Brick Memorial’s American Legion Post 348 Mustangs ended its regular season with a 5-4 loss to Southern at home early last week.
But a 9-5 seasonal mark makes last year’s winless campaign a distant memory as the No. 6 seed prepares for its eight-team playoff opener at home against Point Pleasant Boro, a team it beat, 6-0, during the season.
The winner of that game is scheduled against the winner of Monday’s game between the Brick Township Dragons (11-2-1) and Jackson. The two Tuesday winners advance into the state tournament along with the top two finishers in the 16-team Ocean County division standings.
A tie with Point Pleasant in its season opener prevented Brick Township from getting one of the top two automatic spots for the state tournament.
"So far I’m happy with the team, but the Southern loss was the sloppiest game we’ve played all summer," said manager Frank Casey. "At least we’ve answered some questions as far as the pitching goes with sophomores who pitched for the [high school team’s] junior varsity stepping up."
The Mustangs trimmed the deficit in the sixth inning as a passed ball and a fly ball hit by Tom Pfeiffer delivered two runs. Joe Baldasare smacked a run-scoring single and Kyle Strang poked two hits in defeat. Joe Short took the loss with relief help from Brian Streilein.
— Wayne Witkowski