By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher LINWOOD – The Mainland Regional High School baseball team has had an up-and-down season, never winning more than two in a row but never losing more than four in a row. The Mustangs, however, certainly have picked the right time to be playing some of their best baseball. Coming off a grueling 13-inning win over Delsea Regional in the opening round of the state playoffs and a 4-3 regular-season loss to Oakcrest, Mainland needed a solid pitching performance. It got just that from Jack Loefflad. Loefflad was perfect through 5 2/3 innings and allowed just one hit through 6 1/3 as the 11th-seeded Mustangs survived a wild finish and beat No. 14 Burlington Township (11-11) 3-0 on Thursday to advance to the South Jersey Group 3 semifinals. That’s what the playoffs are all about, survive and advance. “Everybody was saying we would be thin on pitching after that 13-inning game, but we were comfortable because (Jack) has done it before,” Mainland coach Billy Kern said. “He’s won big games for us, so we felt good about our guy. It was just going to be could we scratch a couple of runs across, but that’s what it’s been all year.” 
Junior pitcher Jack Loefflad allowed just one hit in 6 1/3 innings as Mainland beat Burlington Township 3-1 on Thursday to advance in the state playoffs. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O’Sullivan) “I was really comfortable out there today. I was lucky that I had all my pitches working today and I tried to use all of them to keep them off balance,” Loefflad said. “Our whole team has really been in a slump all year. We’re a lot better than a .500 team and it’s really good to come into the playoffs and show what we have, and I think we’ve done that so far.” Loefflad’s counterpart, Falcons senior David Viselli, was equally impressive. Through the first five innings, Mainland (10-12) had managed just one run, which came in the bottom of the fourth on a 2-out RBI single by Nick Droboniku. Matt McLaughlin walked to start the inning, stole second and was sacrificed to third by Kyle Gerace, setting the table for Droboniku. “We wanted to strike first and we got a guy in scoring position with a man on third with less than two outs and we didn’t get it done, but then Nick came up. In playoff games someone has to come through and Nick stepped up there,” Kern said. “I was just trying to do whatever I could to get that run in,” Droboniku said. “With two outs I just tried to put the ball in play and make something happen. Both pitchers were throwing a great game, so any run I could get in would help.” The Mustangs tacked on a pair of runs in the sixth, as Drew Riska walked, was sacrificed to second by Droboniku and scored on an infield error, and Nick Trifiletti drove in courtesy runner Neil Hutchison with an RBI single down the left-field line. Loefflad looked to be in position to close out the shutout in the top of the seventh after Gerace made a great play in the hole at shortstop for the first out, but that’s when things got a little squirrely. Loefflad walked the next two batters and Gerace came on in relief. Gerace struck out the next two batters, but a wild pitch on the second strikeout allowed Zack Schuyler to reach first, loading the bases. 
Nick Droboniku drove in Mainland’s first run and later had a key sacrifice bunt that set up another run during the Mustangs’ win. Burlington Township’s Jay Vincent then sent a high pop-up on the infield. With two outs, Dennis Stewart, who was on third, scored easily. Schuyler was hustling around to third, and when the ball was misplayed, Bobby Palentchar, who was on second base, got hung up between third base and home. McLaughlin, who was inserted at shortstop after the pitching change, chased down Palentchar at the plate and applied the tag to end the game. “I was real excited to compliment seven innings of clean baseball and how well they played defensively, but you have to just breathe a sigh of relief and be happy you escaped,” Kern said. “Because that would have been second-and-third in a 3-1 game.” “That’s not the way we wanted to get the last out, but it worked in our favor,” Droboniku said. “This year was kind of crazy. We lost games we should have won and we won games against some great opponents. We knew we had a good team coming in (to the playoffs) it was just a matter of were we going to execute, and so far we have.” Kern said a No. 11 seed making the semifinals of the sectional tournament shouldn’t be surprising, at least not to Mainland fans. “It’s a little bit vindicating of what I’ve been telling them all year, ‘you’re better than you’re playing, you’re a good team. We have to put it together,'” Kern said. “We’re playing the right kind of baseball at the right time of year.” Mainland will take on No. 2 seed Hammonton, a 3-0 winner over Oakcrest, in the semifinals on Tuesday at Hammonton. Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
Loefflad, Mustangs advance in playoffs despite late scare from Burlington Township
