Caper Tigers win first, battle back to tie second game but Panthers take 8-6 victory
ERMA — After weeks of iffy weather, it was a beautiful evening for baseball April 14 when the Middle Township High School Panthers and rival Caper Tigers met at Lower Cape May Regional High School.
Had a line drive in the top of the seventh inning with one out on the board been a few feet higher, left or right, the Caper Tigers could have tied the game or even gone ahead. But some two hours after falling behind 5-0 in the first inning then coming back to tie, LCMR was that close.
Unfortunately, in a heads-up play, the Middle Township infielder snagged the line drive ball for a second out and quickly threw to second to catch Lower’s man off base for the final out of the game.
“That’s baseball,” LCMR head coach Ryan Slaney told his players after the 8-6 loss that saw the team climb out of the hole to tie the game in the top of the sixth, only to see the Panthers retake the lead and hold on.
It was Middle Township’s first win of the season after six straight losses, including falling to LCMR 6-5 the day before. That game marked the Caper Tigers’ first win of the season after losing their first seven games. Both teams feature young lineups.
“We did a great job jumping ahead,” Middle coach Chris Branigan said, then added of their opponents, “That’s a well-coached team. You know, it doesn’t matter what our records are; any time we play them, there’s always that rivalry. We’re going to get their best. They’re going to get our best.
“You’re not just going to put them away. They’re not going to roll over. Our guys did a good job,” he said. “We’ve been fighting for that first one. It’s been real important to the team. Tommy Yarson did a great job on the mound for us.”
Yarson pitched 5.1 innings and recorded eight strikeouts.
“Everyone was stepping up when we needed. It was an all-around team effort from everybody,” Branigan said.
“It’s always cross-town rival stuff,” Slaney said. “It’s always been that way between Lower and Middle and a couple other local schools. No matter who’s got a good, young, old, new, inexperienced, experienced team, it’s always a battle chipping back and forth.”
He pointed out both of the teams are rebuilding.
“It was that close. That’s what we were just telling to the guys. That’s baseball,” he said.
“We’ve been having issues defensively, giving up a lot of runs with the errors in the first innings in a few of our losses. That should have been a nine-pitch, no-run first inning for us, but because of just simple routine pop-ups and lack of communication, we spotted them five (runs),” he said. “There’s nothing worse than losing, let alone losing to yourself and beating yourself in a game. But, hey, hats off to (Middle). They kept fighting and kept the energy up and they came out on top today.”
Slaney said the goal for his team this season is to get to .500.
“Looking at our schedule, it is definitely harder on the front end. But listen, you never discredit any team who were going to play. Anybody can win any given day,” he said. “The second half of our season should be more competitive games for us, give us better opportunities to win, schools that are more on our level, so to speak. But listen, you never take anybody lightly and try to show up and play your best each day.”
The coach said another goal for the team is for his players to get better daily.
“As we talked about yesterday, they’re learning the game. It’s a lot for them for the first time, putting kids in new positions. As long as we get 1 percent better, I tell them each day, win or lose, that’s all we can really ask for.”
Slaney has two seniors on his roster, Caden Elwell and Colin Hewitt, no juniors, 10 sophomores and four freshmen.
Sophomore Ashton Ray, who had two singles in the game, got the Caper Tigers on the board in the top of the second inning. After getting on base, he stole second and then third, and when the third-baseman mishandled the ball, raced home and scored in a head-first dive.
Middle responded with a run in the bottom of the inning to make it 6-1 and Nick Rickards, another sophomore, got LCMR’s second run in the third.
The Caper Tigers kept the Panthers off the board in the third, fourth and fifth innings between freshman pitchers Chase Slaney and Connor Milligan, who came on in the middle of the fourth.
LCMR’s big inning was the top of the fifth when they scored three runs in one extended play.
The Caper Tigers had loaded the bases. On an infield hit toward third, one runner scored as the third baseman, who fielded the hit, tried to tag out the runner coming to third. The runner was ruled safe, then the third baseman overthrew to first, allowing two more runs to score, including sophomore Stephen Lutjen, who slid into home head-first on a close play to make it 6-5.
Sophomore John Bruner’s double in the top of the sixth scored Connor Milligan to tie the game 6-6. Middle rallied in the bottom of the inning with two runs to take the final 8-6 lead.
Elwell, Colin Hewitt and Cooper Miller also had singles in the game.
The day before, Ty Heacock earned the win on the mound against Middle, recording seven strikeouts. Elwell and Blake Sederland had two singles each and Heacock, Slaney, Ray and Lutjen each added a single in the win.
The Caper Tigers picked up their second win of the season April 16, beating Pleasantville 15-2 behind the pitching of sophomore Chase Larcombe, who had eight strikeouts.
Heacock hit a triple; Lutjen and Rickards each had two singles and Elwell had one single. Lutjen also had three RBI.
The Caper Tigers are at home at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 22, hosting Egg Harbor Township.
By DAVID NAHAN/Cape May Star and Wave
