BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer
MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Brookdale second baseman Julian Medina gets set to slap the tag on Morris base runner Fred Defrance during the Jersey Blues’ home win on March 28 in Middletown. Johnny Johnson used the first 20 games of Brookdale Community College’s baseball season like a laboratory experiment.
After a trip to Florida and the first games of the Garden State Athletic Conference schedule, the veteran head coach wanted to see what developed on the diamond.
With a 13-7 overall record and 3-0 mark in the conference, Johnson is pleased with what has emerged.
“I’m very impressed with the team,” he pointed out. “The talent level is there and we have team chemistry.”
There is very little resemblance between the 2007 Jersey Blues and the 2006 squad that played in the World Series. There are 18 freshmen on this team.
“It’s a different year,” noted Johnson. “This is such a young team. We molded the team for the first 20 games and we’re getting close to having a set lineup.”
Johnson’s young Blues went from the frying pan into the fire out of the gate playing five Division I junior college powers in Florida. They left the Sunshine State with a 9-7 record.
The biggest difference between last year’s conference and Region XIX champions is on the pitching mound. Brookdale has only one starter returning, Ramon Guzman (Bronx, N.Y.).
The starting rotation at this point is Lex Wolfe (Lakewood), Jed Rehfuss (Lakewood), Anthony Angarano (Old Bridge) and Guzman for the conference games, and Ryan Jeffray (Wall) and Joe Behan (Old Bridge). Guzman and Angarano are lefties, equipping the rotation with a righty-lefty balance.
The young pitchers went through their growing pains in Florida, learning that college ball isn’t high school. You can’t get away with bad pitches and hitters aren’t going to swing at pitches in the dirt. They’ve proved to be quick learners, however.
“We’re getting quality starts every time out for seven innings,” remarked Johnson. “It’s not a dominant staff like last year where the starters could go nine innings and throw more than 100 pitches, but we have quality arms that can keep us in games and we have a good defense behind them.”
Johnson has put together a very deep staff with 14 pitchers, the most impressive of which has been Cory Hawes (Monmouth Regional).
The lefty has been converted to a closer, and Johnson has turned him into a sidearm thrower. He’s been lights out. Left-handed hitters have been frozen by the sight of a lefty throwing at them sidearm, and for righties, his pitches have been breaking sharply in on them.
“He’s getting the hang of it [sidearm] and has been dominant,” said Johnson.
He has given the Blues the confidence that they can hold on to leads.
Paddy Matera (Toms River), Jordan Marsch (Brick Township) and Jimmy Principie (Toms River) are the only returners in the everyday lineup. They’ve had to adjust to being the team leaders after being pieces of the puzzle last spring.
“They’re doing better than I expected as leaders,” said Johnson.
Matera has switched from third base to shortstop, where he has been the glue of what Johnson has called an above-average defense. Principie and Marsch are both outfielders.
Among the freshmen who are making big impacts this year, center fielder Nicholas Alberino (Monroe) has been a standout. Johnson said that he has an outstanding baseball future in front of him.
Another player with a bright future is catcher Eddie Galante (Wall). A sore back prevents him from catching back-to-back days, but he has proved to be one of the conference’s best backstops already. Chad Sloboda (Toms River) and Ryan Smyth (River Edge) have done an outstanding job as the back-ups. All three are good defensive catchers who work well with the pitching staff.
Other key frosh are: Melvin Perez (Bronx, N.Y.), who has stepped right in at third base and strengthened the defense; Smyth, who is a solid first baseman when not behind the plate; and outfielder Chris Sadeeky (Middletown North).
Scoring runs has not been a problem for the Blues, although they are doing it in a different manner this spring. The team will not bludgeon teams with its power.
“We’re a doubles group and we run,” said Johnson. “We’ll be in a lot of one-run games.”
With so many young players, Johnson knows that this season will be a constant learning experience.
“This team reminds me of the team two years ago that battled and learned how to win,” said Johnson. “They had no returning guys to take the pressure off.”
That group produced 88 wins over two years and last year’s trip to the World Series. If this year’s team can duplicate that, they will have certainly done their bit to maintain Brookdale’s winning tradition. One thing is for sure, Johnson is not thinking of next year when he’ll have 18 sophomores.
“They work hard and they are good athletes,” said Johnson of the ’07 Blues. “They’ll get there. I expect to make some noise this year.”
Brookdale, which just concluded a nine-game home stand, has a four-game stand starting today when the Blues host Mercer at 3:30 in a double-header. Monday, Union comes to call for a single game at 3:30, followed on Tuesday with a game with Bergen, also at 3:30 p.m.
This year’s Region XIX tournament starts May 5-6 with first-round games at the higher seed. Gloucester (Camden) will host the finals, May 11-13.
The World Series is May 19-25 in Tyler, Texas.