Bob Nuse, The Packet Group
For both the Allentown High and Robbinsville High baseball teams, this season is one that begins with plenty of optimism.
At Robbinsville, that optimism was rewarded with a dramatic opening day win as the Ravens scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat Hightstown, 9-8, on Monday.
”It was an exciting win on opening day,” Robbinsville coach Tom Brettell said. “Hopefully it starts us rolling downhill from there. The kids did a good job of having quality at bats and two strike hits where they would refuse to strike out or make easy outs.”
The win was a nice start for a team that hopes build on last season, when the Ravens finished 17-12-1.
”I am optimistic,” said Brettell, whose team scored three of the runs with two outs. “A lot of the kids are young. We have five seniors, but the other 15 guys are young. We have something like eight or nine sophomores on the team. We are optimistic because they are really good kids that listen. Practice is great. When you think about coaching baseball, this is what it is – teaching and the kids that are listening.”
The Ravens senior group is led by four-year starter C.J. Gearhart, who is back behind the plate. M.A. Ciaramella, Drew Clark, Anthony Giesler and Steve Krebs are the other seniors.
”They are all nice kids that have developed into great leaders for us,” Brettell said. “We also have some younger players who are stepping into bigger roles for us. Last year we had the Fischer twins, Michael and Ryan, who played as freshman and they have assumed bigger roles as sophomores. I can’t say enough about those guys. They are baseball players to the core. They are very coachable. Just like the rest of the guys we have.”
The rest of the sophomore class on the varsity roster for the Ravens includes Evan Bohan, Ryan Krebs, Christopher May, Daniel McKiernan, Thomas McKiernan, Ben Saunders and Drew Schoen. The juniors are Anthony DeChiara, Stephen Dranoff, Jimmy Matt, Alex Sauerbaum, Anthony Sautter and Thomas Taylor.
”It really is a great group work with,” Brettell said. “If you asked all our other coaches they would say the same thing. Practice is fun. We work hard and the kids work hard. When you can teach and they listen and you can see them coming around, it is a lot of fun. We saw it in the preseason and (Monday) their personality came out and we came back for a win. I’m not going to say it will go that way every game, but that is how they are.”
At Allentown, veteran coach Brian Nice is also upbeat about what his team can do this year. The Redbirds were scheduled to open their season on Tuesday against Hamilton.
”We have a veteran team coming back,” said Nice, whose team was 16-8 last year. “We graduated our center fielder and ace pitcher. Those are two key graduation losses. But we have pretty much our entire pitching staff back. Last year Frank (O’Brien) was down with an injury for a while and other guys had to step up. We have guys who can step in. We also lost one or two pieces of the lineup but the rest of lineup is back.”
The Allentown roster includes seniors Justin Miller, Michael Anthony, Mark Duffy, Nick Casciola, Zack Rosenthal, Silas Rudderow, Brandon Reutsch, Dan Stabulis, Joe O’Brien, Matt Serenita, Will Korosec and Pat McCarthy. The juniors are Brian Tobie, Steve Adams, Peter Marsicano and Kory Golla. Sophomores Tom Malik, Tommy McCarthy and Anthony Morrone round out the roster.
”Our guys know the system and what to expect,” Nice said. “It is a matter of refining and adding a few new things. This is a year we have hopes of taking a run at a division title, which we have not won in a few years. It won’t be easy by any stretch but I like our chances.”
The Redbirds seem to have enough veteran talent on hand to make that possible run a reality.
”Mike Anthony was a guy that definitely exceeded expectations last year,” Nice said. “We put him in some tough spots and every test he passed with flying colors. We expect him to be a top of the rotation kind of guy. And with Mark Duffy, Zack Rosentham, Steven Adams, Anthony Morrone and Tom Malik, we have a pretty deep staff. We have some guys that should anchor the middle of the order and I think we will score some runs.”
