Abbriel Ventura tripled, singled and drove in a run for the Jersey Storm.
Never in a million years did Julian Jova expect his team to burst out of the starting gate by scoring 30 runs in its first two games of the season.
But there was the Jersey Storm ZT 14U ballclub banging away at almost every fastball offered and scoring nearly at will. The result was a commanding 2-0 sweep of its pool play twinbill at the April Fool’s tournament at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
The Storm knocked off Locked In Expos Blue, 12-7, and blew past Coal Region Sports of central Pennsylvania, 18-2, to produce the second-largest offensive output of any team regardless of age group at the Nation on Saturday. The Diamond Jacks 14U Super club scored 39 in two games.
“Our whole team was on fire,” said the Storm’s Omar Henriquez, a Delbarton-bound ballplayer who went 3-for-3 against the Expos. “I didn’t expect it to be like this, but I trust in all my teammates. I know we can go out there and ball.”
The Storm, which will most likely play in the 14U Gold playoff bracket on Sunday, will have a quarterfinal game at either 8 or 10 a.m.
The semis are at 12:15 p.m. and the final is slated for 2:15 p.m.
Against Coal Region, the Storm batted around twice and posted 17 runs in the bottom of the first inning to put the game out of reach.
“I expected them to be a good hitting team but not scoring like this, especially at Diamond Nation,” Jova said. “It’s easier to be in a dogfight, a 5-4 ballgame, a 6-2 ballgame. That’s what we expect. 30 runs is not what we’re looking for.”
Cam Goldberg, who is headed for Bergen Catholic next fall, went 2-for-2 with three RBI and two runs scored in the Coal Region game, and he tripled against the Expos. Also against Coal Region, Abbriel “Moi” Ventura had an RBI triple and walked in the first inning, singled in the second, and scored all three times.
Caleb Schultz was one of only three Coal Region players with a base hit.
Goldberg made an impressive comeback from knee surgery so he could debut on time with his Storm teammates. He had surgery on his right knee in September and wasn’t cleared for baseball activity until mid-December.
“I had surgery on my knee because I had a flap digging into my kneebone and had to have it shaved down,” Goldberg said. “It was definitely a rough recovery but I got through it.”
Storm leadoff man Tino Alberto drove in two runs with a walk and a single against Coal Region. Ethan Penalo had an RBI groundout and a two-run double, and Derrick Morales had a two-run single. Jake Mercado and Chase Toledo both had an RBI single.
“I probably wouldn’t have believed we would score like this,” Goldberg said. “I had a feeling we could score a lot of runs but not this much. We are very aggressive. Sometimes we weren’t in the past so that was a good improvement.”
“My boys were prepared to come in here,” Jova said. “They worked hard all winter, it’s the first weekend of baseball and they were chomping at the bit. You play who’s in front of you and concentrate on what you’ve been working on.”
Storm pitching was solid in the game against Coal Region. Josh Perez allowed two runs over two innings on two hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Toledo came on in relief in the third and struck out two, then pitched out of a bases-loaded jam with a third whiff.
Gabe Higgins had two of Coal Region’s four hits. Caleb Schultz singled and scored on a wild pitch in the first. Bryson Boyer had an RBI groundout in the first and singled in the third.