Gens become Kings of the ACBL

With one final 90 mph-plus fastball, Gens closer Josh Willitts fulfilled a championship vision for the Trenton Generals.

Willitts struck out Jayson Gonzalez, the Gens swept a Championship series doubleheader from the North Jersey Eagles at Moody Park, and for the first time since 2014, the championship hardware returned to New Jersey's capital city.

The Wolff Division champions etched their name into ACBL lore with decisive 12-7 and 7-1 victories over the Eagles. They saved their best for last - the Generals led after every inning of both games.

But to think title Sunday was easy would be painfully wrong. There were so many great performances.

Start with the pitching. Beginning and ending with late-season pickups. Mason Keller started Game 1 and went into the 5th on only two days of rest, gutting it out for his new teammates. He was fantastic through 4, gave up a few runs on fumes in the 5th, but got the game where it needed to go. When he left, the Gens were on top 9-3.

Willitts, the hard throwing rising sophomore from South Jersey, spent the bulk of his summer in the Cal Ripken League, before finishing out with the Gens - he will be roomates this year at Richmond with Chase Conklin. More on Conklin in a bit. But Willitts fought through the 8th and dominated in the 9th and came through when he was needed most.

Two other pitching performances stand out. Frank DelGuercio showed some serious onions by going the final 4 innings of Game 1 to earn the save. Franky was with us for the 2019 Gens rebuild and a trusted veteran hand down the stretch.

And Dylan Maria went way beyond the call of duty yesterday. Spot starter for Game 2 - the two-way threat responded with 6 innings for his longest outing since high school. Six spectacular innings with such a heavy fastball that all the Eagles hitters could do was beat it repeatedly into the ground to keep the infield busy.

So while one two-way shined on the mound, our other resident do-everything had his  moment at bat. Kenny Lombardo has been a versatile outfielder/closer/pregame music magician and then Marist sophomore came through at bat in Game 2. Pressed into service when leadoff man Lorenzo Repack tweaked his hammy scoring his ninth run of the playoffs in the first inning of Game 2, Lombardo shined in a big way in the fourth. He took Eagles starter Darmany Rivas deep over the left-center fence, extending the Gens lead to 6-1 and further taking the wind out of North Jersey's sails.

Paul Cooke had another Paul Cooke-like day - great emotional play and four hits - while Danny Melnick set the tone early in Game 1 when the Gens seemed like they might get nothing out of a bases loaded, no-out start. Melnick ripped a two-out hit up the middle, the Gens grabbed a 2-1 lead, and nothing was going to get in their way.

And then there's Conklin. The best all-around player in the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League who can kill an opponent in seemingly 40 or 50 different ways. He reached base 10 (!!!) times in the doubleheader, with seven hits, seven RBIs, four runs scored, and two doubles. He created havoc on the bases, tagging up from first to advance to scoring position on a flyout to center, and later scoring a key run on a dropped infield fly by North Jersey. He stole a couple of bases.

Then on defense, he contributed his daily ridiculous play, ranging deeeeep into the hole to get Devin Boone on what looked like a certain base hit to retire the side in the fifth inning of Game 1. That play stopped NJ's only rally of the day when the Eagles trimmed a 9-1 lead to 9-5 and the wheels seemed for a moment to be coming off.

Conklin made sure they weren't. He told the team before the game that "we weren't making the drive to Lyndhurst" (for a Game 3 Monday night). And then he made sure of it.

That's what winners do. That's what Kings do.