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O'Neill, Ballestero Power Morristown to Win Morris County Championship

May 15, 2018
TJ Hunt
Director, PBR New Jersey

MONTVILLE –– In a matchup of the top two teams in Morris County for the majority of the season, Morristown took on Delbarton for the County Championship. 

It has been well documented that Delbarton has been among the state's best this season – with a plethora of Division I talent day after day for the Green Wave. Morristown is consistently led by their three big Division I recruits as well, in Virginia recruit '19 C/INF Tate Ballestero, and '18 Seton Hall recruits C David Haberman and RHP Brennan O'Neill. 

Jack Leiter toed the rubber for the Green Wave while O'Neill got the nod for the Colonials. This was the second time I had seen Leiter in a month, and he was electric to start off the game.

Delbarton was the home team and Leiter started off the game with a strikeout, revving his fastball up to 94 MPH and sitting 90-92. The second batter was Ballestero who's smooth left handed swing is regarded as one of the top '19s in the state. Ballestero took a Leiter 92 MPH fastball over the right field wall to break the scoreless tie early on in the game.

Ballestero First Inning Homer

 

In the second inning, Leiter seemed to settle in – striking out the side and sitting 90-92 touching 93 and flashing a slider up to 77 MPH with late bite. In the bottom half of the inning, Delbarton would threaten when Mark Darakjy led off the inning with a single to left and Justin Kim singled as well. With runners on first and second and nobody out, '20 C Willie Schwarick bunted a one-hopper back to O'Neill, who turned and fired to third to get the lead runner. O'Neill would mow down the next two batters on strikes to end the threat for the Green Wave.

In the third, Ballestero came up again with one out and launched his second homer in as many at bats in the game, nearly a repeat of the first one he stroked in the top of the first. 

Ballestero Third Inning Homer

 

Both Leiter and O'Neill would trade zeros through the rest of the game. Leiter ended up on the short end of the stick after a masterful performance outside of the two Ballestero homers. Leiter went 6.2 innings, allowing just three hits and struck out 13 batters. His mechanics are polished and has shown steady growth in his arm strength since we first saw him as a freshman.

For the Colonials, O'Neill was outstanding – and dictated the flow of the game from the start. The broad shouldered right hander made big pitches when he needed to and seemingly did not miss a spot the entire outing. The pace and energy he brought to Morristown was invaluable for the momenutm in the game. Only one runner reached third base the entire game for Delbarton, after Schwarick led off the 5th inning with a double to left and advanced to third on a wild pitch. But even with that, O'Neill dominated the inner half of the plate for the next three batters and recorded two weak pop outs and a strikeout.