Pitman Uses Old Formula To Win Second Straight Tri-County Men’s Baseball Title
This one was a tribute to the greybeards.
Pitman won its second straight Tri-County Men’s Baseball League championship by sweeping the best-of-three championship series with the Washington Senators for the second year in a row.
Known as Cherry Hill/Pitman last year, this season the team with the new name used the same old tried and true formula.
And we emphasize the word old.
Pitman won the first game of the series 1-0 as 29-year-old lefthander Lucas Rollins threw a complete-game four-hitter, striking out seven.
While 29 may seem on the older side for this wooden bat men’s league, it’s kids stuff compared to his cousin, 39-year-old Chris Rollins.
In the 5-0 championship win at Pitman’s Alcyon Park, Chris Rollins pitched a three-hit complete game, striking out 10. Is this any way for somebody entering his fourth decade to be performing against so many younger players?
“I just love competing and I don’t know how I’m ever going to stop,” said Chris Rollins, the pitching coach at Rowan University. “You are competing with your friends and what else are you going to do when you get old?”
Chris Rollins, a Winslow Township graduate, was drafted by the Chicago Cubs out of high school, but he opted to pitch for Rowan College of South Jersey-Gloucester (then known as Gloucester County College).
He spent most of his professional career playing Independent baseball for seven seasons, including with the now defunct Camden Riversharks.
What was amazing about the right-hander’s performance in the championship game was that he actually appeared to gain velocity as the contest wore on.
“That is normally the case, I feel like I get stronger as I go,” he said. “I don’t play all the time now so that is why it takes time to get my mechanics cleaned up throughout the game.”
He certainly pitched enough this summer, going 6-1 this season with a 1.99 ERA, striking out 59 in 38.2 innings.
Does this look like somebody who is slowing down?
Rollins symbolizes this team of so-called old geezers.
“I think we only have college guys on the team, so other teams have a lot more younger players,” said outfielder Scott Shaw, a former standout at Cherry Hill West who played collegiately at Rider and Villanova.
Shaw got things going in the championship game, opening the scoring with a solo home run to rightfield in the fourth inning.
“It felt great,” said Shaw, who just completed his third year with Pitman. “The pitch before I took a big hack (and missed) and just told myself to relax and put a smooth swing on it.”
That run was all Chris Rollins needed.
Similarly, Lucas Rollins benefited from an RBI single by Austin Ley in the first game for all the offensive support he would need in the 1-0 victory.
Ley drove in Bill Rice, who hit what looked like a single, but he legged out a double and that proved to be one of the biggest plays of the series.
Rice, a Washington Township graduate and former player in the Phillies minor league system, also drove in the second run of the championship game with an RBI double.
“It was nice to put two doubles in back-to-back games,” said Rice. “These guys were getting on my for a quite a while, so it was nice to do it in the last couple of games.”
The 37-year-old Rice who fits in well with this older team, also gained family bragging rights because the Senators manager is John DiPietro, who happens to be his father-in-law.
“We were lucky enough to see each other in the championship the last two years,” Rice said. “What can I say, it’s been quite a dinner conversation to say the least.”
And people will be talking about this team for quite some time. One led by players like Rice and Chris Rollins, who only seem to get better with age.
Chris Rollins of Pitman pitched a shutout in the Tri-County championship clincher / Marc Narducci
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Author: Marc Narducci
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