BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer
The opening game no-hitter fired by Eric Miele sent a message to the rest of the Mid-Monmouth Babe Ruth League. The East Brunswick Mets have pitching.
Mets head coach John Miele has put together an outstanding pitching staff led by his son Eric Miele, of East Brunswick, and Joe Magnifico, of South Amboy, who authored his own no-hitter during the recent high school season.
The result has the Mets in first place in the North Division of the Mid-Monmouth loop (for ages 16-18) with an 8-2 mark.
“We have a consistent, good balanced team of players,” said Miele. “We have a decent pitching staff and decent hitting squad.”
The pitching staff goes beyond Eric Miele, who will be pitching for the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia next year, and Magnifico to include Jordan Press, Stephen Montalbano, Aaron Wey, Angel Sotomayor and Anthony Angarano.
Coach Miele has it all on the mound. He has dominant starters, a lefty in Press and closers in Miele and Montalbano. Every night the Mets know that they have a quality starter who will keep them in the game.
On opening night, the Mets put all of their goods on display in a 7-0 win over Manalapan. Miele was overpowering with 17 strikeouts to go with his no-no. Armond Lahming and Richard Smith each smacked a home run, revealing the team’s power potential.
Smith, Anthony Montalbano, Leif Eikram, Lee Cavico and Lahming have been the team’s most efficient batters this summer. However, the Mets have been getting production up and down the line-up, making them a difficult team to pitch to. They don’t have to sit back and wait for the big inning, they go out and make things happen and scrape together runs.
Along with the pitching and hitting, the Mets have been very solid with the glove at all positions.
Eikram has been sharing the catching duties with Brian Simms and John Stillitano. Angarano is at first when not pitching, and when he’s throwing, Eikran takes his spot.
Charles McDonough and Joe Caffaro play second with the left side of the infield Cavico at third and Stephen Montalbano at shortstop.
Sotomayor and Lahming play left and center field with Smith in right. Eric Zimmerman and Brian Dzoro provide depth.
The Mets are off to a comfortable start in the North Division as the season reached the mid-way point. Old Bridge (5-3) was second and Spotswood, third (3-3).
Rounding out the league are Middletown (4-6), South Amboy (4-7) and Matawan (2-6).
The Mid-Monmouth Babe Ruth League has a North and South Division with interdivision play part of the schedule. The teams making up the South Division, in addition to Manalapan and North Howell are Bayshore, Freehold Borough and Howell. The Northern Division has East Brunswick, South Amboy, Spotswood, Old Bridge, Middletown and Matawan.
This week, the state Babe Ruth League tournament will be taking place in Sparta. Mid-Monmouth will be fielding one 16-year-old all-star team consisting of the best players from both divisions. Justin Cocliff is managing the 16-year-old team.
The players who will be representing the Mid-Monmouth team are: Henry Rinkewich (Bayshore), Dan Avella (Bayshore), Pat Flanagan (Manalapan), Chris Lamboy (Manalapan), Jeff LaPollo (Manalapan), Nick Turano (Manalapan), Joe Fecsko (Freehold Borough), Frankie Richardson (Freehold Borough), Jordan Press (East Brunswick), C.J. Mooney (Spotswood), Joe Petosa (Spotswood), Matt Porricelli (North Howell), Rob Applegate (South Amboy), Kyle Blum (South Amboy), Vinny Gayla (Old Bridge), John Stillitano (East Brunswick), Ryan Kresky (Freehold Borough) and Anthony Montalbano (East Brunswick).
John Wilder (Freehold Borough) and Pete Young (Middletown) are the coaches on Cocliff’s staff.
Notes……. There’s a very sound reason why East Brunswick’s nickname is the Mets. That’s because manager John Miele played minor league baseball with the Mets from 1971-73, until a ruptured Achilles tendon ended his professional career.
A native of New York, Miele was a high school star before going on to play for Baruch College. After his sophomore season, Miele was drafted by the New York Mets and signed with their Single-A affiliate. He would play his way up to Double-A before his career-ending injury. He played shortstop and third base.
Miele pointed out that at the time he was playing at Baruch, New York City was a hotbed of baseball talent. In summer ball, Dennis Leonard, who went on to pitch for the Kansas City Royals, was a teammate. He played against the likes of Willy Randolph, Lee Mazzilli and John Candalaria. His Baruch College teammate Danny Garcia, a pitcher, was signed by the Atlanta Braves.
“We all came up around the same time frame,” noted Miele. “It was a nice time to be playing baseball.”