World Series is next for Brookdale baseball team BY TIM MORRIS Staff Writer Johnny Johnson will take the same confidence he had in his Brookdale Community College baseball team all year with him to the Junior College World Series. Last weekend, the Jersey Blues won their third championship of the spring, and with it, a trip to the Division II World Series that begins in Millington, Tenn., on May 28. “This team deserves to be there,” said Johnson, after his team won the Northeast District 11 championship Sunday. “If we play our game, we can beat anyone in the country. I have no fear because I know they will battle.” The Blues (42-4) displayed their fight last weekend in Groton, Conn., having to go through the loser’s bracket to won the Northeast District championship. Brookdale, which has led the nation in hitting all year, was a shell of itself in the first game of the tournament Saturday, falling to the University of Connecticut-Avery Point, 6-0. That put BCC in the loser’s bracket and the Blues had to play a second game that day, against Rockland Community College (NY). Adam Ortiz (Lakewood) saved Brookdale’s bacon, going the distance in a 2-1 victory that kept Brookdale’s World Series dreams alive. Doug Ford (Neptune) came through with an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to keep the Jersey Blues season alive. Sunday, Brookdale had to beat Avery Point twice in order to win the district and advance. Avery (29-12) discovered the difference a day can make. The bats that were so silent on Saturday suddenly awoke, and with it, Brookdale was back to being the team that had won a school-record 33-consecutive games during the season and is good enough to be ranked No. 2 in the country. It was a team Avery couldn’t handle. “It took us one game to get our bats warmed up,” said Johnson. “The week off [between games] had our timing off. We were swinging at bad pitches. “I told our guys, ‘Just concentrate and go the opposite way [with the outside pitches],’” said Johnson. “We hit the ball better in the second game, and on Sunday we played our game. “I thought they were the two best all-around games we played this year,” he added. Hitting may have been the trademark of the 2005 Blues, but the pitching takes a backseat to no one. The Blues got three complete games in Groton and showed the kind of depth that a team has to have if it is to survive through the loser’s bracket. Facing elimination two more times on Sunday, the Blues got a complete game win from Matt Coulson (Freehold Borough) in the first game, a 9-2 victory. Coulson improved to 9-0 for the season and Brookdale’s offense was back. In the second game, the Blues got Ryan Beard (Point Pleasant) six runs in what was a 6-2 clincher. He went eight and two-thirds innings and Justin Esposito (Middletown North) got the final out of the game on a strikeout. Brookdale hammered out 23 hits in the two games led by Dave Lorber (Freehold Township) and John Romano (Staten Island, N.Y.), who combined for 10 hits. Lorber, who plays second base, scored three times and had two RBIs and scored three runs, while catcher Romano had two RBIs and scored twice in the 9-2 win in the first game. John Marzella (Morristown), Nick Mullins (Brick) and Robbie Hine (Brick) delivered clutch RBI singles in the first game. The almost two weeks off between games is a help to the team’s pitching staff, Johnson said, but a concern for the hitting. He will try to keep the team sharp through scrimmages and lots of batting practice. This is Brookdale’s first trip to the World Series since 2002. The tournament will be held at the USA Baseball Complex in Millington and will run through June 3. Eight teams will be at the nationals and the format will be double-elimination. Teams will only play one game a day. The other two championships won by the baseball team in 2005 were the Garden State Athletic Association and Region XIX crowns. With the softball team having already qualified for the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III National Championships in Alfred, N.Y., Brookdale is a position to possibly win two national championships this year. Bo Scannapieco’s softball team, which is ranked No. 1 in the country, begins play Thursday in Alfred. The Blues earned their trip to the nationals by winning their 10th straight Region XIX crown on May 7.