By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
MARLTON — Anthony Cataldo, Eastern Regional High’s junior catcher, cranked a Brett Gable fastball deep to left-center field for a two-run home run on Thursday afternoon at Cherokee High.
Just three batters in and the top-seeded and host Chiefs were down, 2-0, in the South Jersey Group 4 championship game. Gable — a senior Harvard University commit and one of two Chiefs aces along with Rutgers commit Henry Radbill — knew his team was going to be in for a dogfight against the two-time defending sectional champions.
“Today was a battle. Eastern has an awesome program and we’ve been battling them during my four years here. They are definitely fun to go against. You have to have that ‘dog’ mindset and just go and compete. We feel like we’re a team on a mission,” Gable said. “I was definitely fired up. You have to have intensity, and with that back-and-forth, you want to go out and win the ball game.”
Gable settled in and went on to strike out 11 batters in his six innings of work, and sophomore lefty Cooper Burti came on in relief in the seventh to shut the door on a 5-4 win by Cherokee. The Chiefs, who won their sixth sectional championship, advance to the Group 4 state semifinals on Monday against Hillsborough.
Burti played a huge role on offense, too, as he drilled a solo home run in the bottom of the first that shaved the Vikings’ lead in half. That was part of a three-run rally that included an RBI double by Brett Jackson and a run-scoring single by senior catcher Mason Kelleher.
The Chiefs (25-3) never trailed again, as they added a run in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by Brett Chiesa and another by Steve Barbagiovanni in the bottom of the third. That gave Cherokee a 5-2 lead, but Eastern wasn’t done yet.
Logan Dawson — in the final at-bat of his tremendous career at Eastern — tripled to start the sixth inning, and Vinny Melillo followed with a two-run home run to right that he wrapped around the foul pole. That cut the deficit to 5-4, but Gable got out of the jam with a pair of strikeouts and some help from Kelleher, who caught a baserunner trying to steal second.
“Seeing that ball go over the fence, that wasn’t the best feeling in the world, but I knew I had a bunch of dogs behind me who would make the plays,” Gable said. “We went out there to compete — I’d prefer to have more of a lead, but when you have two of the best teams in South Jersey going at it, you couldn’t ask for anything better.”
Eastern (20-7) nearly tied the game in the seventh, as junior Sean Karbach launched a deep fly to right that was caught at the fence, and Burti slammed the door with a ground out and a strikeout. The final strike was a nasty curveball that sent players wearing orange-and-white spilling out onto the field in celebration.
“It was awesome. After that strike, I knew I could go celebrate with my team, and especially with Cooper. He shoved that last inning. We battled a few injuries. Coop went down with an ankle injury earlier in the season and he came back and shoved during that last inning. It’s a great feeling winning this as a senior,” Kelleher said. “I trusted my guys, Nos. 1 through 9, we all can hit. We knew we could score runs if we put together good at-bats, and guys came through in the clutch.
“It’s been four years of hard work,” he continued. “I love everybody because we came together as a team. We knew from the beginning, in the weight room in September when the school year started, we had goals — and this was sure as hell one of them. The next one is states.”
“It’s always a great game against them,” Chiesa said. “We knew it was going to be battle going into it. Our approach was to come out early, be aggressive, try to hit the ball on a line and get timely hits. This feels amazing, so surreal. We can’t wait to keep going.”
Facing tough battles against Egg Harbor Township and Vineland just to get to the finals put a dent into Eastern’s pitching staff, but sophomore Will Martin held his own through four innings and kept his team in the game. The Chiefs’ southpaws were the difference, however, as Gable and Burti limited Eastern to just three hits while combining for 12 strikeouts.
“We have one of the best pitching staffs in the state,” Kelleher said. “I’ll argue that all day — I think we have THE best pitching staff, and it’s awesome to catch them.”
“We have an amazing pitching staff, they’ve been dogs for us all year,” Chiesa added. “I think we have the best pitching staff in the state. I wouldn’t want anybody else up on that mound other than our guys. I’m so proud of this team and all that we’ve done.”
Gable said he had no problem turning the ball over to a sophomore with the sectional championship on the line.
“I couldn’t be more comfortable with him. He’s built for this,” Gable said of Burti. “He loves the spotlight. Put him in a big moment and he’ll succeed. As soon as we put him out on the mound, I knew we had it.”
Cherokee started the season on a 20-game winning streak, but then got upended by Haddonfield in the Diamond Classic semifinals, and lost its next game, 2-1 to Eastern. Since then, however, the Chiefs have 5-of-6, including four in a row.
“We’re at our healthiest right now,” Chiesa said. “We went through a little lull, had a couple of injuries. But we feel great now and we’re excited to keep going and hopefully bring the state championship back to Cherokee.”
“We’re a bunch of competitors, and that’s the biggest thing. That’s the word I’d use to describe this team,” Gable added. “Hopefully we’ll have two more games. The job’s not finished.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Cherokee vs. Hillsborough in the Group 4 state semifinals, Monday, time/location TBD.
