covered tons of ground in centerfield and hit a team-high .526 with 11 doubles, five triples, a homer, 20 RBI and a team-high 37 runs scored. McGeehan had a whopping 50 hits on the year.
David Scott (.386), Suosso (.348), Fremgen (.364, 17 RBI), Garey (.306, team-high 23 RBI), McParland (.318, 15 RBI, 25 runs), Brien Cardona (.354) and Sam Raymond (.313, 13 RBI) all hit over .300 for a potent Northstars lineup. Houghton chipped in at .276 with 11 RBI.
Garey felt a big key to the season was that the three sophomores gained valuable experience as freshmen.
“Last year, they helped us a lot as well,” he said. “This year, coming back and having the experience they had with us on the varsity team, having that state tournament in there last year, it really helped their confidence and our confidence. They have the experience that all of us older guys have, and they’re still young and still have a lot of time left to develop.”
One of the toughest wins of the year, if not the toughest, was the 8-5 triumph over Ocean Township in the CJ III final. The Spartans continually battled back but were held off by the Stars in the end.
“It was amazing coming home on the bus,” Fremgen said. “We were playing music. We were just celebrating. We were all happy for each other.”
According to Garey and Suosso, two of just three seniors in the starting eight, reaching the MCT championship game lit the fuse to the state run.
“We knew as soon as we got into the final that we were meant to be there and we had what it took to win the game,” Garey said. “The county final was a tough game against Steinert but after that we knew that we could go compete against anybody. And beating Steinert in the states last year let us know we had what it took to win.”
“We had the good MCT run and in the middle of the two tournaments we had a little bit of a rough patch, but we picked it back up at the start of the state tournament and it worked out,” Suosso said. “I just wish we had gotten to the actual state final.”
Nonetheless, they got a lot further than they ever imagined in two short years.
“It was great,” Suosso said. “It was not what I expected at the beginning of the year, but it was definitely a goal. It was great to go out in my senior year the way we did. We didn’t finish the way we all wanted to, but it was still great. I liked it.”
Nottingham High School’s 8 Nick Houghton and 10 Sean McGeehan pile on their teammates to celebrate the North Stars 8-5 victory over Ocean Township High School to claim the NJSIAA/Wilson Sporting Goods Central Jersey, Group 3 title at Ocean in Oakhurst on Friday, June 3, 2016. Photo by Martin Griff,
