Muly, Harmstead Lead Manasquan To State Group II Championship

Game photos above courtesy of Tom Smith

TOMS RIVER – Manasquan again relied on its rock-solid pitching and sophomore third baseman James Harmstead hammered a Kyle Lisa offering over the leftfield wall at the 340 mark for a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning sparking the Warriors to a 7-3 win Saturday in the NJSIAA Group II final at Toms River High School East’s Raider Ravine.

The state championship was the Warriors first in 31 years and second overall.

It was as an improbable run through the playoffs that you will ever see for a team that at one point was 9-4 before losing six out of seven and saw their record drop to 10-10.

Following an extra inning loss to Rumson-Fair Haven on May 9 which lowered their record to 10-9 Manasquan head coach Bob Waldeyer assembled his team and emphasized the need to refocus, concentrate more and eliminate the little mistakes.

“He told us, ‘You need to go out there every day, compete, give 110 percent and not worry about the last seven games,’” said Harmstead. “We all knew we needed to step it up and win these games.”

Manasquan’s next game was a tough 1-0 loss to Pinelands in a Shore Conference Tournament first-round game when they were defeated by Pinelands ace Joey Ventresa but they haven’t lost since.

“I said to them, ‘You can either lay down and go out 10-11 or we can step up and try to make a run in the tournament, said Waldeyer, who played on the 1986 championship team. “We knew we were good enough to make a run and we had the talent. It was never a question of their effort it was just, were they going to make plays or not make plays and then our pitching really stepped up throughout the whole tournament.”

Starting pitcher Connor Muly and fellow ace Tommy Sheehan combined to give up just seven runs in six tournament games while going a combined 6-0.

“Not one bit, not one bit,” said Muly when asked if he thought this was possible. “Our confidence was real low then after we won our first state game we knew we were going to keep on rolling. Our offense woke up and our defense has been solid.

“We had some tough games down the stretch in the regular season but the both of us stepped it up in the playoffs,” Sheehan said. “We were dealing every game and did a great job in the playoffs, especially Connor.”

Harmstead’s two-run dinger added to an already 1-0 advantage and handed Muly a 3-0 lead.

“I got the 0-1 count, then saw two changeups go in the dirt and I was sitting fastball down the middle,” Harmstead said of his at bat. “I was sitting dead red fastball.”

The Notre Dame-bound Sheehan lined a one-out RBI single that put the Warriors up 1-0 in the bottom of the first. Junior Tommy Antonucci led off the game with a single up the middle and junior Ethan Thompson’s sacrifice bunt moved Antonucci into scoring position before Sheehan brought him home for the early 1-0 lead.

“James’ home run was huge,” Sheehan said. “When he hit that home run we got a lot of momentum going and carried it throughout the game.”

Muly, who entered the game 2-0 in 14-innings pitched with a 1.00 ERA in two state tournament appearances, won his third game of the playoffs allowing three runs (2 ER), eight hits, five strikeouts and one walk while going the distance for the third time in three state playoff appearances.

The Warriors added an unearned run in the bottom of the second on a passed ball after freshman Will Hopkinson singled, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored when catcher Mike Roma let a Lisa curve ball get by him.

The score remained 4-0 until the top of the third when Clayton Dangler and Brian Clark each drove in a run with RBI doubles to pull within two, 4-2.

However, Muly then retired 10 of the next 11 batters he faced entering the seventh inning.

By that point, Manasquan had given Muly an additional three runs to work with putting up three in the bottom of the fifth for a 7-2 lead.

In that three-run fifth, the Warriors had runners on second and third with two outs before senior catcher Adam Schreck legged out an infield single to short that Clark took too long getting the ball out of his glove on a very close play at first. Thompson scored easily and Harmstead came all the way around from second to score on a heads up play while things were getting sorted out at first.

Courtesy runner Damaso Jamie then appeared to be picked off first but first baseman Nick Geroldi air-mailed his throw to second into centerfield allowing Jamie to reach safely before freshman Alex Glavan drilled an RBI into center scoring Jamie for a 7-2 lead.

Muly then induced a 6-4-3 bases loaded no-out double play to help him get out of a seventh inning jam with only one run crossing the plate.

“I’m pretty upset I’m not coming back next year but this is a big one for us, it’s history, it’s like winning the World Series,” Muly said of his last game in a Warrior uniform.

“I’m kind of at a loss for words right now,” Sheehan added. “It’s just an incredible feeling being able to go out as a senior with a win like this, being group II champs. No one thought we would even win one or two games in the states so it’s really just an incredible feeling and I couldn’t ask for anything else going out on top.”

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