Billy Kern

  OCEAN CITY — For the past two seasons, Mainland Regional has won championships by putting the ball in play and putting pressure on opposing defenses, getting great starting pitching, and playing solid defense. On Wednesday, rival Ocean City took a page out of the Mustangs' playbook to survive a tense South Jersey Group 3 semifinal matchup against Mainland and end the Mustangs' two-year reign as

  Like Tom Petty says, the waiting has been the hardest part. The Ocean City and Mainland Regional baseball teams — bitter rivals on the field — each earned their way into the South Jersey Group 3 semifinals with wins last week, then had to spend the entire Memorial Day weekend thinking about the matchup they had been anticipating all year. The players had to wait an extra day as well, as the fiel

Heading into the current South Jersey Group III postseason baseball tournament, Mainland Regional hadn’t claimed a single playoff victory since 2003. The Mustangs now have three of them this month. Led by a sensational effort from pitcher Matt Tepedino, Mainland topped Cape-Atlantic League foe Hammonton in the South Jersey semifinals Tuesday afternoon...

With temperatures still unpleasant going into April, some of South Jersey's local baseball programs have headed south for spring training. Mainland's baseball team is at the "most magical place on Earth" this weekend, trying to shake off the winter rust for the upcoming season...