One group of high school students won’t be so eager to throw snowballs after last weekend’s snowstorm.
Brick Memorial High School baseball players are giving their arms a bit of a rest after wrapping up a successful fall ball season that leaves Mustangs varsity coach Rich Bishop feeling optimistic for the spring season.
“It was absolutely a success. I’m real happy,” said Bishop, who entrusted the team to former Brick Memorial varsity coach Frank Casey. “It was our first year of jayvee [junior varsity] fall ball and they didn’t lose a game, while the varsity came together as a team.”
Bishop said the players also lifted weights three days a week and had 35 to 40 players per session, an impressive number, considering some were playing other fall sports.
“They did a lot of stretching and exercise, and coach [Evan] Rizitello gets the credit for that,” Bishop said. “He initiated that program.”
Certainly, the fall season is more active for varsity baseball players than many may think. But they get a breather from throwing and hitting until after the holidays. Pitchers begin working Jan. 10 with pitching guru Tom Baxter, a former pitching coach at Rutgers University, while Casey will work with the hitters. Mike Rytelewski, whose son Mike ended last season as the starting shortstop, will oversee the regular workouts until the preseason officially begins March 5.
“The team did very well this fall,” Casey said.
Brick Memorial finished 15-6 and in third place in the Jersey Shore Fall Ball League. The two teams that finished ahead of the Mustangs were composites of players from different varsity programs. Brick Memorial’s team was strictly homegrown.
Just as in the past varsity season, the pitching staff was deep with right-handed seniors Andrew Nelson, Phil Sigona and Lou Raccuglia and juniors Mike Salerno and Rob Schmidt. Nelson, who came into the fall showing perhaps the best promise, utilized a changeup, fastball and curve.
Casey said the entire staff “did a great job of mixing up pitches and keeping hitters off stride.”
“We did a little bit of everything [to win games],” he said. “We took advantage of mistakes teams made and got good pitching. Defensively, we played very well and did not walk a lot of people and did not make mistakes. We limited teams to only a few unearned runs.”
A lineup studded with experience and promising new talent helped. Nelson and Brandon Heim, a junior, shared time at first base as did senior Chris Vivaldi and junior Mike Matteo at second base. The left side was set with Rytelewski at shortstop and sophomore Kevin Nielsen at third base.
Jason Promisel, a senior, carries ample experience at catcher, where junior Chris Austin also saw some innings.
Three seniors make for what Casey calls a “very solid” outfield, with Jon DelValle in center field, Brian Duckworth in left, and Kevin Krotulis in right. Duckworth started the past two seasons, and DelValle was a regular last spring and led off the batting order, followed by Duckworth, Nelson, Sigona and Krotulis. Junior Tom Tressito also did well in the outfield.
DelValle had a good number of stolen bases, Casey said.
“DelValle and Duckworth got on base more than half the time and both have good speed,” he said.
Did they improve?
“Absolutely,” Casey said. “They improved as a team and got closer. They all came together.
“Hopefully they’ll take that into the season and be very competitive. No reason why they can’t finish at the top.”
Brick Memorial finished 13-13 in the spring, reaching the Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinals and missing the NJSIAA Tournament by one game.