Colts clinch home field

            The Middlesex County College baseball team clinched home-field advantage in the opening round of the postseason after splitting a double header series with their biggest rival and closest competition in Region 19, number seven nationally ranked, Brookdale.  Sitting in first place in the conference heading into the series at 20-7, the Colts fully understood that not only was the Region title hanging in the balance, but so too was the respect that they felt they have earned to reach the point they have.

            Sporting a better conference record and higher standing in the region than Brookdale; Middlesex continues to be shunned out of the NJCAA polls top ten rankings. If the Colts needed any added incentive to play well against Brookdale, the critics certainly gave it to them.

            Brookdale opted to throw their ace, Matt Yuhas, regarded as arguably the regions most dominating pitcher, entering the game with a 7-0 record and an impeccable 1.21 ERA. Colts manager Mike Lepore opted to save both of his top two starters, Yoshinori Machida and Matt Cesare for this series, instead handing the ball to Jeremy Accardi in the biggest game of the season.

            In such a pressure filled series, Accardi understood he could not let emotions get the best of him. As a pitcher who is known for challenging hitters by throwing strikes and mixing his pitches well, it well vital for Accardi to throw strikes and keep calm.

            "I really can't say I was nervous, even though it was one of the most important games of the season," Accardi said. "I was ready to leave it all out on the field and do everything possible to get us a win."

Accardi added, "All I had to do was go out there and throw strikes because I knew that we would put up runs and make plays, I think that confidence was the biggest thing yesterday both for me on the mound and the team behind me as well."

The Colts bats provided Accardi with a jolt of offense that would allow the pitcher to work free and easy all afternoon, posting 13 runs in the contest. The most impressive element behind that offensive outburst was who it was against. Brookdale threw the very best pitcher they had to offer in Yuhas, who barely yields a run per game to the opposition and had not been beaten on the season; that was until he faced the Colts.

"We know we have the opportunity to win no matter who is on the mound for us or the opposition. Knocking their ace off the mound definitely builds our confidence at the plate," said infielder Michael Cabonilas. "Timely hitting and an awesome performance from Jeremy was the reason we won. Accardi's performance was so huge for us; he hit his spots and had every hitter off balance. You can't ask for more from a pitcher."

Horican added, "Jeremy Accardi came up huge in the first game. He was a mental assassin out there, it made me think about the movie Inception, he knew exactly what Brookdale was thinking and expecting and threw the opposite pitch."

The Colts took their 13-7 victory in game one as a statement to the nation that they belong in the same discussions with teams like Brookdale, Northampton and Gloucester as a perennial national title contender. In the victory, the Colts assured themselves of a home series in the opening round of the playoffs. On the surface seems like a huge deal, but to Middlesex, who has gone 8-1 on the road this season, it matters very little in the grand scheme of things.

"Personally, I don't think it matters for our team to have home field advantage," said pitcher John Radich. "We have proven we can win both home and away, having gone undefeated on the road up until a week ago. It will probably make things easier because we don't have to cram into the team vans for a long ride, but all in all, we will win, regardless of where we play."

"The majority of the team's success in the first game came from us coming out ready to go and ready to beat a ranked team," Horican said. "We know we belong right along with Brookdale and Northampton in the top ten, especially now that we have beaten both of them.  We did everything right at the plate, whether it was getting key bunts down or simply putting the ball in play. Once we got ahead they began to crumble and from there we never looked back."

            Just as important as the 13-7 game one victory was for the Colts psyche, the team needed to protect themselves from an emotion let down in game two. Admittedly though, the Colts did not come out with the same intensity they brought forth in the opener, and as a result, Brookdale defeated MCC in game two, posting a 13-0 shutout.

            There are games throughout the course of a long grueling season where you can say you were dominated by a team and accept that fact. However, that was not the case in this game; the Colts beat themselves with costly misques and errors that great teams like Brookdale feast upon. In a game where the Colts needed to be clean and efficient both offensively and defensively, they were spotty at best.

            "We just were not there mentally in game two," Cabonillas said. "We just made too many errors on routine play and that just cannot happen against the top teams."

            "Not only did out defense become complacent in the second game, but everyone on the team did," Horican said. "We could have easily won game two if we came out ready to win like we did in the first game. Brookdale did a great job of making our errors hurt us and built off of them to run away with the game."