RICHLAND – It has been a special week for St. Augustine Prep senior right-handed pitcher/center fielder Alex Weingartner.
On Monday, Weingartner was named the Gatorade New Jersey Baseball Player of the Year.
Tuesday, he hit a walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the seventh to give the Hermits a dramatic win over Red Bank Catholic in a NJSIAA Non-Public South A semifinal.
Thursday, Weingartner pitched a complete-game two-hitter – his first complete game of the season – and went 2-for-4, stole two bases and scored two runs to lead St. Augustine to a 6-0 win over defending sectional champion Christian Brothers Academy in the Non-Public South A championship game.
St. Augustine (22-7, which won its eighth sectional title in the last 10 seasons the state tournament has been held, will try for its fourth state championship Wednesday at 4 p.m. when it meets Delbarton (27-4) in the Non-Public A final at Rutgers University.
“I’m super proud of myself,” Weingartner, who is a Penn State University recruit and a potential high draft choice in the Major League Baseball Draft July 11-13 in Philadelphia, said. “It was a long road to get to this spot. I’m proud of myself, proud of these guys. All I care about is just moving on to the next game and finishing my season with a win.”
Weingartner gives St. Augustine a major chance in every game, whether he is on the mound or playing in the field.
Thursday, he struck out nine, walked two hit two batters, had a no-hitter for four innings and threw a season-high 102 pitches.
He also led off the bottom of the first and third innings with singles. He scored in both of those innings.
“They had Alex Weingartner. We don’t,” CBA coach Marty Kenney Jr. said. “That kid is a monster. At the plate, you’re trying to figure out what to throw him. He’s got great power and great velocity. I know he hasn’t thrown that much, but his stuff carried today for sure on a hot day. He just disrupts everything at the plate and on the mound. ”
An example of how Weingartner disrupts and opposing team’s defense came in the first after his leadoff single to center.
He then stole second and third and scored on a throwing error on his attempted steal of third.
“I have fun time out there. Being able to steal and take extra bases is definitely fun out there,” Weingartner , who is hitting .506 with seven home runs, 36 RBI and 32 stolen bases on the season, said.
“Once he (Weingartner) gets on, they don’t have to do too much,” Kenney said. “He’s going to steal a bag and they’re going to get some balls in play
His single to left in the third was followed by a bunt single by Brady Jackson. D.J. Lloyd was then hit by a pitch to load the bases before a 6-4 fielder’s choice ground out plated Weingartner. Hank Biglin’s RBI single to left made it 3-0.
One run was probably going to be tough to overcome, but three runs was almost impossible the way Weingartner was throwing.
It was also a day where Weingartner, whose longest outing on the season before Thursday had been 5 1/3 innings and the most pitches he had thrown had been 90 was finally able to let it loose.
“I’ve been delaying this for a while. Coach Ney (St. Augustine head coach Mike Ney) has done a real good of just managing my pitch count throughout the season,” Weingartner, who has an ERA under 1.00 and has struck out 73, walked 13, hit five batters and allowed 16 hits in 41 1/3 innings, said. “Being able to open it up in a game that really means a lot to us is something we kind of delayed for a reason. It felt really nice.
CBA (18-9), whose 11-game winning streak was snapped, had one threat when it had two runners on with one out in the sixth. But, Weingartner put out the fire with two ground outs to Jackson at shortstop. Jackson was outstanding on defense and also had an RBI single in the sixth.
“If there’s an award for Comeback Player of the Year, I think Brady would absolutely be in the contest for it,” Weingartner said. “He had surgery (wrist surgery for a broken hamate bone) and missed like three weeks of our season and he comes back and steps up for our team. To see him come back from the struggles he had throughout the season is just awesome to see.”
Awesome is what Weingartner has been this week and throughout his career.
“He’s a difference maker for sure,” Kenney said.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ baseball: St. Augustine, Alex Weingartner shut down CBA in section final
