Caseys’ senior baseball team reaches Monmouth finals

By WARREN RAPPLEYEA Correspondent

RED BANK CATHOLIC

R ed Bank Catholic (RBC) High

School’s senior entry in the Greater

Middlesex Coaches Summer Baseball League made its way to the Monmouth County finals before falling to Freehold Township.

The championship game was a seesaw affair that went nine innings. Caseys sophomore third baseman Aaron Ahn was the batting star, banging out four hits in five atbats and driving home four runs. Ahn’s clutch eighth-inning single briefly gave RBC the lead.

“It was a good game, and our guys hung tough,” Caseys coach Buddy Hausmann said. “It’s always good to get to the finals.”

RBC ended its summer with a 13-2 mark with a team comprised of players who will contend for spots with the Caseys’ varsity team in 2015.

“The summer league gives our varsity guys an opportunity to work on things and get extra repetitions,” the coach said. “It also gives our younger guys who are looking to move up to the varsity a chance to show us what they can do.”

Ahn was among the team’s top hitters over the summer schedule, along with shortstop Evan Madigan and catcher Doug Facenda, both juniors, and versatile infielder Anthony DeRosa.

Madigan is coming off a varsity campaign during which he hit .300 and drove home 20 runs, while Facendo made the most of his .250 batting average by delivering 14 RBIs.

With several players also competing for travel and tournament teams, pitching for the Caseys was done pretty much by committee during the summer schedule. Seniors left-handers Tom Montano and Nick King, along with juniors Jack Ipsen, Jack Smith and John Poccia, were among RBC’s hurlers.

“We used our guys for two or three innings at a time,” Hausmann said. “Since many of them are pitching for other teams, we really don’t want to burn them out. A few different guys also got a chance to pitch for us.”

Other members of the summer team are right fielder Tom Merlo, center fielder Joe Montano, left fielder Chris Bender, first baseman Mike Ianelli and infielder Griffin Keller, all seniors. Junior second baseman Mike Spinelli was also a key cog. When necessary, players from the Caseys’ junior team stepped up on a game-by-game basis.

The junior team, playing under the tutelage of Hausmann’s dad, Newt, also had a successful campaign, reaching the quarterfinals, where they lost, 3-1, to Freehold Township.