St. Joseph baseball swept by Ocean City
OCEAN CITY—A dramatic finish saw Ocean City High School’s baseball team edge St. Joseph Academy 6-5 as both teams had four-run rallies in the final inning.
Ocean City led 2-1 heading into the top of the seventh, but St. Joe fought back to score four times and take a 5-2 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh, Ocean City put together a rally of its own, scoring four runs to win the game 6-5.
“It was a crazy game. We had some chances early, and we felt we were in good shape after taking the lead in the seventh, but give them [Ocean City] credit, they fought back,” St. Joseph coach Nick Core said.
Colin Ahart homered in the game for the Wildcats, while Jimmy Mantuano drove in two runs.
Ty Mercado took the loss in relief, walking three and striking out one.
A day later, Ocean City blanked St. Joe 8-0 behind the strong pitching of Duke McCarron, who tossed 6.2 innings of no hit baseball, walking four while striking out six. Dante Edwardi finished off the no-hitter for the Raiders.
McCarron also belted a two-run homer in the win for Ocean City, which took control of the game with four runs in the top of the sixth inning.
“We made some mistakes but he [McCarron] was on his game today. He walked a few kids, but when we had guys on base, we just couldn’t make anything happen,” Core said.
The two losses dropped St. Joe to 11-3 after an 8-0 start to the season.
“We’re scrapping. The schedule right now is really tough. Ocean City started slow this year, but they’re starting to put it together and they’re going to be tough to beat in the playoffs. But again, we’re in a tough stretch with some strong teams on the schedule. We might lose some games, but I believe it’s going to help get us ready for the [state] playoffs,” Core said.
St. Joseph should earn a high seed in the South Jersey Non-Public B playoffs, which begin later this month.
“We had such a great start, and maybe we won some games we should have lost, but we’ve played with a lot of confidence this year. These kids never give up and they believe they can compete with anyone,” Core said.
The cutoff for the state playoffs is May 21 and the tournament brackets will be determined on May 25.
Earlier this week, St. Joseph played at Mainland and hosted Holy Spirit, but those games ended too late for this edition. On May 11, the Wildcats visit Holy Spirit at 4 p.m.