FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 24, 2009

24th Carpenter Cup - Championship Game
High School All-Star Baseball
Burlington County 2, SOL National & Bicentennial 1

PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—The talk of the Carpenter Cup Baseball Classic on the Burlington County side centered on 370, as in feet, the flight of the home run by Cherokee junior Tyler Powell in the semi-final game on Tuesday.  The talk after the championship game was a ball put in play by Riverside senior Marc Mount that went about 40 feet, the time it took him to run the 90 feet to first and the 180 feet Maple Shade senior C.J. Szymczak covered racing home with the eventual game-winning run on the play in the seventh inning.  That's about 310 feet covered in distance, not quite Powell-esque but it will have to do.

For the second time in the last four seasons, Burlington County won the Carpenter Cup championship, defeating SOL National and Bicentennial 2-1 in a nine-inning game that lasted all of two hours and 17 minutes on Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park, home of the world champion Philadelphia Phillies.

Tied at one in the seventh inning, Szymczak singled to right field and was sacrificed to second by Cherokee senior Shane Lynch.  After SOL National recorded a foul out, Mount hit a full swing squib that hugged the inside of the third base line.  Mount busted it to first, causing the throw to be rushed on a bang, bang play and when the ball bounced in the dirt, away from the first baseman, Szymczak rounded third and raced home to break the tie.

Trailing 1-0 in the sixth inning, Burlington County (4-0) tied the game on an RBI double by Cherokee junior Eric Barbieri, scoring Shawnee senior John Montemurro who had led off the inning with a walk.  Barbieri had two hits in the game.

Burlco was led by stellar pitching as Seneca sophomore Kevin Comer opened with three shutout innings, allowing two hits while recording three strikeouts.  Maple Shade senior Christian Rahman also allowed only two hits and one unearned run, recording two strikeouts in his three innings of work.

Senior Dan Koneschusky (Rancocas Valley) went the next one and two-thirds allowing two hits before Seneca junior James Coughlin went the final one and one-third to record the save.

This is Burlington County's second championship, having also won in 2006.

The team will be honored during the Phillies game against the Cincinnati Reds on July 7.

Burlco had entered the game scoring 36 runs in three wins, defeating Delaware County 11-8, Jersey Shore 10-5 and SOL American & Continental 14-9 before today's 2-1 win.

SOL National/Bicentennial reached the finals, defeating Berks County 7-3, Lehigh Valley 5-4 and the Philadelphia Catholic 3-2.

This was SOL National's second year in a row in the championship game, having won the 2008 title with a 7-6 win over Lehigh Valley.

Burlington is now 2-2 in the championship game in the 24-year history of the tournament, winning in 2006 and 2009 after losing in 1986 and 1993.  Burlco defeated SOL National in the quarter-finals enroute to the 2006 title with SOL National defeating Burlington County 8-4 in the 1993 title game.  Burlco defeated SOL National in the first round of the 1986 tournament 15-3.

-BURLCO-