They've never come this far. The Jackson Little League team will represent New Jersey in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament in Bristol, Connecticut on Tuesday after winning their first-ever state championship over Somerset Hills last week.

Jackson Little League
Jackson Little League (Facebook)
loading...

Jackson went 4-1 during the five-game state tournament and emerged from the loser's bracket to win the title. Tommy Cartnick, who won the home run derby a week before the state finals, led off the bottom of the sixth inning with the game-winning, walk-off homer.

Jackson Team Manager Evan Glaser is hoping to use the momentum of becoming state champs to elevate their level of play in the regional finals.

"After accomplishing what they just did, now we've set our goals a little bit higher. We beat the best competition that New Jersey had to offer, and typically New Jersey has a lot of quality baseball. Moving forward - we'll prepare, work hard and go to Bristol, Connecticut with the goal playing as good as we can and hopefully giving ourselves an opportunity to win a regional and make it to Williamsport," Glaser said.

Winning in Bristol leads to the World Series in Pennsylvania.

Glaser said as his role as team manager he brings a lot of energy and heart. He said he'll channel that to deliver a message of positivity to his team.

"You've made it this far. Don't sell ourselves short here by not bringing our A game, all of our effort," he said. "Don't leave what ifs on the table. From the first pitch of inning one of game one, let's bring all that energy, rely on your skills and all the hard work you put into preparing for this thing, and let's just leave it on the field."

Win or lose, Glaser said he always tells his team, if they gave it 100 percent, that's all that matters and that's all that is expected of them.

The Jackson Little League team will be watching closely as Maryland and Washington and Delaware and New York square off to see which team they'll face on Tuesday.

Bracket information can be found at http://www.llbws.org/llbbws/midatlantic.htm.

 

More From New Jersey 101.5 FM