Ghosted in Philly: Jersey Shore Carpenter Cup Run Ends in Extra-Innings

PHILADELPHIA –The Jersey Shore pitching staff was untouchable for the first 21 innings of its run through the Carpenter Cup Classic, including the first seven innings Saturday vs. Philadelphia Catholic in the tournament semifinals at Dick Allen Field in FDR Park.

Eventually, the dominant pitching staff met its match: the extra-inning ghost runner.

Once the automatic runner — the “ghost runner” according to some, including Philadelphia Phillies public address announcer Dan Baker — was introduced in the eighth inning, Philadelphia Catholic solved the riddle that has been the Shore’s pitcher, scoring six times in the final two innings to claim a 6-3 victory in nine innings and a spot in Monday’s championship game.

Both pitching staffs owned the first seven innings of the game, which followed the trend set by each during the first two rounds of the tournament. Both Jersey Shore and Philadelphia Catholic allowed one total run in the first two rounds of the tournament and neither allowed a run through the first seven innings on Saturday.

On the Shore side, it was the same group of pitchers that joined forces to allow one run through the first 14 innings of the tournament. St. Rose senior Peter Nolan pitched a scoreless two innings to start the game and Raritan left-hander Will Meehan fired two perfect innings with four strikeouts. Holmdel senior Jack Vallillo struck out the side around a single in a scoreless fifth and Toms River South left-hander Aiden Moylan pitched the final two scheduled innings while striking out three and not allowing a base-runner.

Nolan, Meehan and Vallillo each pitched in all three games for Jersey Shore and Moylan pitched in each of the last two, with none of the four hurlers allowing a run during the tournament.

Philadelphia Catholic matched the Shore quartet for the first seven innings and in the top of the eighth, the victors finally broke through thanks to the automatic runner. Rumson-Fair Haven Haven sophomore Brady Williams took the mound for the eighth inning after throwing two scoreless innings in Thursday’s semifinal win and gave up a ground ball by Ryan Wheeler to the left side of the infield on the first batter he faced. A throwing error allowed the runner to move to third, but Wheeler was tagged out after rounding first base, then trying to scramble back when he realized he did not have enough time to reach second base.

Owen Lockhart followed with an RBI single to rightfield to break up the shutout, then Williams induced a ground ball that pushed Lockhart to second. Luke Borgmann singled to rightfield and Lockhart made a bid to score, but Lakewood senior Cris Rosario threw out the runner at the plate from rightfield to end the inning with the score still 1-0.

The Shore was down to its last out with its automatic runner on second when Red Bank Catholic catcher Aiden Funk came through with an RBI single to leftfield that scored Williams from second with the tying run.

In the top of the ninth, Philadelphia Catholic loaded the bases with a single and a walk and scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch. Lakewood sophomore Abel Martinez took over after another walk loaded the bases and Philadelphia Catholic’s fourth pitcher of the game, Jake Gorman, greeted him with a bases-clearing triple to expand the lead to 5-1. Lockhart delivered his second RBI hit of extra innings with a two-out RBI double to bump the advantage to 6-1.

The three-run triple proved to be the difference after Jersey Shore mounted a rally in the bottom of the ninth. Red Bank Catholic junior Tyler Hager slammed an RBI double to start the inning and scored on an RBI single by Wall sophomore Luke Dana, who was thrown out at second base attempting two stretch his hit into a double.

Howell sophomore catcher Jake Liotti re-started the rally with a double and Rosario ripped a single to center for his second hit of the game to park runners on the corners with one out. Jersey Shore brought the tying run to the plate twice in the ninth, but Victor Corniel struck out the next two batters to end the game.

Philadelphia Catholic will face Delaware County Monday in the Carpenter Cup Classic championship game at FDR Park, scheduled for a 3 p.m. first pitch.

Jersey Shore played without its five players from Brick Memorial (Tyler Garbooshian, Dan Golembiewski and Brody Moore) and Point Pleasant Beach (Dan Lubach and Brody Powers) as they prepare to play in the NJSIAA Group championships on Sunday at Rutgers University.

 

Box Score

Philadelphia Catholic 6, Jersey Shore 3 (9 Innings)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Philadelphia Cath	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	6	7	0
Jersey Shore	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	11	1

Pitching

Philadelphia Catholic	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	PC
Steven Vanore	2	1	0	0	0	3	34
John Doogan	2	2	0	0	0	1	30
John LaSpada	1	0	0	0	1	2	15
Jake Gorman	2	3	0	0	0	2	36
Owen Lockhart (W)	1	1	1	0	0	0	12
Victor Corniel	1	4	2	1	0	2	22
Jersey Shore	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	PC
Peter Nolan	2	1	0	0	1	3	31
Will Meehan	2	0	0	0	0	4	26
Jack Vallillo	1	1	0	0	0	3	19
Aiden Moylan	2	0	0	0	0	3	26
Brady Williams (L)	1	3	5	3	2	0	27
Abel Martinez	1	2	1	1	0	3	22

Top Hitters

Philadelphia Catholic	Game Stats
Jake Gorman	1-2, 3B, R, 3 RBI
Owen Lockhart	2-2, 2B, R, 2 RBI

Jersey Shore	Game Stats
Tyler Hager	2-3, 2B, R, RBI
Luke Dana	2-3, RBI
Aiden Funk	2-3, RBI
Cris Rosario	2-3
Jake Liotti	1-3, 2B