The scoreboard at Rowland Park tells the story: South Brunswick beat St. Thomas Aquinas 3-2 in 14 innings in the GMC Tournament first round on May 6, 2024. (Photo credit: @WeAreSBVikings on Twitter)
On his way home from a baseball game that won’t be forgotten for a long time, South Brunswick head coach Mike Pallitto couldn’t remember a lot of the details.
After all, their game had started more than four hours ago.
In a game delayed until about 4:45 until 9th-seed St. Thomas Aquinas arrived, 8th-seed South Brunswick won a 3-2 battle of attrition with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 14th inning.
This wasn’t what Ernie Banks had in mind when he said, “Let’s play two.”
Aquinas got a run in the first off Ethan Fantel, his first start since coming back from injury, when he broke several bones in his face getting hit by a line drive. But he settled in, and the Vikings tied the score at one in the sixth.
And that’s the way it stayed until the tenth inning, when each team scored, and they played on, tied at 2-2.
In the bottom of the 14th inning, Ethan Fantel led off with a double. After a walk and a bunt, they loaded the bases with another walk. That’s when Jack Leach became the hero, smacking a single to drive in Fantel with the winning run.
The long game could complicate things in Wednesday’s quarterfinals, but the Vikings only used three pitchers – and have a regular season game against Perth Amboy Tuesday, too – and Pellito will have to work out who can go against top-seed South Plainfield at 7 pm at North Brunswick Community Park.
Click below to hear South Brunswick head coach Mike Pallitto talk about the win:
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