Brick Memorial’s baseball players, who expected to qualify for the NJSIAA Tournament after a 3-0 start, had their hopes dashed last week but then had their spirits lifted a few days later in the Ocean County Tournament with two victories on Sunday, one over state-ranked Jackson Memorial.
“It’s hard. I thought we’d make it,” said coach Rich Bishop as his team slipped to 9-11 at last Friday’s cutoff for the state tournament by dropping the last three games to Middletown South, 5-4, Red Bank Catholic, 14-11, and Middletown North, 7-3. “We have only two seniors at catcher and in center field and it kind of catches up with a young team.We’re mentally worn down.”
What was surprising to Bishop was seeing the pitching struggling after it looked consistently solid all season, particularly in the loss against Red Bank Catholic.
“All year long our pitching’s been solid but thisweek it collapsed,” said Bishop after theMiddletownNorth loss. Jose Ramos continued his fine hitting, including a two-run home run against RBC but the Mustangs also left the bases loaded in the last inning against Toms River South when the next batter hit into a double play and the following one struck out. Ryan Patrick, who had only one rocky outing prior, struggled againstMiddletown North.
But that changed on Sunday as Brick Memorial advanced into the county tournament semifinals on Wednesday afternoon this week at FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood against Central Regional, a team it beat, 3-2, earlier in the season.
It started with an 8-1 victory over Point Pleasant Beach as Justin Gordon blasted a grand slam homerun, his first of the season, and Evan Mancini drilled a two-run homer. Tom Murray lined a runscoring double while Brendan Melody pitched strongly for five innings, scattering four hits with help from three strikeouts and no walks. Andrew Nelson closed it out effectively.
But then came the 6-5 victory over Jackson, ranked No. 9 in the state to even the Mustangs’ record at 11-11. Brick Memorial took a 6-1 leadwhen Jackson roared back in the last inning for four runs off John Roca, who allowed only two hits over the first six innings. He gave way to reliever Justin Short after allowing a three-run homer. Short got the savewith a strikeout, a pop fly and a grounder to second as a runner was stranded at first base.
“They’re the best hitting high school team I’ve seen and we actually outhit them, 10-6,” said Bishop asMelody tagged a two-run homer in the sixth inning to stake the Mustangs to their 6-1 lead. Ramos hammered two doubles.
Meanwhile, Brick Township, which scored only one run in three games combined earlier in theweek, also bounced back in the Ocean County Tournament by beatingMonsignor Donovan, 5-4, on Sunday before suffering a tough 4-1 loss to Toms River North in the next round later that day.
With Toms River North leading, 2-1, TravisEscalantewas thrown out at the plate while trying to score from first on a double by Jared Page in the fifth inning. Brick Township (5-17) struck first in the second inning off a double play grounder hit by Ryan Ross after Kurt Loftus and Ray Johnson slapped singles. Tall sophomore Matt Coughlin allowed seven hits over the distance and walked only one batter with no strikeouts. Errors led to three of the runs.
Against Monsignor Donovan, Brick Township snapped a scoreless tie with four runs in the fifth inning as Jared Page smacked a run-scoring single with the bases loaded and hot hitting Chris Sorice lined a bases-clearing double. Monsignor Donovan closed the gap off a two-run homer before Brick Township’s John Applegate hammered a run-scoring double for a 5-2 lead after Tim Reddan and Mike Winters reached on errors. Monsignor Donovan closed to 5-4 in the sixth with another two-run homer before Dan Boyle shut the door in the seventh with two runners on base. He coaxed a popout and then his mates got the trailing base runner out on a double-steal before Boyle struck out the next batter to end it.
Pedro Serrano pitched a five-hitter over five innings with four strikeouts and two walks. Loftus chipped in two hits for the winners.
“This is how we expected it,” said coach Jason Groschel of Brick Township’s fine performance in the county tournament. “We had high expectations for this season but we didn’t score enough runs. That hurt us all year. We didn’t hit with runners in scoring position.”
That was evident when Brick Township started last week with a 1-0 loss, getting only five hits and allowing a run on a wild throw while a runner tried to steal third base. Then, Sorice had a run-scoring single for the only bright spot in an 11-1 loss to Southern and broke up a no-hitter with one out in the last inning of a 6-0 loss to Toms River South.