By Rich Bevensee
Cole Mackin spent most of the game as a picture of composure on the mound, so when he gave two emphatic fist pumps after getting out of a sixth inning jam, his reaction revealed just how pivotal that situation was.
With runners on second and third and no outs and his team protecting a two-run lead, Mackin surrendered an RBI groundout, then struck out the next two batters, one looking and the next swinging.
That was the latest and best chance for the Central Jersey Phillies to knock Mackin off his game. Mackin struck out the side in the seventh and lifted the Beekman A’s to a 3-2 victory and the 17/18 Wood Bat Red bracket championship at the Summer Finale on Sunday evening at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
“He’s been in a lot of moments like that,” A’s coach Rob Servellon said. “He struggled initially but he’s been our guy ever since the spring. All spring, all summer.”
The A’s, comprised entirely of varsity and JV ballplayers from Arlington High in LaGrangeville, N.Y., were making their first championship game appearance of the summer. The A’s went 2-1 in pool play to earn a berth in the final.
The Phillies were a team composed mostly of Mercer County players, put together at the last minute by coach Bud Kowal. The Phils went 2-0-1 in pool play and surrendered just five runs to edge the Fast Twitch Nationals (2-0-1 with six runs yielded) for the second berth.
Mackin, a 5-11, 185-pound rising senior at Arlington, surrendered two runs on six hits and two walks and he struck out six in the complete game victory to earn Most Valuable Player honors.
After yielding a run in the first, Mackin cruised through four scoreless innings before the Phillies’ Dylan Stables and Max Kleinz led off the sixth with consecutive base hits and pulled off a double steal to put some heat on the A’s ace. Chase Kowal grounded to shortstop Tristan Rivera, who smartly fired to first for the sure out while Stables scored and brought the Phillies within one run.
“It’s really hard for any player in any game to be in that situation,” Mackin said. “The mental game is really hard. I was trying to think of good things and take it pitch by pitch.”
Mackin, relying on his low 80s fastball and explosive slider, responded with back-to-back strikeouts to escape further damage.
“He’s a dog. He’s got a lot of fight,” said A’s catcher Tim McCormick, also a rising senior at Arlington and the A’s regular catcher. “He does not give up and no matter what the situation is he’s gonna battle. I was not surprised. He does it all the time for us.”
“We scored one run with a runner at third with less than two outs,” Kowal said with a slow shake of his head. “Give their pitcher credit because he struck out the next two guys. If we put a ball in play with one out maybe it’s a different story, but that’s baseball.”
Mackin, who stranded three runners in scoring position prior to wiggling out of the sixth inning, said those situations are obviously the toughest for a pitcher but ones which he relishes. Mackin said he gained experience with high leverage situations pitching as Arlington High’s closer.
“It’s fun being under pressure,” Mackin said. “Obviously in that situation I got out of it with one run but it could have been worse. I was just trying to hit the right spots. It’s fun being there, showing you can pitch in that type of game.”
Beekman A’s righty Cole Mackin was named MVP of the Summer Finale 17/18 Red bracket.
Credit must be handed to Phillies righty Connor Willever, a rising junior at Lawrence High who absorbed the tough luck loss. Willever allowed three unearned runs in the top of the first inning and over the next six innings he gave up just one hit and one walk.
“You can’t ask for more than that, and he’s our third baseman,” said Kowal, who coaches Willever on the Tri-State Arsenal. Kowal said he only asks Willever to pitch “in just these kinds of situations, when we’re tight for players, we’re deep in a tournament and don’t have any guys left. He competes. He’s tough.”
The A’s struck first for three runs in the first. Griffin White had an RBI double, Christian Anderson had a sacrifice fly and Richie Brown doubled in the third run.
The Phillies answered with a run in the bottom of the inning on Willever’s fielder’s choice RBI, but left the bases loaded against Mackin.
“He got off to a rough start but he settled himself down and as you could see he was lights out after that,” Servellon said.
Mackin received some outstanding defense in the middle innings before he had to stomp out that sixth inning fire. His infield turned a 6-4-3 double play in the third. In the fifth, third baseman Eric Santaella ranged to his right to snag a Jason Villiani grounder, and even though his momentum carried him across the third base line he fired to first off his back foot to get the out.
“I’d say it’s one of my better performances,” Mackin said. “The first inning was a little rough. I was getting a little frustrated and I had to cool down. Once I was pitching with a lead I started to settle down. I had my defense behind me and my catcher Timmy McCormick does a good job calling the right pitches. He knows what I want.”
McCormick deflected Mackin’s praise.
“He makes my job easier by throwing a lot of strikes,” McCormick said. “Cole’s got that great 1-2 combo – fastball-slider – and we just roll with that. If he has that, we control the whole game.”