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VIDEO, PHOTOS: Late Caper Tiger push falls short in sectional semifinal

Posted: June 1st 2024

Lower Cape May catcher Drew Kronemeyer awaits a throw as a Seneca player slides safely into home during Friday's playoff game.

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

TABERNACLE – The Lower Cape May Regional High School baseball team’s late comeback fell short Friday afternoon.

The Caper Tigers had their season ended with a 7-5 loss to Seneca in the South Jersey Group II semifinal after rallies in the sixth and seventh innings didn’t produce enough to tie or overcome the Golden Eagles.

“I love the fact that we never packed it in,” Lower coach Ryan Slaney said. “We fought, literally, to the end. I thought we had a slow start. We didn’t capitalize a couple times with men on base. But we made adjustments as the game went on and gave ourselves a chance at the end and that’s all you can ask for.”

A first-inning sacrifice fly by Drew Kronemeyer and a third-inning RBI double by Hunter Ray allowed Lower to match Seneca through three innings at 2-2. The top-seeded Golden Eagles appeared to take control of the game after scoring twice in the fourth and three times in the fifth to go ahead by 7-2.

But an RBI single by Cade Heacock and a two-run double by Evan Shoffler cut Seneca’s lead to 7-5 in the sixth, although Shoffler was thrown out trying to stretch his double into a triple after Seneca made two terrific throws on the play.

Ray led off the seventh with a long double to right field to send the tying run to the plate, but Seneca reliever Alex Kerr retired three straight batters to end the game.

In addition to his RBI hit, Cade Heacock had two other singles and scored two runs. Aydan Heacock, Kody Lewis, Matt DiCave and Sean Kelleher each added hits.

Fifth-seeded Lower, which had won 11 of 12 games entering the contest, finished the season at 16-12. The Tigers advanced to the South Jersey semifinal round for the first time in 13 seasons.

“The ironic thing is, everyone thought we were on this tear, and we definitely turned it around, but I was telling everyone I thought our kids could play this well back in March,” Slaney said. “We just never really got off that plane after the Florida trip (over Easter break) and we had a very slow, cold start. That’s not the ball club I knew we were going into the season. The fact that we played so well here at the end of the season didn’t surprise me because I was expecting that all along. I’m glad they didn’t let a bad start continue on and get into their heads where they’d start to doubt themselves as a team. They kept the fire going and they got hot the last few weeks.”

The defeat ended the careers of Lower Cape May’s seniors, all of whom have a bright future ahead. Ray (Fairleigh Dickinson), Shoffler (Shippensburg) and Lewis (Georgian Court) will each play baseball at the scholarship level, while Amari West has received significant academic scholarship money to attend LSU.

“I’m super proud of what those guys did the last four years, and I’m excited to see all their future success,” Slaney said. “Once a Tiger, always a Tiger. Hopefully the underclassmen see the hard work those guys did to get to the level they did.”

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