The second annual Warrior Classic Baseball Tournament at Maxwell Field produced two thrilling contests Thursday as the event opened with first-round games. Wildwood Catholic (over Lower Cape May) and Middle Township (over Wildwood) each advanced via late-inning comebacks, each team posting an 11-10 victory.

In the opener Thursday afternoon, Wildwood Catholic scored five times in the top of the seventh inning to force a 10-10 tie, capped by Bryan Toland's two-out RBI double. That came after Lower Cape May used seven hits in the bottom of the sixth inning to score eight runs and take a 10-5 lead into the seventh. The Crusaders then pushed across a run in the top of the eighth as Dave McCallion, who had singled, scored on a fielder's choice.

Mike Mulligan's double down the left field line with the bases loaded -- and subsequent error in the outfield -- cleared the bases as Lower tied the game in the sixth. Marvin Evans later put Lower on top with an RBI hit to right field and the Tigers eventually led 10-5 when the Crusaders finally got out of the inning.

Lower seemed to be in great position to post the victory when Wildwood Catholic had just a runner on first base with one out in the seventh. But a couple of walks, a couple of hits, two very costly errors in the outfield and Toland's double gave the Crusaders the five runs they needed to tie.

Toland and Kyle Raucci each had two hits for Wildwood Catholic (3-5). Mark Rucci got the win in relief, allowing three hits and no runs over 2 2/3 innings.

Walker went 3 for 4 and Evans, James Wood and Steve Rossi each had two hits for the Tigers (3-9).


The nightcap was just as wild as Middle Township scored eight runs in the fifth and sixth innings to rally back to beat Wildwood, which led 6-3 after 4 1/2 innings. Andrew Garcia's RBI hit and an error on the Warriors scored two Middle runners and gave the Panthers the lead for good in the sixth. Wildwood scored a run in the top of the seventh and had runners on first and second with two outs but winning pitcher Tom Ritterhoff struck out the last Wildwood hitter to clinch the win.

Middle Township's four-run fifth inning was helped along by misplays by the Wildwood outfield, which lost two otherwise routine fly balls in the lights, according to Warrior coach Rich Hans.
 
Garcia went 2 for 4 with three RBIs and Scott DeCecco was 2 for 4 with three runs scored to pace Middle (7-2). Brandon Naperstek tripled and Aidan Nichols added a double.

For Wildwood (4-10),  Nick Palmer doubled, drove in two runs and scored twice, Curtis Gfit hit a two-run double and Dave Bradshaw had a hit and two runs scored.


The double-elimination tournament continues with three games Sunday. Wildwood takes on Lower Cape May in a losers' bracket semifinal at 1 p.m. and Middle Township faces Wildwood Catholic in the winners' bracket semifinal at 4 p.m. The winner of the 1 p.m. game and the loser of the 4 p.m. game will meet at 7 p.m. The tournament championship game is slated for Monday at 4 p.m., with a winner-take-all title game following at 7 p.m. should a losers' bracket team win the game at 4 p.m.