The Ridgewood Maroons are no stranger to epic ballgames that call for a ton of runs.
Winning the North Jersey 1, Group 4 title in a 12-11 battle, Ridgewood’s approach at the plate remained the same on Monday in Ridgewood for the Group 4 semifinals.
Facing Bayonne, a fellow offensive machine, Ridgewood felt stressed, yet prepared for such a mighty matchup.
Trailing 13-11 in the bottom of the 7th inning against the North 2, Group 4 champs, Ridgewood rallied for what seemed to be its hundredth time of the afternoon.
Ryan Savitscus reached on an error and Alex D’Angelo doubled for his second hit of the day to put a pair of runners on and apply the pressure. Jack Nesland then laced a game-tying two run double to add to the dramatic affair at Veterans Field.
“I was sitting on the fastball for the first pitch. I kept calm and had to turn on it. It was a nail-biter inning for sure,” Nesland said.
Three batters later, Lucas Barker stepped into the box with two outs and the bases loaded.
The Maroons’ third baseman, already having a spectacular game, found himself down to one final strike. He didn’t want to send the game to extras, so he adjusted his approach on the next offering.
Barker, who went 2-for-2 with four RBIs and two runs scored, cracked a single down the right-field line. Bayonne was unable to corral the ball, giving the Maroons an unforgettable 14-13 walk-off win to advance to the NJSIAA Group 4 championship on Saturday.
“I really choked up on that final pitch because I had two strikes. I wasn’t trying to do too much there; I wanted to put it in play,” Barker said, who has 18 runs batted in this spring.
“This game was amazing. It was stressful all day but we have such a great team. Everyone contributes and we knew someone would get the job done.”
Ridgewood held a 7-0 lead after two innings of competition, but Bayonne clawed all the way back, scoring five runs in each of third and fourth innings to keep this postseason ballgame interesting.
The same five Bees, who are ranked No. 15 in the NJ.com Top 20, scored in each of those frames. Isaiah Phillips, Anthony Mancini, Aidan Paradine, Chris Valencia and Justin Hoffmann swiped home twice each.
Mancini muscled a two-run home run to highlight this rally alongside Phillips and Paradine each notching two base hits.
But Ridgewood immediately responded in both of those innings. Barker lofted a sacrifice fly RBI in the third and Jay Wittamaack and Bobby Kuenzler added RBIs in the fourth.
“We’ve really been resilient all year. They don’t quit, that’s the make-up of this team,” Ridgewood head coach Kurt Hommen said.
“We have a different hero every day, it seems.”
Wittamaack drove in three runs, including a two-run home run in the second inning. He also walked three times. Kuenzler and Nesland reached base four times apiece.
“Since the first day, we have gotten better. We have played better, we have been louder on the bench and this level of perseverance has built us up to contend for a state championship,” Nesland said.
Each Ridgewood (23-7) hitter made it safely on base at least two times.
“We knew it would be one of those games. We had to outscore them and just come back. There’s really been a growth within this group and it’s fun to watch,” Hommen said.
For Bayonne (25-7), Paradine went 3-for-4 with a hit by pitch and one RBI, finishing his season with 50 hits and nine three-hit games.
D.J. Jacobs and Milan Raparelli each scattered three runs batted in. Jacobs’ RBI hit by pitch gave Bayonne the lead in the seventh inning after Hoffmann’s game-tying double in the right-center field gap. Hoffmann scored three times.
Bayonne defeated Union, Phillipsburg, Westfield and Bridgewater-Raritan to make it to the group semifinals, finishing the season with 95 extra-base hits.
Ridgewood has taken down Morristown, Paterson Eastside, Passaic Tech, Bloomfield and Bayonne for a chance at its first Group 4 state championship since 2019. The Maroons will face Old Bridge in Hamilton.
“We’ve gotten hot real quick towards the end of this season. We have scored 58 runs this postseason and have shown we can compete with anyone,” Barker said.
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PJ Potter covers North Jersey baseball. He can be reached at ppotter@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @PJ_Potter.
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