BY VIN RAPOLLA
Staff Writer
When the Red Bank Catholic baseball team started the season 0-2, head coach Tony Martinez was not overly concerned.
The fifth-year coach was confident that he had a team with too much talent to struggle for long.
And his team has proven him right, winning its last four games to jump right back into the race for the Shore Conference’s A Central title.
And over the next two days, the Caseys have the chance to erase the memories of their two season-opening losses.
“We’ve got Raritan [today], who beat us on opening day, and Manasquan on Friday, who beat us in our second game,” Martinez said. “So, we’ve got two redemption games in a row.”
RBC knocked off Rumson-Fair Haven on Monday, 6-1, to improve to 4-2 on the year, and appears to have righted the ship in time for a push for both the division title and for high seeds in both the Shore Conference and state tournaments.
“I think the division is still with reach, but we need some help,” Martinez said. “We need to win [today] and Raritan has to lose to someone else too.
“Beyond that, we just want to go into the cutoffs in May playing well,” he added. “Obviously, it wouldn’t be a successful season if we didn’t qualify for both tournaments.
“We’d love to run the table the rest of the way because with every game we’re playing for a high seed, a home game in the playoffs and to gain confidence.”
The coach added that he fully expects his team to play better down the stretch, and is beginning to see signs that this may be a championship-caliber group.
“We have some high expectations, no doubt about it,” he said. “We had a little hiccup the first two games, but we changed some things and it’s had some positive results.”
One thing the coach thinks the team needs to improve on is its clutch hitting — or hitting with runners in scoring position (RISP). Although the team is hitting for a good average, with a number of players lingering around the .400 mark, Martinez said the team should be scoring more runs.
“Numbers can be deceiving,” the coach said. “Our RISP numbers aren’t too hot, and that’s the most important stat.
“Although we’re scoring some runs, we look at this stat and that’s a better gage as to how well we’re hitting. Thus far we’ve scored a lot of our runs off of other people’s mistakes.”
Senior catcher Casey Walko has done a nice job in the cleanup spot, batting around .400 with RISP, but Martinez said he hasn’t played to his potential early on.
“He’s struggling a little bit,” the coach said. “He’s was second team All-Shore last year, and we’re just trying to get him out of this funk. His numbers are certainly respectable, just not what we anticipated from him.”
Junior center fielder Ryan Kalish is the Caseys’ lead-off hitter, and is batting over .300 early on, as is senior center fielder Kyle Brandon in the second slot.
Junior first baseman Greg Geran is hitting .412, while senior left fielder Kevin Parks upped his average to .409 with a 3-for-4 day against RFH on Monday that included a single, double and a home run.
Senior second baseman Chris Metz is also hitting .409, while sophomore shortstop J.C. Menna is batting at a .350 clip.
Another player who Martinez pointed to as an offensive weapon is senior outfielder Tommy Hall.
“He’s our little spark plug,” the coach said. “He’s hitting about .370, and is a slap hitter who has a knack for getting on base. We call him the ‘little gnat’, because he annoys you when he’s in the game. You never know what he’s going to do.”
The Caseys pitching staff is led by senior Kyle Bradley, who is heading to Rutgers in the fall on a baseball scholarship. Bradley is 1-0 on the year, and got the save against Rumson on Monday.
Kalish is the team’s No. 2 starter, and gives the Caseys a very good 1-2 punch.
“The good thing about our starting rotation is that we have four guys that can start or come in at any time,” Martinez said. “When it comes to tourney time, these guys will probably all be cleaning up games for each other.”
Senior Dennis Chachko is the third starter, who is also valuable as a long reliever. Chachko is heading to Niagra University on a baseball scholarship.
That leaves sophomore left Pat Quinn, who Martinez said has already made an impact this season.
“He got his first varsity start and win on Monday, and could factor in on our busy weeks down the stretch,” the coach said. “He’s not an overpowering guy, but he throws strikes and just seems to get kids out.
“I really can’t complain about our pitching at all,” the coach added. “Kalish wasn’t happy with his opening-day effort [an 8-3 loss to Raritan], but he’s come back strong and is now 2-1 with 27 strikeouts in 15 innings.”
Defensively, the Caseys have made nine errors in six games, but Martinez said that several of the errors have been costly.
“They’ve cost us runs,” he said.
So the Caseys remain a work in progress, at least in their coach’s eyes. As the team picked by some to win the A Central division, RBC entered the year with some lofty expectations.
They didn’t get off to the start they were hoping for, but they’ve responded with a nice run ever since.
And a couple of wins today and tomorrow would go a long way toward setting the tone the rest of the way.
Diamond notes … The Caseys are one of 11 teams that chose not to participate in the Monmouth County Baseball Tournament.
“We didn’t sign up this year because we were invited to play in the Shore Challenge, which pits teams from North Jersey against Shore teams, and it would have been too much scheduling for us,” Martinez said.
Among the other teams that are passing on the county tournament are the top-ranked CBA Colts, who would have been the top seed.
“We’ve been talking about not playing in it the past couple of years, and finally decided this year not to play,” said CBA athletic director John Przygocki. “It’s not that it’s not a great tournament, it just becomes difficult to schedule games outside of the tournament because it’s spread out over such a long period of time.”
Among the local teams that did enter the tournament are Long Branch, Ocean, Red Bank, Shore and Monmouth Regional.
Long Branch (3-4) got the 17th seed and will take on 16th-seeded Holmdel in the first round, with the winner to get top seed Raritan.
Ocean (5-2) is the fifth seed and will host 12th-seeded St. John Vianney. Red Bank (5-2) is the fourth seed and will host 13th-seeded Freehold Township.
Shore Regional (4-4) is seeded 10th and will travel to seventh-seeded Monmouth (6-3) for their first-round game.
First- and second-round games must be completed by April 30, with the quarterfinals to be completed by May 7. Semifinals must be done by May 14, with the final scheduled for May 18 at Monmouth Regional.
On the girls side, there was little doubt about the top seed there, as the St. John Vianney girls have certainly looked like the team to beat thus far in the state, much less the county.
As the top seed, the Lancers will get a pair of byes into the quarterfinal round, which is scheduled to be held on April 29 and 30 at Harry Rash Field in Wall Township.
Second-seeded Manalapan, third-seeded Wall and fourth-seeded RBC will also get byes to the quarterfinal round.
Middletown North got the sixth seed, and will host Red Bank in the preliminary round. Red Bank beat Keansburg on Saturday in the pre-preliminary round game.
Holmdel knocked off Neptune, 3-0, on April 13 in their pre-preliminary round game, and will take on No. 5 Ocean in the preliminary round. Meanwhile, Middletown South, the ninth seed, is set to host No. 16 Colts Neck, with Raritan, the seventh-seed, hosting Long Branch.
That leaves No. 10 Monmouth, who will take on Howell in their first-round game.
The semifinals of the girls tournament is set for May 7 at Wall’s Rash Field, with the finals scheduled for May 14, also at Wall.