Immaculata’s Spartans regain baseball crown
Sean McKeown hurls two-hitter in championship game
By Harry Thomas
Correspondent
SOMERVILLE — Immaculata High School’s baseball team is back where it is supposed to be. The Spartans regained the Somerset County Tournament baseball title May 17 with an 8-0 rout of The Pingry School at Commerce Bank Ballpark, Bridgewater.
The county championship was the 10th for Immaculata, which has been to the county final 16 times since its first appearance in 1981.
Immaculata, the top seed, beat defending tournament champion Hillsborough 4-3 in a thrilling, 11-inning tournament semifinal game at the ballpark May 12. Hillsborough beat Immaculata last year 5-1 for the county title.
“We take a lot of pride in it (winning the county tournament) especially before we were in the Skyland (Conference) because it was a way for us to match up with some of the local teams we hadn’t gotten a chance to play,” said Immaculata longtime head coach Tom Gambino, referring to the Spartans’ switch from the Mountain Valley Conference to the Skyland Conference before the 2004 school year. “I think we do a good job as a program getting guys ready for a big game and playing in a venue like this.”
But this year, with junior left-handed pitcher Sean McKeown leading the way, the Spartans were able to reclaim the title they last won in 2004 when they beat Hillsborough 1-0. The tournament has been held for 34 years.
McKeown was actually a replacement starter for senior right-hander Kyle Morrison, who hurt his groin during the semifinal win. Morrison pitched eight
innings before McKeown took over and threw three scoreless innings for the win.
McKeown, who lives in Hillsborough, raised his record to 6-0 with the complete-game, two-hit shutout in the county final. McKeown struck out five and didn’t allow a walk. He also picked off courtesy runner Ben Spicehandler in the second inning
after Spicehandler had come in to run for starting and losing pitcher Park Smith. Smith had led off the second with a single.
The shutout was Immaculata’s fifth in the county final since 1999 and its sixth shutout in the title game since 1997.
“This kid was superb tonight; he really had us off balance,” Pingry coach Manny Tramantona said of McKeown.
McKeown’s shutout was his fourth of the season. “It’s a big game, it was a big game for me,” said McKeown, who was told he would start for Morrison the game the day before. “Kyle was supposed to throw, but he hurt his groin. So I had to step up and pitch the game. It was a big win for the team. We lost here last year.
“I took this as any other game. I pitched the other (semifinal) game, I did pretty well and I really wasn’t nervous,” added McKeown, who said he was getting his changeup and curveball over for strikes. “I took the same focus because it was the county final. I wasn’t going to let up and it showed in the final.”
Immaculata took the lead in the second inning when junior first baseman Jack Rice doubled home senior right fielder Ken Gregory, who had opened the inning with a single. Left fielder Frank Florio had an RBI single in the third and Gregory followed with an RBI triple. Florio tripled home the fourth ruin in the fifth inning before he came home on a sacrifice fly by Gregory.
Immaculata continued to roll May 26 when it defeated Pope John XXIII, Sparta 5-3 in a Non-Public North A State Tournament game. The Spartans advanced to play Bergen Catholic May 31.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law