By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
LINWOOD — Marco Christopher, a senior center fielder from Washington Township, has waited a long time for his chance to make an impact with the St. Augustine Prep baseball team. Mostly a spectator and pinch runner last year playing behind then-senior star Jake Meyers — who hit .385 with 27 RBIs for the state champion Hermits — Christopher earned his spot following a productive preseason.
That production carried over into the season opener, as Christopher blasted a two-run home run in the second inning to give St. Augustine Prep a lead it would never relinquish in an eventual 13-2 win over host Mainland Regional in a battle of two of the Cape-Atlantic League’s premier programs on Wednesday afternoon.
Christopher drove a two-strike pitch deep to left-center field, giving the Hermits a 2-1 lead in our Bunting Family Pharmacy Marquee Matchup on Mainland ace and University of Miami commit Jake Lodgek, who otherwise was very good. He struck out four in three innings, and that was the only hit he allowed. St. Augustine Prep then roughed up Mainland’s bullpen, scoring eight runs in the top of the fourth with the help of seven walks in the inning.
“I wanted to come in and take advantage of this opportunity and just perform, to make up for last year,” Christopher said. “It was a fastball, kind of up in the zone. I was late on the two fastballs before that, so I knew I had to get on time. I was just short, quick to the ball, and it worked out well for me. It feels great. We’re rolling right now.
“It gets tough at times,” he said about being a bench player last year as a junior, “but you just have to understand your role, play your role and be that team player, and once your turn comes up, take advantage of it.”
“Marco is a guy — No. 1, he’s a phenomenal kid, just as a person all around, he works his butt off. You can see from his physical stature, he got after it in the weight room,” said St. Augustine Prep coach Mike Ney, who won a state championship in his first season last year. “He’s a guy who was patiently waiting for opportunities, didn’t get as many as he would have liked, but he emerged on the basepaths for us last year as a runner. He can move. We knew who he was and what he could do. We went down to our trip to Florida and he got off to a hot start there. We’re excited to see what he can do — he’s a powerful kid, he can run, he can throw, he can play the outfield. He has all the tools there, it’s just going to be a confidence thing for him.”
The teams combined for 22 walks on a chilly day when pitchers found it difficult to get a grip on the ball — the difference was the Hermits’ pitching staff was able to get 10 strikeouts and work out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the third to preserve the lead. Starter Jameson Dobis went 2 2/3 innings, striking out five and walking five, and Jack McNamee got a huge strikeout to end the third after issuing a walk to load the bases in relief of Dobis.
After Lodgek exited the game, Prep (1-0, 1-0 Cape-Atlantic League American) racked up nine hits and 11 runs on Mainland’s bullpen.
“We’re not going to blame the weather. Their guys were throwing strikes. Unfortunately our guys who threw strikes in Florida couldn’t throw strikes today,” said first-year Mainland coach Joe Smith, who led Delsea Regional to a Group 3 state championship game appearance last spring and has more than 200 wins at Delsea and Williamstown. “I think it’s the first time in my coaching career where we threw more balls than strikes in a game. Is that even possible? I’ve never even heard of that. Against a team like that, you can’t walk anybody, let alone 12 guys, and they capitalized on those walks and hit the ball hard all over the field. That wasn’t Mainland baseball, that’s for sure.
“This loss is on me,” he continued. “If we get the hit (in the bottom of the third) and take the lead or tie it up it’s a whole different game because we would be bringing in different guys (to pitch). We didn’t get the hit with the bases loaded, and then the wheels fell off.”
The top of the fourth started innocently enough, with a single to left from Gabe Gillespie then a walk to D.J. Lloyd. Will Childs followed with an RBI single to extend the Hermits’ lead to 3-1, then things really went south for the Stangs (0-1, 0-1 CAL American). Three straight bases-loaded walks pushed Prep’s lead to 6-1, and Joe Peacock followed with a two-run single up the middle to make it 8-1. He would later homer as part of a 2-for-4, four-RBI day at the plate.
“We knew this was going to be a tough test. Obviously, they are well coached. They beat us three times last year and I don’t think we’ve scored a run on this field in our last three or four games here, so we kind of got that out of our system. We knew it was going to be a dogfight, we were prepared for their small ball and all those things,” Ney said. “My guys are ready. We obviously finished the season well last year and we’re trying to keep that momentum going, but I keep telling them that last year is last year and it’s time to start our own thing. I’m proud of them for swinging the bats the way they did. We have to clean up some of those walks — I just mentioned to them that the two runs they scored were off leadoff walks. We have a good combination of some returners, some veterans, with an influx of youth. It’s going to take some time to get clicking on all cylinders, but they seem to be buying in. It’s a tight-knit group, and it’s on them. The sky is the limit. We just have to know that everyone is going to bring their best against us so we have to be prepared every day.”
Smith cautioned fans not to get too sour after just one game. He said he likes what he sees from this group even though he’s only been coaching them for about three weeks.
“The kids are great, the school is great, we have a lot of backing from the parents and the administration. It’s going to be a good year,” he said. “These kids work hard, they are great kids, and Mainland has a great tradition.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Mainland travels to St. Augustine Prep today at 4 p.m.
