By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
OCEAN CITY — The Pitman High baseball players had all kinds of room to stretch out on the long bus ride to Ocean City for the first round of the Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic. There were only nine players on the bus, as two others showed up just before game time and a few were away on the senior class trip.
The Red Raiders’ dugout, in stark contrast, was overflowing with players as most of the junior varsity squad was on hand in uniform. It was a matchup of a strong Group 3 program that is used to winning tournament and playoff games going against tiny Pitman — a school that has less than 400 students.
The Panthers knew the odds were stacked against them, but they didn’t care. They are playing a loose, carefree brand of baseball this year, and they are believing in themselves. Undermanned — it didn’t matter, the Panthers came to play. Starting pitcher Hudson Rue was terrific, allowing just four hits in 5 1/3 innings while also driving in the game’s only run as 23rd-seeded Pitman beat No. 10 Ocean City, 1-0, to advance to the second round. Shockingly, the Panthers will host the second round as No. 26 Northern Burlington upset No. 7 Cherokee in the first round. The tournament expanded from 16 to 32 teams this year, allowing for a host of opening-round upsets.
Nine teams seeded No. 15 or higher advanced to the second round, including No. 30 Washington Township, which beat No. 3 St. Augustine Prep 17-5 on Wednesday.
Pitman (11-4, 4-1 Tri-County Classic) managed just three hits the entire game and struck out 16 times, but did just enough to slip past Ocean City, which had several chances to tie the game in the later innings but couldn’t come up with the big hit.
“We had a full bus with nine guys on it, but we were like, ‘let’s go!’ It was a lot of fun to win a game like this. We know about their top guys — (Evan) Taylor and (Colin) Thompson are very good baseball players. We tried our best to pitch around guys like that. They put the ball in play but we were able to get them out, so it worked out for us,” said Panthers coach John Hopely. “We prepared to win, obviously. That’s what we came to do. We knew the circumstances with playing a bigger school and one of the blue-blood programs in South Jersey. We rolled up here with 11 guys and said, ‘let’s get after it,’ and we did. We didn’t have the offensive output we anticipated, but you push one run across in a playoff type of game like this, that’s all you need sometimes. Huddy was dominant on the mound and we’re glad we have a guy like (Nick) Watson to close it out.”
Rue worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the first and left two runners stranded in the second before helping himself by driving in senior Stephen Devanney with an RBI single to left in the third inning. Rue and Watson made that lone run stand up, as Watson stranded the tying and winning runs at second and third in the bottom of the seventh by inducing a game-ending ground out.
“I was just trying to keep them off balance. I know they have a few hitters who are big-time hitters, so I tried to keep them off balance with the change-up and curveball,” Rue said. “Our coaches called a great game today and I have to give credit to my fielders, they were outstanding. It really was a team effort. It wasn’t just one guy.”
“Huddy, he pitched his tail off,” Devanney said. “My sophomore year in the Diamond Classic, he pitched great. We lost, 10-0, but after he came out is when it kind of went sideways. He’s built for big games like this.”
Before scoring the game’s only run, Devanney became Pitman’s all-time hits leader, lacing a single for his 124 th career hit, passing 2013 graduate Trevor Datz, who finished his career with 123.
“We’re one of the smallest Group 1 schools — and one of the smallest schools in New Jersey — so it’s tough. We took a bus today with nine players on it and (Ocean City) had about 40 kids. It just shows we’re close and have great chemistry. Even though we’ve haven’t been playing the greatest teams, we’ve been in some tight games so we were ready for this,” Devanney said. “This is one of the biggest wins I’ve been a part of with Pitman baseball. This was a playoff atmosphere and it was great to get the win here.”
Pitman snapped a two-game losing streak after dropping a pair of games in the Joe Lang Classic, but the Panthers have won five of their last seven games. The win over Ocean City is perhaps their best of the season so far.
“I think this gives us a little bit of respect. As a Group 1 team, it’s hard to get respect, especially in the Diamond Classic, you’re going up against all these Group 4 and Group 3 teams,” Rue said. “I think this gives us some respect, and some confidence going forward. This is a massive win for our confidence. We’ve been locked in from the get-go and I’m proud of my guys. We brought the most energy we’ve had all year, so that was awesome.
Added Hopely, “we needed a signature win and I think this qualifies as one, for sure. We did beat Woodstown earlier in the season and this ranks right up there with that. It gives us a lot of confidence. We’re actually going to host a second-round game, we’ll play Northern Burlington on Saturday, and we’ll do it again. Some seniors will be back from the senior trip so they’ll be available.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Pitman hosts Northern Burlington on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the second round of the Diamond Classic. Ocean City travels to Lower Cape May today at 4 pm
