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The formula that got the Pequannock baseball team to the New Jersey Group II state title game was no secret: pitching and just enough timely hitting. But in the championship contest against Shore Regional, the Panthers changed things up a little. Oh sure, they pitched another shutout--their fourth straight in state tournament play. But Pequannock also broke out the big sticks for the first time, routing the Blue Devils to claim the title.
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Jordan Tabakman played the starring role in the final. The junior, verbally committed to North Carolina, pitched for Pequannock despite a sore hamstring. It wasn't his best sports performance on the hill, as Shore put a number of base runners aboard in several innings. But Tabakman wriggled out of trouble each time, firing five shutout innings in a game shortened by the mercy rule.
Tabakman also had the baseball game's biggest hit, a mammoth three-run homer in the third inning that made the score 4-0 for the Panthers. Two batters later, Kyle Weiss also went yard to cap a five-run rally that pretty much put the game away.
Pequannock added five more runs in the next two innings. But as it turned out, the Panthers may have gotten the only run they needed in the top of the first, when the hero of the state semifinal, George Chrencik, delivered once again. His booming double to right-center brought Martin Kelly around from first base.
For the Panthers, it's their first baseball state title in 21 years, and the first for head coach Bill Arata, who was an assistant when the team won in 1988. It also capped off a great day for Pequannock High School, as the softball team won its own state title earlier in the afternoon, just across the campus at Toms River North. -- Paul Mencher for Jersey Sports Now
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