RUTHERFORD − Jason Rosado came to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning with no out and two runners on, and he triggered a bench-clearing celebration.
Rosado's single to left-center field lifted St. Mary to a 4-3 victory over Rutgers Prep in Saturday's North Non-Public B baseball championship at Tamblyn Field.
“I just had to get the job done,” the senior second baseman said.
Top-seeded St. Mary (20-9) erased a 3-1 deficit by scoring two runs in the fifth. Senior Jacob Herrera's two-out, two-run single to center tied it, 3-3.
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St. Mary had taken a 1-0 lead in the fourth. Starting sophomore pitcher Blayze Conte led off with a single up the middle and later scored on junior Kyle Watson's infield single.
Senior Xavier Arana pitched two scoreless innings in relief to earn the win. Arana, the No. 9 hitter, also scored the winning run after leading off the seventh by being hit by a pitch.
“There were people here who almost wanted the win more than the kids, and I’m happy we delivered,” St. Mary coach Nigel Archibald said of Gaels fans who attended a game that began at 9:47 a.m.
Rutgers Prep (14-15) scored all three runs in the fifth for the 3-1 lead. Sophomore Cody Rullo had a two-run double to left-center and freshman Ethan Nepomuceno had a run-scoring double to right.
What it means
St. Mary advances to Thursday’s NJSIAA Non-Public B championship at Veterans Park in Hamilton and will face the South champion Gloucester Catholic. The Gaels last won a state title in 2019.
This is Archibald’s first season leading St. Mary after serving as a longtime assistant at other North Jersey schools, including, St. Joseph.
“There’s a lot of people here who support the program,” said Archibald, 39. “I’m the new guy, we’ve been building, new faces for me, but they came out today in true support for us, and I’m so thrilled. That’s what I want to be. I want to be a part of a program that has a little bit of culture, and people that believe in it, and that’s what they showed today.”
Key inning
It came down to the seventh, and St. Mary made plays at the plate, on the mound, and behind the plate.
Rosado was the third batter of the inning for the Gaels and all three reached base. After Arana was hit by a pitch, senior leadoff hitter Tyler Giordano drew his second walk of the game, then Arana and Giordano advanced a base on a wild pitch. Rosado pulled a fastball into left-center and the Gaels’ dugout emptied.
“I just had to put the ball in play, move the runners over, and try to get the run in,” Rosado said, “and that was pretty much it.”
In the top of the seventh, Arana and junior catcher Kyle Watson did the job. After Rutgers Prep senior James Jackman led off with an infield single, Arana induced an infield pop-up, outfield flyout, and Watson threw out Jackman trying to steal second.
By the numbers
The meat of the St. Mary order delivered with six of the team's eight hits. Rosado, the No. 2 hitter, went 2 for 4, reaching base in the first on a bunt up the first-base line in which the ball came to a stop on the chalk. Conte, the No. 3 hitter, went 2 for 3 with two hard singles up the middle. Herrera, the cleanup hitter, went 2 for 3 with singles to left and center.
“A couple of pitcher’s counts, and they fought hard, and the middle of their order can hit,” Rutgers Prep coach Larry Santowasso said. “We knew that before we got here today, and they put some decent swings on some decent pitches, and that’s what good players do.”
Arana threw a scoreless sixth and seventh. He allowed two infield singles and struck out one. In the sixth, during a middle-infield error, Conte took a late throw to first and threw home to Watson, who tagged the runner at the plate to end the inning.
“I just went in there and did a job and did what I had to do, got a win,” said Arana, who also singled and scored in the fifth. “Stay focused, pitch, get a win.”