When the 2011 high school baseball season began and possible contenders for county supremacy were being considered, Hoboken wasn’t even an afterthought. After all, the Red Wings had a young roster with not a lot of experience. There were other teams that had to be thought of as favorites, any others for that matter.
As the Ed Ford Memorial Hudson County Tournament began a few weeks ago, the Red Wings were a middle of the pack squad, the seventh seed. Even the seeding committee didn’t give the Red Wings a chance to win it all.
But veteran head coach Buddy Matthews thought there was a chance.
“They just found a way to win all year,” Matthews said. “This is one of the times when chemistry overtook talent. This team was so close. They played together as a team.”
They also had the county’s best pitcher in Kenny Roder, who has enjoyed a season like no other pitcher in recent memory, especially when it comes to his impeccable control. The junior lefty has struck out 113 batters this season and walked only seven. It’s unfathomable to think any pitcher on any level could have that kind of control. Even Greg Maddux in his heyday didn’t have that much pinpoint accuracy.
Roder did his job getting the Red Wings through the first three rounds of the county tourney, defeating St. Mary of Jersey City, Bayonne, and Memorial in succession, allowing just one run in the three games.
But after defeating Memorial, 2-1, last Thursday in the semifinals, Roder could not come back and pitch in the title game Sunday against North Bergen.
It was up to his good buddy Abe Groomes to get the job done.
Groomes, a junior lefty who grew up with Roder and has remained close friends every step of the way, hadn’t had the same kind of success that his friend enjoyed this season. But if the upstart Red Wings were going to collect their eighth trophy as county champs, Groomes had to come through.
“Abe was really a question mark,” Matthews said. “I was a little apprehensive about using Abe. After we beat Memorial, I told him that it was his turn. I looked in his eyes and he looked at me and said, ‘I’m ready.’ He was inconsistent all season, but he was ready for the challenge. Maybe that’s what Abe needed. He needed a challenge.”
Groomes danced out of difficulty in the second inning. Already trailing, 2-0, the Bruins got runners on second and third with no out.
“If they scored one more run, we were done,” Matthews said. “But Abe was able to get out of the big jam.”
Groomes reached back and found a little something extra, striking out three straight Bruins to get out of the inning.
“He shut down a potentially big rally,” Matthews said. “I thought that was the turning point of the game.”
However, the light-hitting Red Wings, who entered the game with a paltry .304 team batting average, were doing what they do best. They weren’t hitting – at all.
Bruin right-hander Marco Hernandez was pitching a no-hitter through six innings. He appeared headed for a dance with destiny, flirting with a no-no in the game of his life, holding a two-run lead just three outs away from the county crown.
But then something magical happened. Even Matthews can’t describe it.
“Maybe God was smiling down on all of us,” Matthews said. “Maybe it was time for me and Bruce [assistant coach Bruce Radigan] to get rewarded for all the hard work we put in together for the last 25 years.”
Radigan has been Matthews’ right-hand man for the last quarter century. Last year, Radigan was not re-hired by the Board of Education as Matthews’ assistant, only to return right before the season began. They’ve been the Frick-and-Frack, the Fred and Barney of the local high school baseball scene for what seems like forever.
With one out in the top of the seventh inning, Andre Flores lifted a fly ball to centerfield that appeared to be the second out. But the ball kept carrying and flew over the centerfielder’s head for a double, ending Hernandez’s chance of the memorable no-hitter.
“The double really gave us some life,” Matthews said.
What happened next defies explanation. Groomes hit a high pop-up that appeared to be headed toward foul territory. The Bruin first baseman called off the pitcher and catcher, but lost the ball. Instead of falling in foul territory, it plopped into the dirt around home plate at Caven Point Cochrane Stadium.
“It landed in the dirt and just stayed there,” Matthews said. “I never saw anything like it.”
The Red Wings’ incredible fortune continued. Sal Pagan hit a ground ball that could have been a double play roller that would have ended the game, but the first baseman’s throw was in the dirt and everyone was safe. The Red Wings had the bases loaded with one out.
The one out quickly became two when a fly out was recorded. The Bruins were one out away from the county title. The Red Wings’ eighth and ninth hitters were coming up. Danny Grossi fouled off two two-strike pitches and managed to work out a walk, driving in a run, cutting the lead to 2-1.
Up stepped No. 9 hitter Connor Milne, who collected four hits all season. He also took Hernandez to a full count and then managed to draw another walk, forcing in the tying run.
Leadoff hitter Ryan Houghton stepped to the plate. He’s one of the rare breed of Red Wings, because he’s hit to a .380 average this season. He’s also been playing with a heavy heart of late, because Houghton was very close to the man who the tournament is now named after.
“Every time I got to the plate this year, I heard Mr. Ford talking in my ear,” Houghton said of the local baseball guru who died April 12. “Everything I did this year, I did for him.”
The second pitch Houghton saw skipped past the catcher and pinch-runner Hector Rodriguez raced home with the go-ahead run. The Red Wings scored three runs in the top of the seventh without the benefit of a run-scoring hit.
“It was unbelievable,” Matthews said.
Houghton had another thing in mind.
“The first fly, the pop up that was blown fair, it was definitely coming from a higher power that helped us,” Houghton said. “It was Mr. Ford. And everyone said the same thing. I don’t know how to put it to words. He made the pop-up drop. He did it all. It was unbelievable.”
Obviously.
Groomes held the Bruins off the board in the home seventh and the final out was recorded, albeit fittingly, when Roder caught a fly in centerfield. The guy who pitched the Red Wings to the title game caught the last out.
And somehow, someway, Hoboken had its eighth county title and easily the most unlikely one of all.
“It’s our eighth championship and this may be the eighth best team,” Matthews said. “But we came together as a team.”
The Red Wings marched in the Hoboken Memorial Day parade Wednesday night. They’re enjoying this improbable title.
“Everywhere we go, people are congratulating us,” Houghton said. “Everyone in Hoboken all knows we won. It’s just so great.”
And just so unbelievable.
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.
You can also read Jim’s blog at www.jimhaguesports.blogspot.com.