West Deptford baseball looking to take that final step
For the longest time, West Deptford has fielded a highly competitive baseball program, one that challenges for the Colonial Conference title on an almost annual basis.
For the longest time, West Deptford has fielded a highly competitive baseball program, one that challenges for the Colonial Conference title on an almost annual basis.
This is a team that advanced to the Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic final in 2006 only to win it the next year. That is the 16-team South Jersey tournament that consists of the area's top teams.
This year, the Eagles went one step farther, advancing to their first state title game. West Deptford (24-6) will face Parsippany (17-10) in Saturday's 11 a.m. state Group 2 championship at Toms River East.
It's less surprising that the Eagles are in the title game than it is that this is their first appearance. Yet it shows how difficult it is to reach this stage, even for such a consistently quality program.
"To be the first to get here is hard to put in words," said senior pitcher-outfielder Derek Wakeley, who is a big reason the Eagles are still playing on the second Saturday in June. "You will have little kids talking about you, and they will remember the team that went to the state championship, and they will look at this and want to keep the program going."
Pitching and defense, sprinkled with timely hitting, is a good recipe, and West Deptford has followed it pretty well.
Wakeley, a righthander and Stony Brook recruit, is 6-2 with five saves and a microscopic 0.89 ERA. Yet teams that get this far need more than one pitcher, and junior lefthander Drew Wilden has more than pulled his weight.
Wilden, who has already committed to Maryland, is 9-2 with a save and a 0.96 ERA. He also is batting a team-high .360.
The turning point for West Deptford surely came in a championship game disguised as a second-round matchup. That was when West Deptford beat highly touted lefthander Jason Groome and Barnegat, 2-1, in a South Jersey Group 2 quarterfinal.
Groome was selected Thursday in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Boston Red Sox, and he went the distance in that game. He struck out 12, but West Deptford was able to get the win with Wilden pitching four shutout innings and striking out nine and Wakeley earning the save by pitching the final three innings.
"That gave us a lot more confidence, and we have kept that going," Wakeley said.
Helping instill that confidence has been fourth-year head coach John Oehler, who knows a little something about playing this time of year. A 1999 Audubon graduate, Oehler was a starter on two state championship teams in high school, 1996 and 1998.
"I try to use the experience I had working up to these games and give it to these guys," said Oehler, who was a standout catcher at Old Dominion and caught current Detroit Tigers six-time all-star righthander Justin Verlander. "But when it comes down to it, they have done a great job."
The offense hasn't been a Murderer's Row, but it has done enough. There have been some close games in the postseason, such as a 3-1 win over Cinnaminson in the sectional final and a 2-0 victory over Delaware Valley in the state Group 2 semifinal.
"We are not putting eight or nine [runs] on the board each game, but when you have pitching and defense it will keep you in games," Oehler said.
For the players, Oehler and his staff, the run to a state final is something to be cherished.
"It is awesome to see all the fans coming to every game," Wilden said. "But once the game starts you block everything out, and it is just me and the catcher."
There has been a lot of blocking out for Wilden and his teammates this season. Now, one of South Jersey's model programs looks to take that final next step, the one they hope will have kids talking about them for a long, long time.
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