By Bob Badders - Senior Writer
TOMS RIVER -- With only three outs standing between St. Rose and a Non-Public B championship, senior right-hander Connor Smith could barely contain himself on the mound.
"The whole time I'm just telling myself, 'Three outs, I don't care how I get them, just get three outs,'" he said. "You work four years for this and the tension just builds up."
With two outs and an 0-2 count on St Mary's of Rutherford's Billy Rehbein, Smith fired a curveball that Rehbein swung through to give the Purple Roses an 8-4 victory over St. Mary's and the 2008 Non-Public B championship, the school's first since 2005. Smith's complete game included seven strikeouts and no walks as he surrendered three earned runs on nine hits.
"I was 0-2 on him and I threw him a curveball," Smith said. "I just wanted to make it the nastiest pitch I'd ever thrown."
Smith's efforts were backed up by a clutch performance by the Purple Roses' offense, which pounded out 11 hits off St. Mary's pitching staff. Sophomore Chris Hueth led the charge by going 1-for-4 with four RBI. His one hit was a big one, however, a two-run home run in the third inning that gave St. Rose a 4-1 lead. Sophomore first baseman Kyle Kennett was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a
run scored, junior shortstop Chris Bresnahan was 2-for-4 with two
doubles and two runs scored, junior second baseman John McGrath was
2-for-4 with three runs scored and senior third baseman Owen Stewart
was 2-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored. The first five hitters in the Purple Roses' batting order went 11-for-19 with eight runs scored and eight RBI.
"It was great to come up big as an offense," Hueth said. "We knew we would need to hit against some of these better teams."
"We had a couple periods during the season where we slumped but we feel like one through nine this team can hit with the best of them," Kennett said.
And it was the manner in which the Purple Roses scored that was most impressive. Not usually known for pounding out extra base hits, the Roses feasted on St. Mary's pitching.
"When we get into these tight spots and we need to hit a little better the kids seem to respond," said St. Rose head coach Jim Agnello. "They don't get excited or get into trouble, they just bang out runs. And it was the way we scored. Typically we bunt the runner over, hit them over and cash in that way. To hit some doubles and for Chris Hueth to lose that one over the fence was fantastic."
In the top of the first, St. Mary's took a 1-0 lead on an RBI single by PJ Olobardi. But St. Rose battled back right away to tie the game in the bottom of the first. McGrath and Stewart stroked back-to-back singles with one out before Kennett was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Hueth then grounded out to second to bring home McGrath.
In the second, the Roses broke the game open with three runs that set the tone for the rest of the day. Stewart walked with one out and scored when Kennett doubled off St. Mary's starter Daniel O'Neill. The next batter was Hueth, and he blasted an 0-1 pitch from O'Neill over the left field fence to the left of the scoreboard at Toms River East to give St. Rose a 4-1 lead.
"In the previous at bat I had gotten a curveball and I was looking for it again and got it," Hueth said.
"When hit that home run it just energized us," Kennett said.
The hot hitting continued in the fourth inning when St. Rose (27-2) extended its lead to 6-1. Bresnahan started the two-out rally with a double and scored on an RBI single by McGrath. Stewart then doubled off St. Mary's reliever CJ Gonzalez to bring home McGrath for a five-run lead.
St. Mary's made things interesting in the top of the sixth by scoring three times to close the gap to 6-4. Michael Rizzo singled with one out and moved to second on a wild pitch. After a groundout, Gonzalez doubled him in to trim the deficit to 6-2. Anthony Luberto followed with an single to move Gonzalez to third. Gonzalez scored and Luberto moved all the way the third on an errant pickoff throw to make it 6-3. Michael Wieczerzak's RBI single plated Luberto to cut the lead to 6-4.
What impressed Agnello the most about Saturday's championship victory was the way the Purple Roses responded. After allowing three runs in the top of the sixth they scored two of their own in the bottom half to push the lead back to four runs. Bresnahan led off with a double and moved to third when McGrath reached on an error. After a strikeout, Kennett singled to bring home Bresnahan and then Hueth grounded out to first to bring home McGrath for his fourth RBI of the day and an 8-4 lead.
"It was just a tremendous, tremendous effort by these kids," Agnello said. "We went down 1-0, we tied it up right away. They scored to make it close, we get two runs right back."
Smith then took to the hill and did what he has done best all season, getting three big outs to lift St. Rose to its fourth state title and a school-record 27th win of the season. The Purple Roses knew they had a talented team heading into the season, and figured they had a chance to compete with the best teams in New Jersey. And even though winning a state title was one of the team's goals in the beginning of the season, they still couldn't believe they had just accomplished it.
"It's amazing, it hasn't even sunk in yet," Hueth said. "Winning a state title was always the hope in the beginning of the season but the fact that it actually happened is amazing."
"It's just a great feeling," Smith said. "We knew we should have a strong season with everybody coming back. We wanted to play and win on the last day and that's what we did."
Box Score
St. Rose 8, St. Mary's-Rutherford 4
St. Mary (19-8) 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 - 4 9 1
St. Rose (27-2) 1 0 3 2 0 2 X - 8 11 1
Doubles: (SM) Michael Rizzo, P.J. Olobardi, C.J. Gonzalez;
(SR) Chris Bresnahan 2, Owen Stewart, Kyle Kennett.
HR: (SR) Chris Hueth
WP: Connor Smith (10-1)
LP: Daniel O'Neill (7-4)
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