Baseball: Now Sussex Tech stands in Sussex Central's path to a perfect season

GEORGETOWN — The Sussex Central High baseball team has already won its first 13 games this spring.

But if the Golden Knights needed any more reason to believe, it’s right there on their roster.

Sussex Central has three players on this year’s squad whose fathers played on the Knights’ unbeaten state championship team in 1989.

There’s also the fact that Sussex Central’s head coach in ‘89 was Woody Long and this year’s manager is D.J. Long, although they’re not related.

“It’s a little weird,” D.J. Long said with a laugh. “We’re hoping it’s one of those things where it comes back around.”

One of the biggest challenges to the Knights’ bid for a perfect regular season — not to mention the Henlopen North title — might come on Thursday night when they square off with Sussex Tech (12-1).

The contest is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Sports at the Beach in Georgetown. With both teams 6-0 in the North, the showdown will decide the division title.

Oh yeah, and Sussex Central is ranked No. 1 in the state while the Ravens are No. 2 according to the Delaware Interscholastic Baseball Coaches Association.

Long is well aware that the North crown has eluded the Knights the last few seasons.

“Like I told the boys, it’s a special start,” Long said about the season so far. “But, at the same time, without the win, it’s kind of similar to what all the other years have been.

“It comes down to this game. We’ve got to get it done. If not, it kind of puts us back in the same boat. I think they’re locked in, I think they’re fired up for it.”

But Long said it’s clear that what makes Sussex Central better this season is its quality pitching depth. With sophomore Osiah Kelley leading the way, the Knights have allowed only 24 runs this season, the fifth-lowest total in the state.

In Sussex Central’s big 4-1 win over Cape Henlopen last week, Kelley throw a three-hitter with 10 strikeouts.

“We have more depth and our top three or four guys have been pretty dominant,” said Long. “We’ve never had such a dominant ace as we have this year. We’ve had some very good arms in year’s past.

“But I feel like Osiah, the way he’s been throwing, his big games over the course of the season have been very elite.”

Offensively, the Knights aren’t bad, either. They’ve reached double figures in runs seven times, including against some quality programs.

“Early on in the season, we weren’t very good offensively,” said Long. “But then we got Noah Burroughs back and hitting is contagious. He got going and it seemed like everybody got going.”

The members of this year’s team, whose fathers played in ‘89, are Dylan Briggs, Chet Mariner and Brayden Tidwell. The ‘89 squad finished 21-0 after winning the program’s only state title so far.

Whether that adds up to being a good omen or not, there are a number of good baseball teams in Sussex County this spring.

While Sussex Central, Sussex Tech and Cape Henlopen are all ranked among the best teams in the state. Delmar and Indian River are the top two teams in the Henlopen South.

“There’s always the powerhouses upstate,” said Long. “But it seems like when you’re looking at the rankings of the top 10, there’s a lot of Downstate teams in there.”

Extra innings

• Sussex Tech and Delaware Military have allowed the fewest runs in the state with 21 apiece.
• Smyrna is only 4-8 right now but posted an eye-catching 11-0 win over perennial state power Caravel at Frawley Stadium last week. The Eagles had an eight-run second inning , which included a two-run home run from Nate Oakley .
  Smyrna then fell to Cape Henlopen just 2-1 on Tuesday when the Vikings scored twice in the top of the sixth.
• Caesar Rodney (9-3 at the time) was ranked No. 9 in this week’s state coaches’ poll, moving up one spot from the previous week. The curious thing was that Delaware Military (9-2) — which lost to the Riders 1-0 on Saturday — moved up four spots to No. 5.
• Dover (7-5) takes a four-game winning streak into Thursday's 4:15 p.m. home game vs. Milford. That gives the Senators’ more victories than the six they had all last year while the winning streak is Dover’s longest since 2021.
• Delmar erupted for five runs in the top of the seventh inning to edge Indian River, 7-6, on Tuesday. The comeback win looks like it will give the Wildcats the Henlopen South title if they beat Sussex Academy on Thursday,