South Brunswick Post 401 Reaches State Final 8

South Brunswick Post 401 not only needed to win three games this past weekend to reach the American Legion baseball state final eight, it also needed six runs in the last two innings of its final contest.

"How is that for dramatic?" South Brunswick Manager Tony Cosumano asked.

South Brunswick clinched the spot in the state final eight with a 13-12 win over Mount Morris on Sunday at Community Park in North Brunswick.

"We were down 12-7 and scored three in the eighth and three more in the ninth," Cosumano said. "That's as dramatic as it will ever get."

Fortunately, South Brunswick started the ninth inning with its hottest hitter at the plate.

South Brunswick opened Sunday with a 10-3 win over Little Ferry. Between that game and the one against Mount Morris, "Dom Forcella was up 11 times and had 10 hits and three homers," Cosumano noted.

"We knew he was a good hitter. Right now, he's just locked in at the plate. Before he got up in the ninth inning (against Mount Morris), he told me he was going deep."

Forcella did go deep. The winning run, however, scored as Ariel Torres' two-out grounder to second was mishandled.

Two of South Brunswick's three wins over the weekend came down to the last batter. On July 23, South Brunswick edged Piscataway, 7-6.

During the regular season, Piscataway had defeated South Brunswick three times.

"I think we're as good a team as they are," Cosumano said. "They beat us three times and deserved to win our league title, but it's hard to beat a team every time you play them. We got some revenge."

In this game, South Brunswick was up 6-1 going to the top of the seventh. Gabe Frankel was pitching wonderfully before tiring a bit and allowing two runs in the eighth. Frankel finished by going 7 1/3 innings and allowing three runs (two earned). He allowed nine hits, but only walked one batter.

Piscataway added three more runs in the top of the ninth to tie the game.

In the last of the ninth, Ray Lang hit his third double of the game. After an intentional walk to Mayce and an out, Rob Johnson hit a grounder. Piscataway got the force at second, but the relay to first was not in time.

"I was waving him (Lang) all the way," Cosumano said. "He had the same frame of mind. He told me after the game, 'Coach, as soon as I saw you waving me, I got into an extra gear.'

"I got a good look at the play down the line. He was safe. He just got around the tag and scored."

Kevin Mayce hit a two-run homer in the third to score South Brunswick's first two runs. Rob Fliegelman had a two-run single in the fifth. Mike Heyer added two hits. 

After some more dramatics on Sunday, South Brunswick is in the state final eight, which will be held at Moody Park in Ewing. South Brunswick's first game is July 26 at noon against Park Ridge.

"We've been to the state final eight before," Cosumano noted. "We finished second once and third another. It gets a lot harder now because you are playing seven other really good teams."

Fortunately, South Brunswick goes into the final eight playing excellent baseball.

"Everyone is contributing," Cosumano said. "We're all chipping in and playing good baseball."