Maksimow Clubs 1st Career Home Run, Hodges Connects for 2-Run Homer as Chatham Baseball Falls to West Morris, 7-3, in States

CHESTER, NJ -- Probably the best explanation of what happened during the Chatham baseball team's first-round state tournament game at West Morris is that the 13th-seeded Cougars and the player wearing No. 13 on his jersey didn't have the best of luck on Thursday afternoon.

It looked like Chatham, as it did in reaching the county final as the No. 12 seed, might make the NJSIAA North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 state tournament bracket look arbitrary when junior Wes Maksimow connected for his first career home run (see below) for the Cougars in the top of the first inning.

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But when ace pitcher Maksimow took the mound for the bottom of the first, his No. 13 jersey number may have tugged on his fortunes a bit, as No. 4 seed West Morris scored three runs with just one hit on the way to its 7-3 elimination win vs. Chatham.

"If you told me that we were going to score three runs, and hit two home runs off a really good pitcher (West Morris left-hander Nick Rotundo ), I probably would have signed up for it," Todd Leathers , Chatham coach, said. "The first inning, other than the leadoff batter, they scored three runs and, no joke, they didn't hit a ball more than four feet.

"The second inning wasn't much better. It's hard. It's one of those things as a coach, you don't remember when it goes positive for you but you sure as heck remember when it goes negative. Wes has been tremendous all year and we've done well fielding the ball and today wasn't our day."

Perhaps, it was Rotundo's turn to receive a few breaks after he was the hard-luck loser in the same state tournament round last year when he pitched a complete game, striking out 10 in a 2-1 loss to Chatham. In the rematch, he earned the win for West Morris (15-12) by allowing three runs in 6 2/3 innings, striking out six. He was pulled with two outs in the seventh because of his pitch count and Liam Costello came on to get the final out.

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"We knew what we were getting into, we faced the very same pitcher last year," Leathers said. "He's a very good pitcher. He pounds the zone and mixes his pitches well. We had some opportunities that we really didn't come through on. Runners on second and third and nobody out, and we don't score. Then we go out the next inning and give up two runs. That was the turning point."

West Morris held a 5-1 lead in the fifth when Peter Fodero singled and Gavin Drum followed by pulling a double to left. But Rotundo bore down to get a strikeout, popup and strikeout to end the threat.

With two outs in the top of the sixth, Chatham senior Justin Regno lined a single to right in his final career at-bat (see below).

Senior outfielder Jackson Hodges then came up and launched a two-run homer over the fence in left-center in his final career at-bat (see below).

Remarkably, Hodges, a four-year varsity player, homered in his very first game of the season in 2021 vs. Roxbury as a freshman and concluded his final game with the homer vs. West Morris in his last plate appearance.

Junior Will Linn pitched two hitless innings for Chatham (8-12), striking out one and walking one. The sidearm pitcher came into preseason tryouts as an infielder but taught himself to pitch at the request of Leathers.

"He's a middle infielder with a low three-quarter arm slot and at tryouts we were watching it and I asked him, do me a favor and come down here and try it," Leathers said. "He did and it was effective, so that's why we sent him down to JV to get used to it. I thought he did great."

COUGAR NOTES : Wes Maksimow , the winning pitcher in four of Chatham's eight wins, finished the season with 58 strikeouts in 42 innings and a 1.83 ERA ... senior first baseman Justin Regno singled in his final at-bat of his career to give him a .378 batting average for the season ... Jackson Hodges' home run in the sixth inning gave him four homers in his career ... senior center fielder Charlie Shushansky , who scored both runs in the 2-1 win vs. West Morris in last year's state tournament, singled in three at-bats to end with a .333 season batting average ... sidearm pitcher Will Linn had a 3.60 ERA in his 11.2 innings of relief this season.

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