Staff Report

The Ocean City High baseball team has a long history of great pitching, including a ton of great arms in the last dozen or so years. Going back to the likes of Josh Arnold, Zach Altieri and Sean Mooney in 2015, to Gannon Brady, A.J. Campbell, Tom Finnegan, Danny Nunan, Matt Nunan, Brandon Lashley — to most recently guys such as Duke McCarron and Dante Edwardi — it seems like the Red Raiders always have an outstanding pitcher or two coming up through the ranks.

The newest potential star on the hill for Ocean City might be current freshman right-hander Preston Pahang. He’s already third on the team in innings pitched with 25 2/3, and with senior Evan Taylor moving on to the University of Alabama in the fall there’s a real chance that Pahang could blossom into the team’s ace next year.

Head coach Andrew Bristol already has so much confidence in Pahang that he called on him to close out an eventual 6-3 first-round state playoff win over Cherry Hill West earlier this week. Not many coaches are turning to a freshman in a pressure spot in the state playoffs, but Pahang has proven all year that no moment is too big for him.

His control was a little off early on against the Lions, but once he settled in after a batter or two there wasn’t much West could do against him. He has a smooth delivery and runs his fastball into the low- to mid-80s. Being able to command that fastball — throwing it for strikes low in the zone — makes it difficult to hit and sets up his off-speed stuff.

Pahang only had to face five batters to record the final three outs in relief of Taylor, and he was able to work around an outfield error that extended the inning and allowed a run to score. He’s averaging more than a strikeout per inning this season and has allowed just five earned runs all season. He has the lowest ERA on the team, by far, at 1.36.

“He’s ice water. I’ve seen him, even before he got to us, and I have 100 percent confidence in him,” Bristol said after the win over West. “He never says a word. He’s going to be the next great arm here, for sure.”

WHAT’S NEXT: No. 9 Ocean City at No. 1 Mainland Regional in the South Jersey Group 3 quarterfinals, today, 3 p.m.

— Dave O’Sullivan, Staff Writer