By: Kyle Moylan Sports Editor
Considering the success Robbinsville has had recently at the Little League level, it wasn’t a surprise that the high school would produce good baseball teams. Even so, watching a team go from 2-21 to 16-10 and playing in the Group I title game was pretty cool.
Baseball joins soccer, football, cross country, lacrosse, track, wrestling, etc. as quick success stories at a school that only now has its second class of seniors.
“It’s great how the school has grown-up and made a name for itself in just a short amount of time,” Robbinsville Coach Tom Brettell said.
The one downside is Robbinsville graduated its first seniors last year, which included one of its ace pitchers Brian Greubel. Fortunately, Kevin Burum, a senior, returns from that one-
two punch on the mound.
Ryan Leader (sophomore) figures to be the number two man in the rotation. Joe Bruno (senior), Robbie Zingaro (junior), Adam Vorasso (freshman), Tim Kovacs (junior), Sammy Burum (freshman) and Matt Banziger (junior) can also pitch.
Whoever happens to be on the mound will be throwing to the very reliable hands of catcher Eric Strano. Just a sophomore, Strano started at catcher as a freshman and also offers up a powerful bat for Robbinsville’s lineup.
With the exception of shortstop, the spots on the infield aren’t as settled. Fred Ulisse, a junior, will play short. The other starting spots have several candidates.
Vorasso, A.J. Aluetta or Corey Karogjozi (sophomore) will play first base.
Karogjozi and Steve Kowalski (sophomore) are in the mix at second base.
Either Leader or Kowalski will play third base.
Ryan Casey, a sophomore, will play center field. The other two outfield positions are up for grabs, with Zingaro, Mike Francisco (junior), Ryan Fleming (freshman), Banzinger, Chris Weigand (freshman), Sammy Burum and Steve May (sophomore) all in the mix.
Scott Brettell, Matt Mayo, Sean Flynn and Jordan McCready are the assistant coaches on the team.
Robbinsville was scheduled to open the season yesterday (Wednesday) against Notre Dame. Robbinsville will be away for a game on Friday at Trenton. On Saturday, Robbinsville will play two games in a tournament at Northern Burlington. At 11 a.m., Robbinsville will play Rancocas Valley. At the same time, Northern Burlington and Nottingham will also play. The winners of the two games will play at 2 p.m. The losers of the first two games will also face off, guaranteeing all four teams play twice.
“I think this will be a good year,” Brettell said. “We just have to work hard and keep getting better every day. Every year is a different year. We’ll see how it goes.”
