Raritan Advances In Monmouth County Tournament With Walk-Off Win Over Mater Dei

Photo above: Winning pitcher Jake Tennant delivering a pitch in Friday's win over Mater Die

HAZLET – Raritan’s junior catcher Alex Lamattina’s two out line-drive RBI single into right field drove in junior second baseman Dan Vanmeerbeke in the bottom of the seventh inning for a walk-off 5-4 win over Mater Die.

The win moves the tenth-seeded Rockets (8-2, 5-1) into the Monmouth County Tournament second round against No.7 seed Ocean Township – ranked ninth in the latest APP Top 10.

“Getting that first one out of the way is always good,” said Raritan head coach Jeff Struble. “We got to look forward to the next one – Ocean at their place – they’re a great team so we just want to go there a give our best effort.”

Vanmeerbeke – who was 3-for-4 with two doubles, two RBI and two runs scored - beat out an infield hit leading off the bottom of the seventh with the score knotted at 4-4. Senior third baseman Matt Birdsall then moved Vanmeerbeke over to second with a perfect sacrifice bunt that set the stage for Lamattina’s dramatic game-winning hit one out later. Lamattina finished 3-for-4 with that clutch RBI.

Sophomore starting pitcher Jake Tennant (2-0) was sailing along entering the top of the seventh having allowed just two harmless singles and a walk since giving up two runs in the top of the first inning. But after getting leadoff batter Mike Dunne to fly out to centerfield for the first out of the inning he put the tying runners on base via a single and base on balls.

Head coach Jeff Struble then took a trip to the mound to speak to his young hurler before deciding it was his game to win-or-lose.

“That means a lot that coach trusts me like that,” Tennant said of him being left in to finish the game. “That’s a Big confidence booster for anybody, especially me as an underclassman just finding my way; it means a lot.”

“I just wanted to give him a break, it looked like he needed a little breather,” Struble said. “I just wanted him to take a deep breath, clear his head and focus up.”

Tennant then served up what looked like a perfect game-ending double-play ball that shortstop Zack Thompson fielded cleanly, but instead of a soft toss to Vanmeerbeke at second to turn the double play he decided to make the play himself. After a moment of hesitation, he stepped on second for the force but his throw sailed over first baseman D.J. Dekis’ head allowing a run to score with Sean Turner safe at first.

“Our shortstop was being aggressive, you can’t fault him for that,” Struble said of the play. “We talked about it afterwards and he said he probably should’ve flipped it. He made a decision and when you do that you just want to go at it hard. But that’s something if we could go back in time we would’ve changed.”

Turner was now the tying run with two outs bringing up No.3 batter Kyle Dowlen, who drilled a game-tying RBI double into the right-centerfield gap scoring Turner all the way from first. With Dowlen now at second representing the go-ahead run, Tennant bore down and got cleanup hitter Kevin Olausen on a grounder to short to get out of the inning with the score 4-4.

“I just lost focus for that quick second and that’s on me,” said Tennant. “That’s a small thing I have to work on but 100 percent will improve my game if I do.”

Mater Dei’s two runs in the top of the first came on a Turner sacrifice fly and Pat Mastro’s RBI single into right. The Rockets got one back in the bottom half on Vanmeerbeke’s first double of the game and Tennants sharply hit RBI single into right field.

In picking up his second win of the season, Tennant went the distance allowing four runs (3 earned), seven hits, three base on balls with two strikeouts on 94 pitches.

“We got knocked out early last year and it left a sour taste in out mouth,” Tennant said. “So we wanted to get back and get a win and hopefully go far this year. We don’t get the respect we deserve so we just come out and play our game and show teams who we are.”

“Jake’s been throwing well for us this year as our third starter,” Struble said. “He comes in and does a great job keeping us in the game locating his pitches. As a young guy that’s what we need for him to step up.”

Raritan, although 8-2 and only a half a game out of first place in the Shore Conference Class A Central, has not gotten the recognition some other teams have and that’s just fine with Struble.

“I like that, under the radar is fine,” Struble said of his team maybe being overlooked. “We play hard; we play tough in between the lines. We preach going one speed – hard all the time. If we’re flying under the radar, that’s fine. We just want to take it one game at time and keep winning.”

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