By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
MARGATE — The Lenape High baseball team came into the Downbeach Coaches vs. Cancer Classic — formerly held at Mainland Regional but this year moved to Jerome Avenue Park in Margate — slogging through a 3-9 season. Seven of those nine losses were by three runs or less, and three were of the one-run variety.
Frustration was mounting, as the Indians came into Friday’s game against Holy Spirit having lost 6-of-7, including one-run losses to Bishop Eustace and Vineland, and a 12-10 slugfest loss to St. Augustine Prep, one of the best teams in the state.
Seniors Michael Kahn and Frankie McCartney knew somebody had to step up to start saving this season, and the both came through big time against the Spartans. McCartney — normally a pitcher but plugged into the lineup by coach Matt Woods to try to get some pop — blasted an early grand slam and Kahn went all five innings for the win as Lenape ran away with a 14-3 victory.
Kahn worked a 1-2-3 top of the first inning, then watched his offense put up five runs in the bottom of the frame. Four of those runs came on grand slam off the bat of McCartney — his first career home run.
“I actually called timeout before his at-bat and told him, ‘don’t try to do anything spectacular, get a first-pitch fastball and just try to hit a sacrifice fly to score a run.’ He did much more than hit a sac fly, as he scored four runs for us,” Woods said. “That was a huge offensive boost for us in the first inning. Frankie is primarily a pitcher, but he’s stepped up for us big-time offensively for us this year. He’s done a really good job for us.”
“Woods was telling me to just put something into the sky, I saw a fastball down the middle and I just swung, and it just took care of itself,” McCartney explained. “I was just thinking about putting the ball in play, and the rest just happened.”
The Spartans (11-3, 8-0 Cape-Atlantic League National), winners of four straight and 6-of-7, bounced right back in the top of the second, plating three runs to cut the deficit to 5-3. Sophomore Jack Murray, who came into the game hitting .367, smoked a two-run double to left-center and fellow sophomore Brendan Mooney followed with a sacrifice fly.
But from there, Kahn settled in, allowing just one hit the rest of the way.
“We had a rough second inning, Mike walked a couple guys, but then he settled in and dominated, and that’s what we needed. Mike really kept us in it,” Woods said.
“In the second inning, I lost it for a little bit, but you have to trust the guys behind you and know they’re going to make plays for you,” Kahn said. “The offense did it’s job and gave me a big lead, and it makes it a lot easier to pitch when you have a lead like that. We came back on offense, the guys put more runs on the board, and that made it easy for me. I just had to trust my guys, let (Spirit) put the ball in play and I know they’d take care of things behind me.”
“Every day, he’s the hardest worker we have,” McCartney said of Kahn. “It’s straight business with him.”
After Kahn wiggled out of that second-inning jam, his offense went to work again, as the Indians (4-9, 2-3 Olympic American) put up seven runs in the bottom of the second to give Lenape a 12-3 lead and put the game out of reach. C.J. Green’s two-run double extended the lead to 8-3, and later in the inning two more runs scored when Eddie Mitchell’s bunt was mishandled.
Lenape starts a three-game homestand on Monday against Olympic Conference and Lenape School District rival Shawnee, a 3-2 winner over Delsea in the previous Downbeach CVC game.
“We’ve had (tough losses) early in the year, and winning against a good team like Holy Spirit, that’s just the mental boost that we needed heading into this stretch of the season,” coach Woods said.
Added McCartney, “this feels great. I’m proud of these guys behind me, we’ve been putting in the effort every day. Honestly, we just have to keep playing hard and putting that effort in, and the rest will take care of itself.”
“We knew what we needed to do to win. We had lost a couple games in a row, but we knew we just needed to keep being ourselves and not try to do too much — don’t get too high, don’t get too low. We know we could have won a lot of these games and it’s tough when it doesn’t go your way, but we just try to flush it and move on to the next, take it day by day,” Kahn said. “Coach says it every day, the early part of the season is just to figure everything out, and later in the season, that’s when it really matters. With our young guys, for some of them this is their first varsity experience. As leaders, (myself and the other seniors) are just trying to set the tone. Hard work will pay off, we just have to stay within ourselves.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Lenape hosts Shawnee on Monday at 3:45 p.m. Holy Spirit travels to Lower Cape May on Monday at 4 p.m.
