VIDEO: Kelleher dazzles on mound and at plate as Lower Cape May claims Caper Classic title

Posted: May 11th 2025

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com 

ERMA – Officially, the Caper Classic baseball tournament did not name a Most Valuable Player.

Had there been such an award, Sean Kelleher most certainly would have won it.

Keller tossed 5 1/3 scoreless and hitless innings over two games on the mound and also went 4 for 7 with a double, triple and four RBI over two games at the plate to lead host Lower Cape May to the tournament championship.

A 14-run fourth inning led to a 17-0 win over Middle Township in the semifinal, before Lower rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat Wildwood, 5-3, in the title game.

“Sean deserves an all-day award,” Lower coach Ryan Slaney said. “He hit well all day and his pitching, we finally got him back healthy and throwing for us, and for him to be able to come in not once but twice today is huge for us.”

Kelleher pitched the final inning of Lower’s semifinal against Middle Township, recording two strikeouts. Then in the title game, he came on in relief with two outs in the third inning and ended the threat from Wildwood, which had already plated three runs in the frame. Kelleher went on to strike out seven over four more hitless innings to get the win.

SEAN KELLEHER

Kelleher being back on the mound is a bonus for Lower Cape May. Slaney said the senior lefthander did not throw for the entire preseason and into the regular season after dealing with an elbow injury.

“Honestly, at first, we thought his elbow was shot,” Slaney said. “But then after a lot of rest he was cleared. There were no tears or fractures in there. Having him back in our rotation is huge. We think our rotation is a strong point and having him in there makes us that much better.”

Brian Cunniff’s two-run single to right-center opened the scoring for Wildwood in the third inning. He later scored when teammate Michael McWade was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Kelleher entered the game at that point and induced a force out on a ground ball to end Wildwood’s threat.

Lower got on the board in the bottom of the inning. Ashton Ray scored Matt DiCave on an RBI triple with two outs, with Ray later coming across on an error.

Lower took the lead for good in the fifth on Caden Elwell’s two-run single to left that scored DiCave and Ray.

Kelleher gave Lower an insurance run in the sixth with a double to deep center that scored Drew Kronemeyer.

Wildwood tried to rally in the seventh when Trevor Troiano walked and R.J. Blanda was hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second with one out. But Kelleher recorded a strikeout and induced a foul out to end the game.

Lower improved to 7-14 with the win. The Tigers, however, have now won four of six games, with the two losses during that stretch coming in competitive games against solid competition in Ocean City and Clearview.

“If we hit, we can be a problem for other teams, because we have a good pitching staff and our defense is usually pretty sound,” Slaney said. “We’re hitting our stride. It’s happening a little later than we would have liked but we’re definitely playing better ball the last couple weeks and that’s all you can ask for.”

Wildwood, which had won two previous games in the tournament, fell to 9-8 with the loss.

“Our kids came out and competed all day, so I’m really happy with that,” Wildwood coach Rich Hans said. “We played that additional game and that might have had a little bit to do with our energy, because I thought our energy level dropped a little in the middle of the championship game.

“Kelleher came in and did a real nice job for them. It took us a while to get adjusted to him before we got some better swings on him in the last couple innings. But Lower played a real good game. They made more plays than us. We didn’t make enough plays in the field to win a close game like that.”

In earlier-round Warrior Classic games:

PRE-SEMIFINAL - Middle Township 11, Wildwood Catholic 10: Freshman Mikey Fristch ripped a line-drive single to right field to score Max Adelizzi with the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to secure the win for Middle, which rallied from deficits of 7-2 and 10-7 before getting the victory. Adelizzi, who tossed one inning in relief for the pitching win, went 4 for 5 with two doubles, two RBI and three runs scored to lead Middle’s offense. Antonio Panzini went 3 for 4 with four RBI and Ryan Murray added two hits for the Panthers. For Wildwood Catholic, Robbie Miller went 3 for 3 with three RBI and Cade Vogdes was 2 for 3 with a two-run double.

SEMIFINAL - Wildwood 10, Cape May Tech 0: Brian Cunniff needed just 58 pitches to toss a five-inning no-hitter with five strikeouts and also went 2 for 4 with two runs scored at the plate to lead Wildwood. Gianni Troiano posted three hits, Trevor Troiano had two hits and two runs scored and Broc Denke slugged a two-run double for the Warriors.

SEMIFINAL - Lower Cape May 17, Middle Township 0: Lower broke open a close game with an incredible 14-run fourth inning en route to the shutout victory. Matt DiCave (four innings) and Sean Kelleher (one inning) combined for a five-inning one hitter while striking out a combined 10 batters in the win. Kelleher also went 3 for 3 with a triple and three RBI at the plate. Drew Kronemeyer and Ashton Ray each had two hits and two RBI, Aydan Heacock chipped in two hits and Caden Elwell posted a two-run double for the Caper Tigers. Mikey Fritsch tripled for Middle Township’s lone hit.

CONSOLATION - Wildwood 17, Wildwood Catholic 1: Gianni Troiano and Liam Carmel each had two hits and Lysander Ruiz blasted a two-run double to pace the Warriors. Michael Blanda tossed a 10-run-rule-shortened complete game for Wildwood, which filled in for Cape May Tech in the contest after the Hawks elected not to play their consolation game following their loss to Wildwood. Robbie Miller hit an RBI double for Wildwood Catholic.