By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
PITMAN — At the end of April, before the Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic began, the Haddonfield High baseball team was sitting at 9-4. The Bulldawgs’ best non-Colonial Conference win was against Lenape, a team that is 7-11 right now, and they had lost to a Shawnee team that is one game above .500 at this point, and a Rancocas Valley squad that is right at the .500 mark.
Nobody was worried about the No. 24 seed in the expanded Diamond Classic — but people are starting to take notice now, as Haddonfield had one of its best days in years on Saturday at Alcyon Park. The Dawgs knocked off two of the top 10 teams in the state in succession, beating No. 9 St. Augustine Prep, 4-3, in the tournament quarterfinals, then turning around a couple hours later and beating No. 3 and previously undefeated Cherokee, 5-2, in the semifinals.
That sets up the unlikeliest of championship games, as Haddonfield will take on 15th-seeded Mainland Regional on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Alcyon Park in Pitman.
A couple years ago, Haddonfield wouldn’t even have been in the tournament, as it was the top 16 teams in South Jersey, but now it has expanded to 32 teams. The Dawgs have been riding some hot pitching, as they allowed just five runs in 14 innings to two of the top offenses in New Jersey.
Haddonfield got a tremendous start from junior southpaw James Lowe in the win over St. Augustine Prep, as he allowed just five hits and two earned runs through six innings of work. He fanned four and walked just two.
The Hermits rallied, however, cutting the deficit to 4-3 on an RBI single by Rutgers University commit Joey Erace off senior reliever Martin Foust. Prep had Foust on the ropes a few batters later, as an intentional walk loaded the bases for two outs, and Foust was staring down Marco Christopher, St. Augustine’s biggest power threat and a guy who is hitting .354 with four home runs and 21 RBIs this season.
Christopher ran the count to 2-2 before Foust was able to get him swinging on a high curveball to end the game and send Haddonfield on to the semifinals.
“It was really nerve-wracking going out there. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I just take a deep breath every time I go out there, and every time I come set I just let all the nerves go, I clear my mind and do what I’ve been taught to do my since I was a little baby,” Foust said. “We have our pitching coach call all the pitches and I have 100 percent faith and confidence in him. What he called has worked before, so I had no reason to question it now. I just threw what he called. Honestly, it was just experience. I’ve been in situations like that before, having to come through in the biggest moments, and I think I’ve learned from all those times. I’m used to it.”
“I had full confidence,” Rowe said of turning the ball over to Foust in the seventh. “I knew he would close the door, that’s what he does. I definitely had a lot of nerves, but I knew he would get the job done.”
“I said it after the Schalick game (in the opening round of the Diamond Classic on May 1), when he pitched a really good game, if I could play with nine Marty Fousts, I’d play anybody,” said Dawgs coach Justin Singleton. “He’s just a tough kid. He’s always prepared; he’s the same kid every day, whether it’s practice or a game. We felt good with him out there. They have a great lineup and they were in the middle of it, but we had to make pitches to everybody, which we were able to do today in most spots. It was a great job by our pitching coach, Dan Brown and (catcher) Griffin Clarke behind the plate handles that pitching staff in a great way — maybe the best in the state at that, as far as I’m concerned; I know I’m biased. But you have to give a lot of credit to James and Marty for the way they threw the ball today.”
Rowe was outstanding as well, as he allowed just one extra-base hit all day, a solo home run to Prep second baseman Brady Jackson in the fifth inning that cut Haddonfield’s lead to 3-2.
“I knew I had a tough opponent, but the goal was just to throw strikes and trust my defense, and that’s what happened,” Rowe said. “I knew they could hit fastballs, so I mixed it up a lot. I probably threw half curves and half fastballs, and they couldn’t really adjust to the speed. It had them off balanced, and that led to a lot of weak contact.”
If Haddonfield didn’t show it belonged among the South Jersey elite with the win over St. Augustine Prep, it certainly did later in the day when the Dawgs handed Cherokee its first loss, snapping the Chiefs’ school-record 20-game win streak. Will Solak and sophomore lefty Jackson Gayer combined to limit Cherokee to just two runs on six hits while striking out four and working around five walks in the semifinal victory. Rowe, Dan Keenan and Leo Nelson combined for three of Haddonfield’s eight hits and four RBIs.
“We treat every game the same, we try to do the little things right and just play 21 outs,” Rowe said.
Added Foust, “I think everyone is starting to realize we’re a really good team and we can play with anyone. I’ve been saying it since the year began, and some of the seniors as well, but now some of the younger guys are starting to see it and are starting to really believe and buy in. They are starting to really turn up their performances now that they have that confidence in themselves.”
“This is great,” Singleton said after the win over St. Augustine Prep. “The biggest game is always the next game. We’re excited to be here and excited for the opportunity.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic championship game, Tuesday, 6 :30 p.m. at Alcyon Park in Pitman. No. 24 Haddonfield vs. No. 15 Mainland Regional.
