Coming Out on Top
Mainland was the winner of the 51st annual Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic and once again this 32-team baseball tournament consisting of the top teams in South Jersey, lived up to its billing as one of the best events in any sport.
Teams treat this single-elimination tournament like the state tournament, and both have that same one-and-done format.
The fact that all the top teams in South Jersey were part of the field, provides incentive for schools who want to win an event that includes the area’s best teams.
Mainland is a team that turned its season around by earning the school’s first Diamond Classic title.
The Mustangs were just 7-8 entering the tournament, but then began playing their best baseball of the season.
Seeded just 15th, Mainland beat Cedar Creek, 15-5 in the first round and handed Northern Burlington its first loss of the season in a 4-2 second round win.
Then came two wins in one day, a 7-3 quarterfinal win over Audubon and a 3-2 victory over Delsea as lefthander Finn Haines pitched a complete game and struck out 15.
Finally came a 4-0 championship win over Haddonfield, which had just moved to the No. 1 spot in South Jersey, according to the Courier Post.
It was pitching that was the main factor in the Mainland’s title run. In the championship win over Haddonfield, righthander Jake Lodgek pitched a complete game, allowing just four hits, while striking out nine and walking one.
Lodgek showed why he is a University of Miami commit.
This tournament was one for the so-called little guy. Group 2 Haddonfield beat Schalick, Eastern, St. Augustine and Cherokee in its run to the championship game.
What we saw is that both Mainland in Group 3 and Haddonfield in Group 2, will be serious contenders in the upcoming NJSIAA state tournament.
Frequently, the Diamond is a good barometer for judging the No. 1 team in South Jersey, but the race for No. 1 is far from decided.
Teams like St. Augustine (which has beaten Mainland twice), Gloucester Catholic and Cherokee are among the teams that will continue to contend for the top spot.
The Diamond also showed that the 32-team tournament is not watered down as some had suggested. It wasn’t that long ago that only 16 teams qualified for the Diamond.
There are several automatic qualifiers (teams leading their division by the Diamond Classic cutoff date) in the Diamond. Many of them are from smaller-school conferences where teams are frequently not ranked among the Top 15 in South Jersey.
Haddonfield was a classic example. The Bulldogs were just the No. 24 seed, and in many years, they wouldn’t have qualified for the old 16-team tournaments.
This tournament was also a win for the small-school Colonial Conference, which consists of Group 1 and Group 2 schools. Colonial member Audubon, the No. 14 seed, beat two Group 4 schools, Egg Harbor Township and Kingsway, enroute to earning a quarterfinal berth before falling to Mainland.
The Colonial had two other teams qualify, No. 18 seeded Sterling and No. 16 Haddon Heights. As it turns out these two met in the first round, with Haddon Heights earning a 10-4 win. Heights would then lose a tight 6-4 decision to Group 3 contender Delsea in the next round.
Still, it was a great tournament for the Colonial, which showed its top teams could be competitive with some of the best in South Jersey.
Photo: Diamond Classic champion Mainland / Marc Narducci
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Author: Marc Narducci
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