VIDEO, PHOTOS: Combined one-hitter sends Wildwood past Cape Tech in baseball playoff

Posted: May 24th 2024

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

WILDWOOD – In the final home game of his three-sport career, Ryan Troiano delivered the best fastball he’s ever thrown.

The senior, who pitched the final inning in relief, struck out the final batter of the game with the tying run on third base with a heater that seemed to have a little extra zip as the Wildwood High School baseball team held off Cape May Tech, 2-1, in a South Jersey Group I playoff game Thursday afternoon.

The result represented Wildwood’s first state playoff victory since 2016.

The Warriors, seeded seventh in the tournament, advance to play at No. 2 Gloucester in the second round on Wednesday. Gloucester was a 16-3 winner over No. 10 Penns Grove in its playoff opener.

Troiano’s strikeout finished a classic pitcher’s duel. Wildwood’s Jake Craig conceded just one hit, which came on a bad hop on a ground ball to third base in the third inning. Craig tossed six innings, striking out nine. But he also walked three and hit a batter and also had to pitch around two Warrior errors..

“Jake didn’t have his best stuff today and we were kind of worried we might have to get someone to come in relief earlier,” Wildwood coach Rich Hans said. “But he did a nice job of pitching to contact and he made sure they didn’t get good wood on the ball and we made a couple nice plays behind him.”

One of those nice plays was made by second baseman Trevor Troiano, Ryan’s younger brother, who dove to catch Connor Mulligan’s hard line drive for the third out of the sixth inning with the tying run on third base one batter after Hunter Urbaczewski sent home Tech’s lone run on a fielder’s choice ground ball.

Cape Tech pitcher Ben Lynch matched Craig’s effort. Lynch threw all six innings for the Hawks, scattering three hits. Just one of his two runs allowed was earned.

Harley Buscham drove home both runs for Wildwood. His hard ground ball that resulted in an error chased home Junior Hans in the third inning. In the fifth, Buscham doubled to left center to again score Hans.

But Wildwood (17-10) squandered numerous other scoring opportunities. The Warriors had four runners thrown out on the bases and left seven runners on base. In two different innings, Wildwood advanced a runner to second base with no outs and failed to score. The Warriors also didn’t take full advantage of five Cape May Tech errors.

“We struggle dearly to put a good ball play with runners in scoring position, and it’s been going on all year,” Hans said. “We strike out too much or we make very weak contact with runners on base. We have to do a better job of doing what it takes to put a good ball in play with runners on base. We definitely have to improve on that.”

But the Warriors did enough to advance. At this time of year, that’s all that matters.

NOTES: Hans was honored before the game for recording his 100th career stolen base. The Wildwood senior swiped two more bags in Thursday’s playoff win. … In addition to his strong pitching effort, Craig hit the fence in right field for a long double to lead off the sixth inning but Wildwood failed to score in the frame. … The loss did not end Cape May Tech’s season. The Hawks (12-13) will play for the New Jersey Technical Athletic Conference Groups 1-2 championship on Tuesday against Morris Tech at East Brunswick Tech. Cape Tech, the defending NJTAC champion, advanced to the title game after Wednesday’s 7-0 win over East Brunswick Tech in the semifinal behind Tanner Oliva’s complete-game three-hitter. Matt Hirt led the Hawks’ offense in the win with two hits, two RBI and two runs scored. Ron Neenhold added a two-run single.