Mike McGarry
LINWOOD - The Ocean City High School baseball coaches watched junior starting pitcher Kameron Street shutdown Mainland Regional's offense in the early innings Friday afternoon.
"This could be his coming out party," Red Raiders assistant Ed Terry told head coach Andrew Bristol.
Street delivered his best performance ever in an Ocean City uniform as the ninth-seeded Red Raiders upset top-seeded and rival Mainland Regional 3-1 in the South Jersey Group III quarterfinals.
'To win a game like this is huge to me," said Street, who also doubled and scored. "I'll remember it the rest of my life."
Street, who entered the game with a 5.13 ERA this season, allowed three hits and one unearned run in 6 ⅓ innings. He struck out five and walked none. He did hit three batters.
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"I was competitive with every single pitch," Street said. "I didn't take a pitch off."
Freshman reliever Preston Pahang got the final two outs. Matt Pashley and Travis Large each contributed RBI singles for the Red Raiders. Evan Taylor, singled, stole a base and scored Ocean City's third run on Pashley's delayed squeeze bunt.
Friday's matchup was more than your average playoff game. Ocean City (14-11) and Mainland are rivals in every sport. Fans lined the right and left field lines to watch the game.
"This means a lot," Street said. "We work hard in practice every day. We look forward to moments like this."
Both teams started slow this season. Mainland (17-10) emerged as one of South Jersey's top teams in May, winning the prestigious Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic.
Meanwhile, Ocean City struggled much of the season, but the Red Raiders have now won eight of their last nine games.
'We got to a point where we said, 'It's time to start laying like a playoff baseball team,' " Bristol said.
The 6-foot-4 Street had struggled in several outings this season. But he kept the Mainland hitters off-balance with his fastball and off-speed pitches he was consistently able to throw for strikes.
"I have a saying with (Kameron) and that's 'Be elite,' " Bristol said. "Every innings I just said to him 'Be elite.' "
Street hit the leadoff hitter in both the fifth and sixth innings but escaped both innings without giving up a run.
Bristol pulled Street with one out in the seventh. The coach did not hesitate to go to the 15-year-old Pahang.
"I told him, 'This is why you came here,' " Bristol said. "I've had confidence in him all year. There's no moment too big for that kid."
Pahang sandwiched a walk between two groundouts to end the game. Mainland had the tying run at second base when the game ended.
"I was calm," Pahang said. "Just calm - let's get these guys. If we can beat (Mainland), we can beat any team."
The Red Raiders rushed the field in celebration after the final out. Ocean City plays at fifth-seeded Toms River South (17-9) in Tuesday's semifinals.
Bristol reminded the Red Raiders that there's more baseball to play.
"This was a big win, but we're not settling for this," Bristol said. "We want to keep winning. Now, we have this opportunity. We're as good as anybody. I feel really good about this team at practice. It's so much difference confidence-wise than it was."
Ocean City 010 011 0 - 3 6 1
Mainland Regional 100 000 0 - 1 3 0
2B. OC. Street; ML. Nodado
WP. Street
LP. Lodgek
Save: Pahang
Contact: 609-272-7209
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