Howell wins first state baseball championship as a united team

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP - What happened to the Howell High School baseball team over the last week would have ruined many team's chances of winning a state championship.

However, an already close-knit team that loves to play the game of baseball became even more unified.

It all culminated Saturday at Bob DeMeo Field at Veterans Park with a wild 9-8 win over perennial state power Hunterdon Central in the NJSIAA Group 4 championship game and the school's first state baseball championship.

"This team chemistry, I've never seen this on a team before,'' said Howell senior shortstop Thomas Strauch, who belted a two-run home run in the top of the fiirst and had an RBI double in the fourth. "We play so well together. We play for each other. No one's selfish. Everyone's just trying to help each other out and do whatever they can to help us win.

Howell (25-6) had seen its top two starting pitchers sustain serious injuries in a four-day span from June 10-13.

First, Nick Gomes, the No. 2 starter who was 2-0 in the state tournament, broke his wrist sliding into second base in the 8-2 win over East Brunswick in the Central Group 4 championship game.

Then, senior Daniel Furlong (9-1), the team's ace, had his jaw broken when he was hit by a line drive off the bat of the first batter in the 2-1 win in nine innings over Cherokee in the Group 4 semifinal.

"I've been repeating this line, but I told the guys before the game, 'We're going to show why baseball is the ultimate team sport','' Howell coach Eric Johnson said. "This was it today. You've got a team of Division 1 players (Hunterdon Central) over there. We've got Division 3 guys, but our guys don't get intimidated by things like that. They know they're good baseball players and they went out there and showed it today.''

"We love being the underdogs,'' Strauch said. "Being the underdogs takes the pressure off us, and we get to prove people wrong.''

Furlong and Gomes, who were a combined 4-0 in the state tournament, were in the dugout cheering their teammates on.

"Seeing them in the dugout was awesome with everything they've gone through,'' Strauch said. "They are our guys. They brought us to this point, They made us want to win these games (the last two games) for them. They've done so much for this team. We had to pick them up."

PIECING IT TOGETHER PITCHING-WISE

Howell needed almost every available arm it had to put the seven innings together.

Nick Barracato, who pitched seven outstanding innings against Cherokee after Furlong was injured. pitched the first 3 1/3 innings.

Jason Pace, who picked up the save against East Brunswick and the win with two perfect innings against Cherokee, followed and pitched a third of an inning.

Then, it was Aiden Bauer for one inning before senior left-hander Ryan Biello pitched the final 2 1/3 innings to pick up the save for Bauer, who recorded his first win of the season.

"I knew I was an option, but I didn't think it was going to get to me,'' said Biello, who started the game in left field and had not pitched in a high school game since May 27. "But, that's baseball, anything can happen.''

Biello got out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth by getting clean-up batter Chase Fischer to ground out to first.

He recorded two strikeouts and got a ground out to second after a leadoff walk in the sixth.

"I was just trying to keep them off-balanced, work down,'' Biello said. "A mistake could have ended the game.''

"He's a good pitcher. He's a solid pitcher,'' said Howell junior outfielder and leadoff batter Russell Halvorsen, who put his team ahead for good with a two-run single in the fifth. "We know when he comes in, he's throwing strikes.''

Halvorsen played a key role in saving the game for Howell with a sliding catch of Logan Mason's line drive toward the left field line with one out in the bottom of the seventh.

"I've been playing outfield my whole life,'' Halvorsen said. "Moving positions is nothing. It was a good hit, but I had to get there.''

Hunterdon Central had pulled within 9-8 on a homer to left by leadoff batter Christian Petino with one out in the seventh. A throwing error then enabled Mike Contiliano to reach second.

Halvorsen began the game in right field, but was moved to left when Biello was summoned to pitch.  Johnson made the decision to move Halvorsen to left after assistant coach Brian Blood suggested it.

"I thought it was a great idea,'' Johnson said. "Moving Russell to left was absolutely the right thing to do. He's just a great outfielder and came up big there.''

Biello then got Fischer to fly out to center fielder Devon Smith and set of a wild celebration among the Howell players, coaches and fans.

"Ryan Biello is such a good, genuine person,'' Johnson said. "To give him the ball and see him not come through would have been so heart-breaking because I know how much this game means to him. He really loves this game. To see him come through there, was just amazing.''

BIELLO ALSO PLAYS A KEY ROLE AT THE PLATE

Biello, who had gone 0-for-2 in his first two at-bats and had also seen a ball get by him for the game-tying two-run double in the fourth, played a key role in the go-ahead rally when he followed walks to Braden Walsj and Nick Gallo with a single to left to load the bases.

Halvorsen then followed with his go-ahead two-run single to left. He then scored what turned out to be the winning run on a throwing error on Strauch's ground ball to deep short.

HOWELL GETS OFF TO A FAST START

Howell wasted no time against Hunterdon Central ace Kyle McCoy in the first.

Smith walked with one out. Strauch then blasted his school single-season record tying 11th homer of the season to left to give Howell a 2-0 lead.

A two-run double to left by Gallo with two out made it 4-0.

And even when Hunterdon Central took its only lead of the game at 7-6 by scoring five runs in the fourth, nothing was going to stop Howell. The players believed this was their time, and after all the team had been through in the past week, it made for a story that will be hard to believe in years to come.

"This is crazy. This isn't for real,'' Halvorsen said. "I'm in shock right now.''

"I think in the history of Howell baseball there's only been one other upset that would be comparable to this, and that was a Little League upset,'' Johnson said. "I think this is just an incredible win for this school, for this team and for this community.

"This team is no more talented than other ones we've had, but they were just a better team. They were guys that bought in. Some guys talk loving baseball, but they don't mean it. These guys love baseball. They are just very unselfish group in understanding everything that needed to get done to win every game.''

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Shore NJ baseball: Howell wins first state championship, takes Group 4