Despite tough finish, Phillipsburg baseball encouraged by turnaround season

The Phillipsburg baseball team huddles up before its game against Easton. (Tim Wynkoop | lehighvalleylive.com contributor)

The Phillipsburg baseball team huddles up before its game against Easton. (Tim Wynkoop | lehighvalleylive.com contributor)

Given how the Phillipsburg baseball team's season started, an ending this soon may be met with disappointment.

But given how the past few seasons have gone, the Stateliners are looking up.

After Monday's first-round exit from the North 2, Group 4 playoffs at the hands of North Hunterdon — a team it had beat during its mid-season peak — Phillipsburg is putting the final touches on its 2017 campaign with makeup games. Coming into Friday, the Stateliners' record stood at 12-13, a bit of a deceiving mark after starting the year 11-6.

“Even though we have fallen apart a little bit in the last couple weeks, big picture I’m still pretty proud of what they accomplished — especially the seniors, being able to lift the program up to do some things we haven’t done in a while,” second-year head coach Dylan Sapir said Monday.

Following four straight years of single-digit win totals, Phillipsburg put together a memorable season with its best results since 2012. The Stateliners enjoyed local success — wins over Delaware Valley, Nazareth, Warren Hills, North Hunterdon, Warren Hills and Hunterdon Central — a team they hadn't beaten since 2012.

The win over the Red Devils came in thrilling fashion in the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex quarterfinals. Trailing 9-6 headed to the bottom of the sixth, Phillipsburg scored one run in the sixth and three in the seventh with Zac Troxell providing the walkoff single.

The Stateliners had branded themselves on their comeback wins during its early-season surge, including a 9-8 win over North Hunterdon in which they lost an 8-2 lead, only to rally back with the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh and a heroic double play on a squeeze bunt in the bottom half to end the game.

Their flair for the late-game dramatics went missing in the second showdown with the Lions when they met in the NJSIAA tournament. Phillipsburg rallied back to tie the game at four in the fifth inning, but went dry after that and fell 11-4.

Their fate in the playoffs was up in the air for a short time following the game. A disputed pitch count and potential violation by North Hunterdon was the subject of postgame discussion. Though the Stateliners did not file a formal appeal, the NJSIAA ruled Tuesday in North Hunterdon's favor, officially ending Phillipsburg's playoff run.

"We lost the game," Sapir told nj.com. "We lost the game and nobody wants to win a baseball game that way. But it's a tough situation for my guys too, though. They're like, 'Coach, we followed the rules, they didn't.' The comment is, I get from some of the guys, 'Well, why have rules if you don't have to follow them?' I don't know what to say to them."

Pitcher Nick McAuliffe — who will return next year along with the team’s other top arm Tyler Diefenbach — settled down after a shaky start to last into the sixth inning.

“That was good to see out of him, that he didn’t get rattled in that situation,” Sapir said. “He settled in and did a really nice job. He showed some nice mental toughness.”

Senior catcher Jason Hawk also turned in a strong game with a 3-for-4 effort at the plate with an RBI that had tied the game at four in the fifth.

“It’s nice for Hawk,” Sapir said. “His dad works at North Hunterdon, so it’s nice for him to come though against those guys. He knows a lot of them.”

Hawk is one of the key seniors Phillipsburg will lose to graduation, a group that includes shortstop Tom Mandry, third baseman Garrett DuPont, outfielder Alex Lahey and Troxell at designated hitter.

Still, the Stateliners have a strong group returning in addition to McAuliffe and Diefenbach. Junior outfielder Karrick Stansberry, who got off to a hot start at the plate only to miss a bulk of the season with an injury after fouling a ball off his knee, will join the likes of Sean Morro, Mike D’Alessandro, Jack Stagaard and Nick Helman for another go-around.

With an encouraging season to build off of, Phillipsburg may not be returning to the doldrums of the Skyland Conference anytime soon.

“We have not been playing good baseball recently,” Sapir said. “We lost an emotional game (last week) to Easton, so I give a lot of credit to these guys for fighting and staying in it. Probably not many people in the ballpark thought, when we were down 4-0, that we’d tie the game and have the go-ahead run on second in the fifth inning. I’m proud of them.”

Greg Joyce may be reached at gjoyce@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @GJoyce9. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.

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