The Brookdale Community College baseball team picked the right time to play complete baseball.
ERIC SUCAR staff Howell High School graduate Frank Mormino, shown making a play for the Brookdale Community College baseball team during a game on May 8, will be with the Jersey Blues when they play in the National Junior College Athletic Association World Series in Texas. Through a season in which the Jersey Blues won the Garden State Athletic Conference championship, earned the No. 1 seed for the Region XIX tournament and were ranked No. 5 in the nation among Division III programs, coach Johnny Johnson was waiting for the time when his club would play all three facets of the game — pitching, defense and hitting — at the same time.
Playing two out of three had served Brookdale well, but to win the region title and punch their ticket to the National Junior College Athletic Association World Series, the Blues would need to put it all together, and they did that by going 3-0 over the weekend of May 9-10 at home in Lincroft.
“We hadn’t played the perfect game all year where we had all three — pitching, hitting and defense — working at the same time,” Johnson said. “We had all three going [last weekend], and it really helped.”
Brookdale opened play in the Region XIX tournament with a 5-4 win over Ocean County College.
The Blues followed that with a 12-11 extra-inning thriller against No. 10-ranked Gloucester County College.
Brookdale faced Gloucester again in an elimination game for the visitors, and the Jersey Blues made a statement with an 18-3 thumping of their rivals from South Jersey.
“It wasn’t easy,” Johnson said of his team’s march to the region crown.
The 11-inning win over Gloucester was key, according to Johnson, because it kept Brookdale out of the loser’s bracket in the double-elimination event.
“We were mentally drained after that [extra-inning] game,” he said. “It would have been tough coming back and playing the morning game [the next day].”
Instead, Gloucester fell into the loser’s bracket, played, and won the morning elimination game on May 10, and then fell to pitcher Ryan Casey and the Jersey Blues’ hot bats.
Johnson knew he was in good shape for the second meeting with Gloucester because he had a rested Casey (Manchester) going into the final.
“Ryan Casey was unbelievable,” the coach said.
Casey is 8-1 with a 1.66 ERA.
Johnson needed a big game from his ace because he had used seven pitchers in the 11-inning game with Gloucester.
Closer Cory Hawes (Monmouth Regional) collected the save in Brookdale’s first two tournament wins.
Chris Cirlincione (Monroe) earned the win against Ocean County College, with Hawes closing out the victory.
In the extra-inning win over Gloucester, Brian Dudzinski was the pitching star as he held Gloucester in check for three innings and allowed the Blues to eventually win the game in the 11th inning with Hawes getting the save.
Hawes has 11 saves in 2009. In 27 innings, he allowed only seven hits and has struck out 26 hitters. His ERA is 1.66.
Kevin Mager (Middletown North) was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. He had two home runs that tied the game or put the Blues in the lead against Gloucester.
Felix Colarte (North Bergen) delivered the game-winning RBI single in the Blues’ 12-11 extra-inning victory.
Keith Weinkofsky (Ocean Township) and Brian Seres (South Amboy) were also cited by Johnson as having big performances in the Region XIX tournament. Seres, who was moved to third base during the year, anchored an outstanding defensive effort by the Blues’ infield.
With the three victories in the regional tourney, Brookdale improved to 37-8 and will go into this week’s NJCAA World Series in Tyler, Texas, on a roll.
This will be Brookdale’s fourth trip to the World Series in the past five years, and Johnson rates this team as one of the two or three best he has taken to the World Series. Like those other squads, they are led by second year players.
“It’s all because of our sophomore leadership,” the coach said, pointing to the efforts made by Weinkofsky, Seres, Hawes and Ivan Rodriguez (South Amboy).
Brookdale did not advance to the 2008 World Series, and that served as the players’ motivation for 2009.
“After last year, they had one thing on their mind [the World Series],” said Johnson, who earned his 350th career win during the season. “They wanted it.”
The second-year players all had impressive seasons. Weinkofsky is a certain All- American. The catcher is batting .465 and has a .514 on-base percentage. He slammed a team-high 14 home runs and had 46 RBIs. With 20 doubles and one triple, 35 of his 66 hits were for extra bases.
Seres batted .377 with 23 RBIs. Rodriguez batted .324.
Hawes has 11 saves and a paltry ERA.
Another sophomore who stood out was Joe Talerico (Toms River), who is batting .402 with 36 RBIs.
Mager was one of several freshmen who were big contributors this year. He was second to Weinkofsky in home runs, with 11. He is batting .411 with 41 RBIs.
Freshman Frank Mormino (Howell) was solid with the glove at first base and is hitting .340. Outfielder Andy Vega (Queens, N.Y.) is batting .404 with 30 RBIs.