The Wall and Ocean baseball teams had been through too many battles against one another to think an early lead would be enough to put the other away.

Extra innings was the only appropriate way to settle the score between the wo Shore Conference Class B North division foes.

Senior second baseman Branden Biegert lined a two-out single to center field to plate pinch-runner Christian Carlson from second with the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning and second-seeded Wall beat No. 7 Ocean 5-4 to advance to the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III semifinals. Wall will host No. 3 Hamilton West on Tuesday in a bid to reach its second straight sectional championship game.

Friday marked the third time the two Shore Conference Class B North rivals met and Wall won all three meetings, two of them in extra innings.

"We knew one run wasn't going to be enough to beat them in the first inning, and we knew we weren't out of it down 4-1 in the fifth," Wall starting third baseman and winning pitcher Ryan Orender said. "They are a great team and we knew, having beaten them twice already, they were going to be hungry today, and it wasn't going to be an easy game."

Wall rallied from a 4-1 deficit with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Orender hammered a two-run double to deep left field to cut the deficit to 4-3 and on the next batter, catcher Dan Wondrack drilled a double of his own off the left-field fence to score Orender with the tying run.

"That's the toughest thing against this team," said Ocean coach Cip Apicelli, a 2001 Ocean graduate. "They've been winning games like this since back when I played. You can play a great game against them, but they are never out of it."

Ocean loaded the bases against Wall starter Tyler Swiggart with no one out in the top of the sixth, but the George Washington University recruit induced a 1-2-3 double play for the first two outs and struck out the next batter to escape the jam without surrendering a run.

Orender pitched three innings of scoreless relief to earn his second win of the tournament.

Ocean scored three runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 3-1 lead and added another in the fifth to go up 4-1. Catcher Zack Godfrey, right fielder Andrew MacNeille and designated hitter John Walsh each had an RBI single in the fourth and first baseman Anthony Bartolomei dropped in an RBI single in the fifth.

 

Box Score

Wall 5, Ocean 4 (9 Innings)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E

Ocean (19-8)

0

0

0

3

1

0

0

0

0

4

7

0

Wall (21-4)

1

0

0

0

3

0

0

0

1

5

10

1

 

Ocean

AB

R

H

RBI

BB

SO

Miles Moody, LF

5

0

1

0

0

2

Brian Kochenash, SS

3

0

0

0

1

1

Jimmy McGrorry, 3B

3

1

0

0

0

2

Anthony Bartolomei, 1B

3

1

1

1

1

2

Zack Godfrey, C

4

1

1

1

0

0

Andrew MacNeille, RF

3

0

1

1

1

0

Sam Maxwell, CF

3

0

1

0

0

0

John Walsh, DH

3

0

1

1

0

1

-- Marcus Blackmon, PR

0

0

0

0

0

0

Glenn Davis, 2B

4

1

1

0

0

1

Totals

31

4

7

4

3

9

SAC: Kochenash, Walsh
GIDP: Davis

Wall

AB

R

H

RBI

BB

SO

Chris Barcas, SS

4

1

1

0

1

1

Branden Biegert, 2B

5

1

3

1

0

0

Ryan Orender, 3B-P

4

1

2

2

0

1

Dan Wondrack, C

4

0

1

2

0

0

-- Christian Carlson, CR

0

0

0

0

0

0

Jack Gifford, 1B

4

0

1

0

0

0

Brendan Barcas, LF

4

0

1

0

0

1

Tim Willey, CF

4

0

0

0

0

0

Charlie Cosenza, DH

3

1

1

0

0

0

-- Christian Carlson, PR

0

1

0

0

0

0

Matt Tancredi, RF

3

0

0

0

1

1

Totals

35

4

10

5

2

4

2B: Orender, Wondrack
GIDP: Orender
Outfield Assist: B. Barcas
SB: Orender

Ocean

IP

H

R

ER

BB

SO

HR

Dan Verderese

5.0

7

4

4

1

2

0

Ryan Lillie, L  (6-4)

3.2

3

1

1

1

2

0

 

Wall

IP

H

R

ER

BB

SO

HR

Tyler Swiggart

6.0

6

4

4

3

6

0

Ryan Orender, W (6-1)

3.0

1

0

0

0

3

0

HBP: McGrorry (by Swiggart), Maxwell (by Swiggart), Cosenza (by Verderese)
Balk: Verderese (5th inning, runner on 1st, 0 out)
Pitches-Strikes: Verderese 80-55, Lillie 52-29, Swiggart 87-59, Orender 33-21
Groundouts-Flyouts: Verderese 8-3, Lillie 0-6, Swiggart 7-2, Orender 2-3

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