Boy, were the Stateliners glad to pencil him in for this one. The junior right-hander pitched the game of his life, tossing five no-hit innings in relief to help P'burg earn a 6-5 victory in 12 innings over defending champion Pope John in a quarterfinal round game in Sparta.
Phillipsburg (9-7) advances to next Saturday's semifinals and will face North Hunterdon -- a 3-1 winner over Sparta in another quarterfinal. In the other Final Four matchup, High Point, which beat Warren Hills 6-4 on Saturday, will meet the winner of Sunday's Hunterdon Central-Voorhees matchup.
Woscek, who was called up from the junior varsity in mid-April when pitcher Robert Howell was dismissed from the team, kept P'burg in this marathon affair that lasted nearly three hours and 20 minutes. It's the longest contest innings-wise in the tournament's three-year history.
"I just wanted to throw strikes and help our team," said Woscek, who earned his first varsity win. "We were able to get one run [in the 12th] and that was the game."
That winning run came courtesy of a fielder's choice grounder by Bryan Gardner. Tyler Widitz, who led off the 12th with a single, scored after reaching third on an error by losing pitcher Glenn Gavan, whose high throw on Alex Martin's bunt attempt put runners on first and third.
P'burg, which hadn't scored since the fourth inning, went down 1-2-3 in the seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th innings. In fact, Pope John pitchers retired 13 in a row until Tyler Plesnarski's leadoff triple in the 11th. Lions reliever Axel D'Addaro threw four scoreless frames after starter Dan Cunico was lifted in the fourth.
Woscek fanned the first two Pope John batters in the bottom of the 12th before walking Zack Leach -- one of six total by the P'burg reliever. But Woscek struck out Jay Sanford for the second time in the game to end the threat.
"The reason [Woscek was in there] was to throw strikes," said coach Dave Hinkle, who is taking a P'burg team to the semifinals for the first time. "These kids battle and they're tough. We have some young kids who are starting to grow up. I'm proud of our kids."
Perhaps no one was more relieved than Hinkle, who would have been kicking himself after making a costly decision as the third-base coach when he decided to waive home Matt McAnally after a leadoff triple to right in the 11th. McAnally was cut down three feet short of home plate when right fielder Sam Redwood and second baseman Sanford made great relay throws in to catcher Leach. With one out, Chris Trent, who was 3-for-5, including an RBI single in the fourth, singled and would have brought McAnally in with the go-ahead run.
"They really picked me up," Hinkle said. "I saw that [Redwood] bobbled the ball and I thought [McAnally] had a shot to score. You're usually not going to get two good throws after a bobble like that. Hindsight is 20-20."
Woscek was pressed into duty after Pope John rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh off Stateliners ace Anthony Ciavarella, who took a 5-2 lead into the final frame. Ciavarella, who three 133 pitches, had just struck out the side in the bottom of the sixth for strikeouts eight, nine and 10.
Pope John's rally started with Mike Young's leadoff single to center. Gavan walked to put runners on first and second, but committed a huge baserunning error when he allowed Matt Tietz's single to strike him in the foot halfway between first and second. The Lions would have had the bases loaded and none out, but settled for first and second with one out.
Ryan McNally then walked to load the bases and Young scored on Redwood's groundout to short. With runners on second and third, designated hitter Rob Sanders delivered a two-run single to center after falling behind 0-2 in the count to tie the game at 5.
In extras, Pope John twice had a runner on third base, including an 11th inning-threat when Woscek walked the bases full, but couldn't cash in.
"That's baseball. We had our opportunities," said Lions coach Vin Bello, whose teams are 5-2 all-time in HWS games. "Hats off to [Woscek]. He kept us off-balance. It was a great [comeback] but we wasted it."
P'burg mounted an earlier rally with a four-run third to wipe out an early 2-0 deficit. Sahil Patel's two-run single capped the scoring as the 'Liners sent nine men to the plate.
McNally gave Pope John an early lead with a two-run inside-the-park homer that struck the top of the center-field fence. From there, Ciavarella settled down as he allowed only five baserunners until the seventh. The lefty has fanned at least 10 in four starts this season and has 37 K's in his last three outings.
It was quite a contrast as the 'Liners went from the hard-throwing Ciavarella and his mid-to-upper 80s fastball to Woscek, who probably topped out around 60 mph.
"It was a huge difference," Bello said. "They are the best team we've played all year."
Phillipsburg (9-7) 004 100 000 001 -- 6 11 1
Pope John (10-6) 200 000 300 000 -- 5 9 2
PHILLIPSBURG (ab-r-h-rbi) -- Trent cf, 5-0-3-1, Ciavarella p-rf, 5-1-1-0, Grade c, 5-0-1-0, Widitz 3b, 6-2-2-1, Martin rf-lf, 5-1-0-1, Gardner lf-1b, 6-0-0-1, Patel 2b, 5-0-1-2, McAnally ss, 6-0-1-0, Plesnarski dh 5-2-2-0/Ciesla 1b 0-0-0-0, Woscek p 0-0-0-0. Totals: 48-6-11-6.
POPE JOHN (ab-r-h-rbi) -- Young lf, 5-1-1-0, Gavan 3b-p, 4-0-0-0, Tietz ss, 6-2-4-0, McNally cf, 3-1-1-2, Redwood rf, 5-0-0-1, Sanders dh, 5-0-2-2, Kopnik pr 0-0-0-0, Cassarra 1b, 5-0-1-0, Leach c, 5-0-0-0/Gignatelli pr 0-0-0-0, Sanford 2b, 5-0-0-0, Rivera ph 0-0-0-0, Cunico p-3b 0-0-0-0. Totals: 43-5-9-5.
E -- Ciavarella; Tietz, Gavan. LOB -- Phillipsburg 11, Pope John 13. 2B -- Tietz, Cassarra. 3B -- Plesnarski, McAnally. HR -- McNally. SB -- McNally 2.
Ciavarella, Woscek (8) and Grade. Cunico, D'Addario (4), Gavan (8) and Leach. W -- Woscek (1-0). L -- Gavan (1-2). SO-BB -- Ciavarella 10-4, Woscek 6-6; Cunico 1-2, D'Addario 2-1, Gavan 2-0. WP -- D'Addario. HBP -- Ciavarella (by Cunico); Palel (by D'Addario).
In the other quarterfinals on Saturday:
High Point 6, Warren Hills 4 -- Ryan Schulok went 3-for-3 with three RBIs and Kyle Adams was 2-for-4 with a triple and three RBIs as the Wildcats (8-7) used a four-run second to reach the semifinals for the first time in program history. Ryan Conklin (4-0) got the win, allowing three earned runs on eight hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Kyle Allen, Mark Apgar, Ryan Curto and Connor Cruts had doubles for the Blue Streaks (8-9). Allen (4-3) took the loss despite seven strikeouts.
North Hunterdon 3, Sparta 1 -- Ben Stine threw seven innings of one-hit ball and Derek Jenkins had an RBI double as the Lions (9-11) reached the semifinals for the second time in three years. Stine (4-3), who took a perfect game into the sixth before issuing a walk, lost his no-hit bid with two outs in the seventh as Derek Tappen belted a homer for the Spartans (11-7). Stine fanned four and walked one.
In the other quarterfinals on Saturday:
High Point 6, Warren Hills 4 -- Ryan Schulok went 3-for-3 with three RBIs and Kyle Adams was 2-for-4 with a triple and three RBIs as the Wildcats (8-7) used a four-run second to reach the semifinals for the first time in program history. Ryan Conklin (4-0) got the win, allowing three earned runs on eight hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Kyle Allen, Mark Apgar, Ryan Curto and Connor Cruts had doubles for the Blue Streaks (8-9). Allen (4-3) took the loss despite seven strikeouts.
North Hunterdon 3, Sparta 1 -- Ben Stine threw seven innings of one-hit ball and Derek Jenkins had an RBI double as the Lions (9-11) reached the semifinals for the second time in three years. Stine (4-3), who took a perfect game into the sixth before issuing a walk, lost his no-hit bid with two outs in the seventh as Derek Tappen belted a homer for the Spartans (11-7). Stine fanned four and walked one.
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