Baseball Teams With Impressive Seasons

Some Losing Playoff Baseball Teams With Impressive Seasons

The NJSIAA baseball tournament begin on Monday so any loss from here on and in and it’s time to wait until next season.

Here are some top teams that have already seen their seasons end (other than makeup games) after opening round playoff losses. Group 4 especially had some low seeded teams come up big.

Kingsway
The Dragons earned a berth in the 16-team Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic, won a first round game, 7-2 over Ocean City before falling in the second round, 3-2 to defending state Group 3 champion Mainland.
Kingsway was seeded fifth in the extremely deep South Jersey Group 4 tournament and lost a first round game to a suddenly hot Washington Township team, 9-0.
That gave Kingsway a 15-10 record.

Rancocas Valley
The Red Devils fell to another hot team from the Olympic Conference American Division, losing to Cherokee, 11-0 in the first round of the SJ Group 4 tournament.
Rancocas Valley was the No. 4 seed and Cherokee the No. 13.
Rancocas Valley was among the top teams in the area during the first part of the season, but the Red Devils loss to Cherokee was their sixth in the last seven games, dropping their record to 11-10.

Millville
The Thunderbolts dropped to 11-11 after a 3-2 first round South Jersey Group 4 playoff loss to a Top 10 Cherry Hill West team. Millville may be the most deceptive .500 team in South Jersey.
Millville owns a 4-3 win over South Jersey’s current consensus No. 1 team Bishop Eustace. In that game, pitcher Ryan McIsacc struck out eight in 5 2/3 innings to get the win.
The Thunderbolts also own a 3-2 win over Tri-County Royal Division champion Williamstown and beat suddenly hot Washington Township, 7-4 earlier in the year.

Lenape
The Indians were another Olympic Conference American Division team that played better than its 12-12 record indicated. One reason is that the American Division teams like Eastern, Washington Township, Cherokee, Cherry Hill West and Lenape have to play each other twice each and, in a figurative way, beat each other up.
Lenape owns a recent 6-4 win over the talented Lions of Cherry Hill West. In fact Lenape earned a prestigious berth in the Diamond Classic, losing to Gloucester Catholic (which was No. 1 in South Jersey at the time) in the first round.
The Indians also own a 6-3 win over current No. 1 Bishop Eustace as Andrew Stagliano pitched a complete game and struck out nine.
Lenape, the No. 8 seed, lost a first round South Jersey Group 4 game, 7-3 to No. 9 Clearview.

West Deptford
The Eagles were the No. 3 seed in the South Jersey Group 2 tournament, but dropped an opening round 5-1 decision to Colonial Conference foe Sterling, the No. 14 seed.
That dropped West Deptford’s record to 15-9. The Eagles lost three times this season to Sterling. As we previously wrote, Sterling was a dangerous low seed due to the presence of senior lefthander Andrew Miller.
In the playoff win over West Deptford, Miller struck out 11.
So West Deptford, which has enjoyed a fine season, just couldn’t get by a Sterling team, that is hot at the right time.

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Author: Marc Narducci