By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
HAMMONTON — When you’re on the kind of roll like the one the Hammonton High baseball team has been on since the second game of the season, it feels like you can do no wrong.
The Blue Devils — one of the hottest teams in the state — won their 13th straight game on Tuesday afternoon, and they did it in dramatic fashion as sophomore Gavin Kovacs delivered an RBI double down the left-field line in the bottom of the eight inning to push Hammonton past Haddon Heights, 4-3, in the opening round of the Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic. The No. 15-seeded Blue Devils advance to take on either No. 2 Kingsway or No. 31 Collingswood on Saturday.
This year, the normally 16-team tournament was expanded to 32 teams. Teams already advancing to the second around along with Hammonton are (17) Cedar Creek, (9) Rancocas Valley, (28) Lenape, (21) Moorestown, (20) Paul VI, (4) Cherry Hill West, (14) Egg Harbor Township and (26) Northern Burlington.
Hammonton (13-1, 7-0 Cape-Atlantic League National) began the game by jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, but were in deep trouble later in the game when the Garnets rallied for four runs in the top of the fifth. Hammonton got a run back in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Jon Calderone, but the Devils were down to their last out the bottom of the seventh against hard-throwing Haddon Heights reliever Drew Harris. Leadoff hitter Kole Bagnell came through, however, lacing an RBI single up the middle to tie the game at 4 and send it to extra innings.
Dominic DeNucci worked around a two-out walk in the top of the eighth to set up Kovacs’ heroics in the bottom of the inning. Kovacs helped DeNucci record his first varsity win in relief of Jaiden Franchetti, who struck out six in six innings of work.
“It felt awesome. There’s nothing else you can really ask for. I didn’t really expect that, honestly. I thought it was foul off the bat, but I saw coach waving me around. Cole came up with a big hit in the seventh to keep us alive and Nucc (Dominic DeNucci) coming in and striking kids out. It was great. It was a great team effort. Everything is coming together for us really well. Everything is working out for us,” said Kovacs. “Lukas Guerrier and all the rest of the P.O.s (pitchers only) keeping us up on the bench at all times — energy is the biggest thing for us, we love using that and getting into other teams’ heads, staying positive and just past the bat. (That philosophy) has been working really well.”
“It started with Southern (on Saturday in the Coaches vs. Cancer showcase), we found a way,” said Hammonton coach Gregg Silvesti. “We were down to our last pitch, our last out, and Kole came through. Same scenario here. That’s the guy you want up in that scenario, he’s a heck of a player. This team is unbelievable, they play to the end every game. When you’re winning, it’s fun. We’re probably going to lose a game sometime, it’s going to happen, but these guys are tough. They overcame some adversity earlier in the year and they are a fun team to coach.”
Franchetti was cruising through the first four innings before Nolan Lachall started a four-run rally with a seemingly innocuous bunt single. An error followed and Greg Rutolo drove a two-run double off the left-field wall to tie the game, 2-2. Jake Griess gave the Garnets (7-5, 4-0 Colonial Liberty) a 3-2 lead with an RBI single and with the bases loaded Cameron Simon drove a sacrifice fly to center to make it 4-2. But Franchetti rebounded, limiting the damage with an inning-ending flyout.
“That could have gotten ugly in that inning but he kept it within one run. He did a heck of a job, he was hitting his spots. And he’s been good all year. He’s a senior and he’s been awesome,” Silvesti said. “I thought we were in trouble when (Harris) came in. I know all about him and he’s legit, but we have some hitters on this team and, believe it or not, they like to see harder pitching. It doesn’t make any sense to me, but they’d rather see that (velocity). They get fired up for it.”
Pitching has been the hallmark for the Blue Devils all year, as nine different hurlers have combined for a team ERA of 1.29. They’re averaging nearly nine strikeouts per game an have given up just 17 earned runs in 14 games.
“We have this sandwiched in between Cedar Creek games and we’re both fighting for the (Cape-Atlantic League National) division, but we have a deep pitching staff. We have a lot of seniors who can throw and they’ve been stepping up,” Silvesti said. “I knew we’d be able to pitch, but I wasn’t sure what the defense or offense was going to look like, to be honest. But everybody has been coming through. I don’t think these guys feel pressure, they just play baseball and have fun.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Hammonton travels to Cedar Creek today at 4 p.m. Haddon Heights hosts Sterling today at 4 p.m.
