A7-0 lead in football is nothing. In baseball, it’s a pretty big mountain to climb. Yet, it didn’t stop the Manalapan Braves from turning the June 2 Monmouth County Tournament final into a classic.
Top-seed St. Rose won the game played at Monmouth Regional High School, 14-9, but not before both teams showed tremendous character. The Braves for rallying back from a 7- 0 hole and the Roses, for coming back after Manalapan had gone ahead of them.
St. Rose took full advantage of every opportunity the Braves presented and raced out to a 7-0 lead after two-anda half innings.
Just when it looked like this game was headed toward a quick ending because of the 10-run mercy rule, the Braves struck back.
Two runs in the last of the second looked like window dressing. But, it wasn’t. It was an outstanding offensive team finding its way.
Apair ofwalks got it going for the Braves in its half of the third. Kevin Mulvanerton (single) and Nick Turano (double) delivered RBI hits that made it 7-2.
Lawrence Schoerer, who relieved starter Mark Holmes with one out in the third and the Braves down 7-0, held the Roses scoreless in the top of the fourth.
Manalapan climbed right back into the game in home half of the fourth on a two- RBI bases-loaded single by Lucas Scollo. That chased St. Rose’s starter, nine-game winner Connor Smith. Matt Steinitz greeted reliever Vinny Vinci with a pinch-hit single that kept the rally alive. Vincent did get a big double play that scored the third run of the inning.
But, the damage had been done. St. Rose went from coasting, to holding onto a 7-5 lead for dear life.
The Roses got one back in the fifth when Chris Hughes led off with a triple and scored on Derek Peterson’s RBI ground out.
But, the Braves were on a roll. Matt Cook ignited a four-run fifth that put the Braves up 9-8 when he put a charge into a serving from Vinci. His home run left the park in a hurry.
A walk and a Craig Peterson single followed and Bryan Tamalone hit a line shot over the center fielder’s head for a two-RBI double. Scollo slapped a single through the left side of the infield to plate Tamalone, and the Braves had come all the way back to take a 9-8 lead.
It came as now surprise to Brave coach Brian Boyce that it was seniors like Turano, Peterson, Cook, Tamalone and Scollo who led the comeback.
“That shows our senior leadership, they knew not to press the panic button,” said Boyce.
St. Rose didn’t either.
Ryan Harvey, the Braves ace this year, worked out of a jam in the top of the sixth to maintain the Braves one-run lead. The Braves did not add to the lead in their half of the sixth and took the field three outs from their first MCT crown. Those three outs proved to be hard to come by.
Harvey, who had been nursing a sore back that prevented him from starting, quickly went ahead of the Roses’ Casey Canon 0-2. But, he could not get that third strike. Cannon had a long, impressive at-bat, fouling off pitches before working out a baseon balls that set the table for the top seeds.
and Vinci followed with an RBI single that tied the game.Matt Rodgers followedwith a triple off the left-center field wall and St. Rose had the lead back, 10-9.
Chris Bresnahan (the tournament’s leading hitter) followed with an RBI single and the Roses were off and running. They would knock Harvey (6-3) out of the game. Before the Roses were done, 11 players had batted in the fateful seventh and they had scored seven times.
“Give them all the credit, they battled back,” said Boyce of St. Rose. “They weren’t 24-2 for no reason.”
Boyce, whose team finished the campaign at 16-11, looked at the season as the start of Manalapan’s resurgence.
“It’s a progression,” he said. “We had a lot of great contributions from our underclassmen who will try and carry us to the next level.”
St. Rose, coming up with its best season in school history, is coached by former Howell High School star Jim Agnello. The former catcher played collegiate ball at Monmouth University and was an assistant at Wagner and at Rutgers before taking over as the athletic director and baseball coach at St. Rose this year. Agnello has another ex-Howell standout, Mike Cerminaro, on the coaching staff.
Cerminaro, who also played college baseball at Wagner, was in the Chicago Cubs organization for a while.