BY SHAWN LAYTON
Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY SCOTT PILLING staff Spotswood’s Eric Hines and East Brunswick’s Matt Metsch are among a flurry of stars assembled on this year’s Milltown Post 25 Senior American Legion team, which is off to a blazing start in a season filled with state title aspirations. MILLTOWN — The Milltown Post 25 Senior American Legion team is stacked with talent and it is no surprise the team is off to a 7-1 start.
This summer, the team hopes to make it back to Atlantic City where they placed fourth in the state last year, behind Chester, Lyndhurst and Hamilton.
“There’s no doubt that we’re loaded this year,” Milltown Post 25 head coach Glenn Fredericks said. “There are so many guys on this team that were stars on their high school teams that I warned them about getting complacent. We stubbed our toe early, but we seem to be back on track.”
Milltown lost its second game of the season to South Brunswick 7-1. In its previous game, Milltown belted four homers to clobber Old Bridge 12-2.
The team bounced back after the wake-up call courtesy of South Brunswick and is looking forward to a rematch with South Brunswick team this week. The two teams are slated to go at it at 5:45 p.m. today at Crossroads Middle School in South Brunswick.
“This is going to be a tough week,” Fredericks said. “The teams on the schedule will really test our pitching.”
After matchups with New Brunswick (a 7-2 Milltown win) and Clara Barton( a 20-2 triumph) earlier in the week, Milltown hosted South River at East Brunswick Vo-Tech yesterday.
Against New Brunswick, Brian Dzuro blasted a first-inning grand slam to set the pace offensively, while Steve Curry got the win for Milltown, throwing five innings and allowing just two earned runs on four hits.
There were plenty of stars in the win over Clara Barton, including Douglas and Dzuro, who each had three hits, and Chris Affinito, who drove in four runs.
Last year’s Milltown ballclub proved it could score runs and with the addition of Harry Douglas, of Saint Joseph High School of Metuchen, to this year’s lineup, the team should once again have little problem scoring.
Douglas, a Harvard University-bound third baseman, was the Greater Middlesex Conference’s most outstanding player this spring.
“Adding him to a team that finished fourth in the state tells me that we can go a long way,” Fredericks said. “Adding an all-state player has changed the complexity of the whole team. Harry’s amazing to watch, and everything coach Lou Urbano, of St. Joe’s, said about Harry is true. He never stops playing, no matter what the score is.”
Also joining the Milltown team this summer is Tom Sosnowski, another addition from St. Joe’s.
“Tom will be our closer,” Fredericks said. “He will get all the late work, and he’s proven to be effective every day.”
East Brunswick’s Chris Affinito is back for another summer with the club before heading to Seton Hall on a baseball scholarship in the fall.
“You always hear about Chris being a slugger, but nobody mentions his defensive behind the plate,” Fredericks said. “Every time someone runs on him they get thrown out, and pretty soon they’re going to stop running. He’s a superb player because of the hard work he puts in, and it would have been easy for him to be content with all of his talent.”
Brian Dzuro will bat fifth in the order this summer and play left field before continuing his career at Ramapo College.
“He’s the link between the top half of the order and the bottom half,” Fredericks said. “Teams can’t pitch around Douglas and Affinito because Brian will do damage.”
To get a better idea of the talent on this team, consider the fact that Spotswood’s Scott Dyckman hit cleanup all season and is slated to bat eighth for Milltown. Dyckman is a first-team All-Blue Division first baseman this year and is expected to play right field this summer.
Occupying first base is Andy Silver, of Rutgers University. Silver was a first team All-Red Division selection in 2004.
“In our first game with South River, which was rained out, I had nine All-County players on the field,” Fredericks said. “It’s a solid lineup without any holes.”
Leading the defense is a quartet of hurlers known on the team as the “Big Four.” Pitchers Eric Hines, Nick Meyers, Matt Metsch and Willy Beard will gobble up innings, and opposing lineups get no break no matter who takes the hill. The staff has amassed two shutouts in just six games.
Hines is a Division II pitcher at Caldwell College, while Meyers will pitch Division I ball for Monmouth University after graduating from East Brunswick this spring. Metsch is off to Franklin & Marshall in Virginia to join Milltown teammate second baseman Andy Anderson.
Beard tossed crucial innings for the team last summer picking up a save against Brooklawn and a win over Carteret. Beard will return to Spotswood High for his junior season.
The Milltown Post 25 team will play all of its home games this summer at East Brunswick Vo Tech after a plan to secure a different home field fell through.
“We’re off to a strong start and we want to keep the momentum rolling,” Fredericks said. “East Brunswick Vo-Tech was gracious enough to allow us to play at the best high school facility in the state when our plans for a home field fell apart. Ray Cipperly is the top groundsman in the state and he didn’t have to do what he did for us at East Brunswick Vo-Tech, but we appreciate it and that’s why he’s the best in the business.”
Which is exactly what the Milltown Post 25 baseball team hopes to be this summer.