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Schools

Highland Baseball Falls to Seneca in Quarterfinals

Seneca's Ty Lyons and Kevin Comer combined to shut down the Tartans and end their season.

Highland head coach D.J. Gore’s baseball team has done some remarkable things over the past two seasons, compiling an impressive 30-14 record in the process.

Following a season that saw the Tartans advance all the way to the South Jersey Group III championship game before falling to Ocean City High School, the Tartans won 15 games, a Tri-County Royal Division Championship and qualified for the prestigious Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic.

The only thing left for No. 1-seed Highland to do was complete last season’s unfinished business and win the South Jersey Group III title.

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Standing in their way was No. 8 Seneca, which features the powerful right arms of Ty Lyons and Kevin Comer.

Unfortunately for Highland, a deep playoff run was not to be. Both highly touted pitchers were at their best Friday, as they helped the Golden Eagles slip by Highland, 4-2, in a game that could only be described as a fast-paced pitchers' duel.

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Gore, who spent several moments after the game embracing senior players in shallow right field, reflected on his team’s accomplishments over the past two seasons and the quick quarterfinal exit.

“Losing stinks, but the toughest part of it is losing a group of kids like this,” Gore said of his talent group of seniors. “We just didn’t get a big hit—that’s baseball. You have to give Seneca credit.”

Matching Lyons pitch for pitch was Highland starter Ryan Pavlik, who allowed only two runs in five and one-third innings.

Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth, Highland was trying to rally back as Comer began to throw warmup tosses. Under that backdrop, the Tartans loaded the bases before Joe Sigismondi drew a bases loaded walk to even the score.

That’s when Seneca coach Sean Cassel turned to Comer, who is scheduled to play at Vanderbilt next year and likely to be drafted in the early rounds of the MLB First-Year Player Draft on June 6.

Comer, who threw only 29 pitches in the two and one-third innings he worked, struck out Ron Reagan to end the threat. Comer struck out six of the seven batters he faced.

“We had the bases loaded there and he made some great pitches,” Gore said. “With the scenarios that we had, I’d take it 10 out of 10 times.”

The score remained the same until the top of the seventh when Seneca’s Mark Steen lifted a bases loaded sacrifice fly to give his team a 3-2 lead. Cameron Bahr added the fourth and final run when he followed with an RBI single.

That would be plenty for Comer, who threw a perfect seventh against the top of Highland’s order.

“I knew they were good hitters, so I had to make good pitches,” the senior right-hander said.

Despite failing to advance to Tuesday’s semifinal against No. 4 Central Regional, Gore was pleased with his team’s overall performance this season.

“It was a great year for a great group of kids. It’s a shame that we just missed some early opportunities,” he said.

The Tartans will play their final game of the season on Tuesday when they travel to Clearview.

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