Hot Shots take on rival Margate to decide championship this week

HAMMONTON—The Hammonton Hot Shots rolled into the South Jersey South Shore Baseball league (SJSSBL) championship series last week, sweeping the Buena Blue Dawgs in a best-of-three semifinal series.

Third-seeded Hammonton blanked Buena, the second seed, 3-0 to open the series on July 29, then completed the sweep with a 3-1 win on July 30.

The Hot Shots will take on the top seed, Margate, in a best-of-five championship series that began on August 5. The first two games of that series ended too late for this edition.

In the opener of the series against Buena, Chris Garwood tossed a complete game shutout for Hammonton, scattering five hits across seven innings while walking two and striking out seven.

“Chris threw a great game for us. He was in command from the start and never really gave Buena a chance,” Hammonton manager Pete Berenato said.

The game was a pitchers duel between Garwood and Buena’s Marco Rios, who held Hammonton to only one run through the game’s first six innings.

That run came on a solo homer from Dan Gavlick in the top of the first inning.

Holding that 1-0 lead in the top of the seventh, Hammonton tacked on a pair of insurance runs.

Gavin West’s single started the rally for Hammonton, and he went to third on Colin Ahart’s double. Bobby Falese followed with a sacrifice fly to score West and after Gino Serechia walked and Matt McAleer singled, Jon Gonzalez drove in Ahart for a 3-0 lead.

The Hot Shots finished the sweep the next night, once again taking control early and backing a strong pitching performance to earn a 3-1 win.

Gavlick drove in a run in the bottom of the first to give Hammonton a 1-0 lead and in the second McAleer’s RBI extended the lead to 2-0.

Buena scored as run in the fourth, but in the bottom of the sixth Gavlick homered to center to put Hammonton up 3-1.

That was more than enough support for veteran southpaw Josh Wagner who allowed just one hit in seven innings, walking two while striking out four.

“A great job by Josh Wagner who was excellent tonight,” Berenato said.

Hammonton and Margate are familiar foes. The two teams met several times to determine the champion in the Atlantic County Baseball League (ACBL), but this is the first time they will play for the SJSSBL title.