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Sussex Central's baseball team for the first time in 20 years is heading back to the state championship final game after knocking off No. 2 Salesianum 9-1 in tonight's semifinal.
The No. 3 Knights will square off with No. 5 St. Mark's, which upended tourney top-seed Middletown 5-3 earlier in the day, at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Frawley Stadium.
After losing to the defending state champion Sals 10-0 during the regular season, Central wasted no time jumping on their starting pitcher Daniel Gayeski, as the Knights plated six runs in the top half of the second inning and never looked back.
Knights sophomore Chris Conaway, a platoon regular season player, got the rally started when he singled in classmate Kevin Guthrie, who legged out an infield base hit in his at bat.
Conaway finished the game with a pair of hits and two RBI.
Gayeski looked as if he was going to get out of the inning without more damage, as he followed the RBI single with a strikeout, but Central senior No. 9 hitter DJ Hickman reached on a bunt single and on the play a Sallies error allowed Conaway to cross the dish and give his club a 2-0 lead.
Junior leadoff man Stevie Bull followed with an infield single, winning pitcher Trevor Wilkins then drew a walk to load the bases, and then senior shortstop DJ Long made the game 4-0 with a hard-hit shot to second that was ruled an error.
Not done yet, senior cleanup man Peter Ott pushed both Wilkins and Long around to score with a double that capped the rally.
The victors scored a pair of runs in the fifth and another in the sixth, but Wilkins did not need them, as he went the distance on the hill and allowed just five hits and no walks while striking out four.
The awaiting Spartans, who have won seven baseball state titles since the Knights won the school’s only one back in 1989, lost to Central 11-2 early in the regular season.
Sussex Central's baseball team for the first time in 20 years is heading back to the state championship final game after knocking off No. 2 Salesianum 9-1 in tonight's semifinal.
The No. 3 Knights will square off with No. 5 St. Mark's, which upended tourney top-seed Middletown 5-3 earlier in the day, at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Frawley Stadium.
After losing to the defending state champion Sals 10-0 during the regular season, Central wasted no time jumping on their starting pitcher Daniel Gayeski, as the Knights plated six runs in the top half of the second inning and never looked back.
Knights sophomore Chris Conaway, a platoon regular season player, got the rally started when he singled in classmate Kevin Guthrie, who legged out an infield base hit in his at bat.
Conaway finished the game with a pair of hits and two RBI.
Gayeski looked as if he was going to get out of the inning without more damage, as he followed the RBI single with a strikeout, but Central senior No. 9 hitter DJ Hickman reached on a bunt single and on the play a Sallies error allowed Conaway to cross the dish and give his club a 2-0 lead.
Junior leadoff man Stevie Bull followed with an infield single, winning pitcher Trevor Wilkins then drew a walk to load the bases, and then senior shortstop DJ Long made the game 4-0 with a hard-hit shot to second that was ruled an error.
Not done yet, senior cleanup man Peter Ott pushed both Wilkins and Long around to score with a double that capped the rally.
The victors scored a pair of runs in the fifth and another in the sixth, but Wilkins did not need them, as he went the distance on the hill and allowed just five hits and no walks while striking out four.
The awaiting Spartans, who have won seven baseball state titles since the Knights won the school’s only one back in 1989, lost to Central 11-2 early in the regular season.
