BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Staff Writer
Brick Township’s baseball team entered Tuesday a victory away from reaching the NJSIAA Group IV, Central Jersey championship game after a 2-1 victory over Hillsborough on Friday.
With the win, the Green Dragons traveled to a familiar foe on Tuesday — Freehold Township.
"It will be different this time," said coach Tom Webber, who could not pitch ace Joe Testa when his 13-9 team lost to 17-5 Freehold Township, 9-7, earlier in the season. He was scheduled to pitch Tuesday against Freehold Township, which has been one of the Shore Conference’s A North Division’s top teams, along with Christian Brothers Academy.
"They have a good team, similar to playing every team in (Shore Conference) A South," said Webber. "There’s a benefit playing in Central Jersey because the South Jersey schools are bigger. There’s no better conference out there than A South."
It certainly showed in the victory over Hillsborough, which avenged the basketball team’s loss to Hillsborough in its first state tournament game in seven years. Testa held Hillsborough (19-3) to four hits, but had an uncharacteristically low three strikeouts with three walks. Testa (8-2) leads the Shore with 94 strikeouts over 70 innings and 24 walks with a minuscule .700 ERA.
"The thing I like is that these guys had the Senior Ball that night and every senior was there, including the nonstarters, and they played the game like it was a priority and then took care of the Senior Ball," said Webber. "It says something about their character."
Testa and battery mate Nick Mullins, who drove in what proved to be the winning run in the third inning with a single, both learned late last week that they were selected for the Jersey Shore team of Ocean and Monmouth County that plays in the 16-team Carpenter Cup, starting with a game on June 14 at the University of Pennsylvania. Webber is the Jersey Shore team pitching coach.
Mullins was an alternate selection last year, but wound up playing in the single-elimination format. He’s batting .385 with 14 RBIs and eight doubles, while striking out only five times in 65 at-bats this season. Defensively, Mullins has committed only one error.
Brick Township struck for a run in the second inning, driven in by Sean Wunderlich’s single. Bill Reynolds started it with a base hit and stole second. Chris Hine followed with a hit, putting runners on the corners for Wunderlich with none out.
Dom Mattliano smashed a single in the third inning and got to second base on a wild pitch before crossing the plate on the one-out single by Mullins.
Hillsborough came back with a run in the fifth inning.
"Joe Testa did not have his normal strikeout game," said Webber. "The defense was solid and made no mistakes. He was giving up flare pop-ups. They made contact and we made the plays."
Webber said he needs continued strong hitting (after leaving many runners in scoring position) from cleanup hitter Jay Wilson, who bats .400 with 23 RBIs and eight doubles and a home run. He has eight strikeouts in 65 at-bats. Mattliano hits .326 and Wunderlich hits .318 with two home runs and 11 RBIs. Jordan Marsch is right behind at .309 with six doubles, four home runs and 15 RBIs, and Hine follows at .300 with nine RBIs. Reynolds is a .297 hitter with 13 RBIs.