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Shikellamy comes from behind to win

JERSEY SHORE — There is an old adage in sports that says that if you defeat a team twice during a season, completing the trifecta by winning the third game can be quite difficult.

After Jersey Shore’s meeting with Shikellamy in the opening round of the District 4 Class AAAA baseball playoffs, nobody knows that any better than the Bulldogs.

Following two regular season wins by Shore over the Braves, the adage became a reality for the Bulldogs Thursday afternoon as they were ambushed by the Braves for a 4-3 come-from-behind Shikellamy win in the opening round of the playoffs.

“That may be the case, but today we threw Timmy (Saar) at them and they saw our entire pitching staff with the exception of Saar during the season,” said Jersey Shore coach Mike English about the third time. “I thought we had a good game plan and a good approach to attack them, but I think it came down to (the lack of) situational hitting. A couple of hits here and there and it is a totally different ball game.”

Shikellamy took the initial lead in the second inning when they parlayed a walk and two singles for a run, but the Bulldogs came back to post single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings for its 3-1 lead.

Situational hitting can help win many games, but the absence of it can many times be a major factor in a loss and for the Bulldogs, that was the case as they stranded nine runners in the game, eight in scoring position.

“We (the coaches) talked about that in the third inning that we just can’t seem to get that big hit to blow the game open,” said English. “We do enough to score a run, but we can’t get the hit to blow it open and that has been our M.O. all season long. We have been able to punch runs across, but we just couldn’t put up that big crooked number by getting base hits in those crucial situations.”

Trailing 3-1 heading into the seventh inning, the Braves went on the warpath as they strung together four of their nine hits for three runs to regain the lead at 4-3.

The biggest blow in the inning was off the bat of Duncan Weir who smacked a deep fly to center to drive in the second and third Shik runs, Weir scoring what would turn out to be the game-winner with a solid RBI single to left by David Marshall.

“They ran into two fastballs, but hats off to them, they were able to square them up and put good swings on them,” said English. “Up until that point we had done what we were supposed to do, and if that ball (hit by Weir) was two feet shorter we make the catch and it is a different ball game. They made some plays and we made a bunch of good plays, but at that particular time, we didn’t get it done.”

Now trailing after surrendering the lead in the top of the seventh, the Bulldogs didn’t go quietly as they had the tying run on third and the potential winning run on at second with one out.

Rising to the occasion, Shikellamy left-handed pitcher Jared Palmer retired the next two Jersey Shore batters on a strikeout and a soft ground ball to second to preserve the win.

“This was a total team win for us,” said Shikellamy coach Derek Alex. “A lot of guys needed to step and we have been preaching to them all year. Our starting lineup is freshmen heavy and two of our biggest hits were by freshmen. These guys come to work every day ready to work hard, they never give up and it showed today that they are cardiac kids and you have to keep battling to the end. Kudos to Shore because that is an outstanding team. They put the ball in play like crazy and that pitcher (Timmy Saar) is a heck of a pitcher. They are scrappy and they made some big plays on us.”

Although Shore came up short in its final game of the season to finish at 14-6, the well isn’t by any means dry when it comes to players returning.

“We lose seven seniors and they did a lot to get us back to where we were just a few years ago,” said English. “I realize we didn’t win a title or even get to the (district) title game this year other than the PHAC, but they did a lot during the off-season to bring us back to where we were this season. They gave the program the expectation of doing big things again and when I first came on to the program, I am not sure we had it at that time. We don’t want them to hurt as a result of the loss because there is a passion there and that passion can only bode well for us in the future.”

Shikellamy 010 000 1–4 9 1

Jersey Shore 001 110 0– 3 7 0

Jaryd Palmer and Drew Balestrini. Timmy Saar, Brandon DePasqua (7), Nate Ewing (7) and Dylan Young. W–Palmer. L–DePasqua.

Top Shikellamy hitters: Duncan Weir, 2B. Top Jersey Shore hitters: Timmy Saar, 2B, RBI; Brandon DePasqua, 2B; Dylan Young, RBI.

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