By Scott Stump – Senior Editor
With Friday’s slate of games already washed out (unless you count Brick Memorial in Florida), let’s take a look at what we’ve learned from the first three days of the season, including Opening Day, in which I (and many others I’m sure) sat in a downpour waving at Noah as his ark floated by during a game that never even became official. It could only go up from there.
First, here’s some quick-hit stuff on things we’ve learned and then some extra notes/tidbits/links.
- Central and Freehold look like the early front-runners for surprise teams, particularly Central. New coach John Scran has the Golden Eagles off to a 2-0 start after they won four games all of last season, and they have outscored their first two opponents 23-1. As Scran noted to me, we’ll see how they respond late in a close game, but so far, so good, and senior Evan Beattie could be on his way out of the shadows into the talk of the Shore’s top pitchers. As for Freehold, the Colonials are 2-0 under “new” coach Jon Block (who coached the program for more than a decade before a hiatus and then a return this year). When ace Matt Yuhas is on the mound, they can beat anyone, as they stopped Raritan cold in Yuhas’ debut, then followed it up with a win over Neptune.
- There looks like there could be a ton of parity in Class B South after division favorite Barnegat and perhaps Central. Monsignor Donovan is off to a tough start, Manchester has lost some close games in which it left a ton of runners on base, Pinelands was up and down in its first two games, and Point Boro still just has one game against Pinelands under its belt. The Panthers look like they will have some deep pitching under new coach Chris Ferrone, so keep an eye on them.
- I have a feeling Class A Central’s teams will eat each other alive. It will be hard to rank teams in this division that high because the minute one of them gets some momentum, another will come along and beat that team. Watch out for Manasquan’s No. 1 pitcher, big junior Karl Fiske, who beat Red Bank Catholic on Thursday. I know pitching depth is key for any team, but I feel like in this division in particular, you might see a lot of Jekyll and Hyde teams who look great when their No. 1 is on the mound and totally different when he is not.
- Toms River North has the goods to compete with any team offensively. The Mariners are aggressive, too, and don’t take a whole lot of pitches. We’ll see if any starters can take advantage of that, but there are no easy outs in North’s lineup. That could be huge when they get into stretches with a lot of games in a few days and their pitching gets thin. Also, senior righty Zach Brebner’s improvement had several observers remarking about how his velocity has jumped, and how he was able to freeze several hitters in Toms River South’s lineup on Wednesday and keep them guessing with his breaking ball. Brebner is also ridiculously calm under pressure. You could see him saying, “Yeah, I struck out David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Red Sox in that exhibition game, but it was really just a good team win. Just another game.”
- Watch out for Toms River South sophomore lefty Andrew McGee. He looked the best out of their three pitchers used on Wednesday against TR North, and that includes ace Tyler Gebler. McGee has good late life on his fastball and a swooping curveball. Plus, he seems to have a good plan out there, setting guys up and not letting them get comfortable. He struck out five in two innings of work against a good lineup, and as veteran TR South assistant Art Rooney remarked to the bench during McGee’s perfomance: “Now that’s pitching, not just going out there and throwing.” McGee could potentially become a hammer out of the bullpen in big games.
- Christian Brothers Academy’s offense looks just fine so far. A team that looked on paper like all of its firepower walked the aisle at graduation this past June rapped out 13 hits in a season-opening, 10-7 win over Manalapan. Senior Mike Zuppe is an interesting story because he is better known as an all-state hockey player but is actually going to play baseball in college at the University of Pennsylvania. He had three hits, and another player coach Marty Kenney is looking for production from, newcomer Zack Tanenbaum, also had three hits. If the Colts’ offense can hold the fort until some more of their pitchers get healthy, CBA will be, well, CBA.
- Keep an eye on Middletown South senior shortstop Jack Provine. He threw out a Manalapan runner at the plate to seal a 7-6 win over the Braves, but he also has five hits in two games. He could be a breakout player in the Shore this year.
- One player who could be a fan favorite this year is Wall senior shortstop Kyle McArdle. A scrappy hustle player, McArdle is a solid fielder and a leadoff hitter who will scratch and claw to get on base and make something happen. In a lineup without a ton of booming bats, McArdle’s ability to ignite things could be huge for the Crimson Knights this season. He’ll take an extra base one way or another, as he went flying over the top of Ocean’s third baseman in a win on Thursday.
- Howell may go as senior pitcher/second baseman Brian Battaglia goes. He was one of the few bright spots at the plate in a season-opening loss to Freehold Township, and he pitched the Rebels to their first win, 6-3, over Manchester on Thursday.
- The one-game-at-a-time approach by Barnegat coach Tom Sutaris has worked so far in a 2-0 start. While that is often a cliche, Sutaris has beaten it home on a team loaded with seniors that was a consensus pick to win the Class B South title, which would be the first in school history. Sutaris was worried about his group getting overconfident and overlooking teams, but they have looked solid thus far.
Some more notes
The greatest high school hitter of all time: Red Bank Catholic junior outfielder Michael Frank may want to retire now. He is 7-for-7 this season in RBC’s three games during the Caseys’ 2-1 start. He also walked three times in RBC’s first game, so he’s reached base in all 10 plate appearances in his first 10 varsity at-bats of his career. RBC coach Buddy Hausmann joked, “How many at-bats does it take to qualify for the Shore Conference batting title? Maybe I should sit him for the rest of the year.”
Great debuts: Congrats to Middletown North starter Brandon McCloskey and Mater Dei’s Sean Beinert, who both won their first varsity games this week in performances in which they held opponents to two runs.
Long time coming: Freehold Township leadoff man Dan Klinsky, a hustling competitor and junior outfielder, must have nearly lost his mind after having to sit out an entire season last year. He missed the whole season after slipping on a patch of ice while pushing a shopping cart at his after-school job and hurt his shoulder. He has returned, and he rapped out four hits and had three RBIs and three runs scored in the Patriots’ season-opening win over Howell. Good to see him back.
On the board: Several new coaches picked up either their first career victory or first win with their new teams this week: RBC’s Buddy Hausmann, Raritan’s Bob Devlin, St. Rose’s Jim Agnello, Point Boro’s Chris Ferrone, and Central’s John Scran.
Yes, they still plan on having a season: Toms River East, Rumson-FH, Asbury Park and Keyport have yet to play an official game yet because of the rain.
The pulling-out-his-hair award: Keansburg coach Brian Kmak. The Titans lost 4-3 to Henry Hudson in their opener when two runs scored after a ball went through an outfielder’s legs with a man on base and two runs scored because there is no fence at Henry Hudson and the ball just kept rolling until it probably hit the Atlantic Ocean. Henry Hudson standout Brian Olofson was as advertised, by the way, with 10 K’s on the mound in his season debut.
Best psych-out job: When Shore Regional takes its pre-game infield, it plays hard rock like Guns ‘N’ Roses, AC/DC, Metallica, etc., to get pumped up. When the other team goes out for its warm-ups, the Blue Devils switch the music to boy bands like ‘N Sync and Backstreet Boys. Pure genius.
Hard-luck loser of the week: Matawan’s J.D. Melendez. The senior pitcher for the Huskies struck out nine, walked three and only allowed two runs in a complete game, but lost 2-1 to Monmouth and its starter, junior Brian Schopka, who struck out eight in a six-hitter. Great effort by both guys on a cold day.
Links:
- In case you didn’t know, the No. 1-ranked team in the nation resides up in north Jersey at Don Bosco Prep.
- Great to see former Ocean star Eric Hinkle doing well as a freshman at Long Island University, where he was recently named Northeast Conference Rookie of the Week.
- Immaculata, another big-time non-public team, got off to a big start.
- Washington Township, the team that rolled past Toms River East and Toms River North on the way to the Group IV title last season, dropped its season opener.
- Former Red Bank star pitcher Corey Young, who had a big summer in the Cape Cod League, has carried that into the season and is already racking up accolades at Seton Hall. Also, former Colts Neck star A.J. Rusbarsky has made an immediate impact as a freshman at Seton Hall, batting .300 in 100 at-bats as a starter. Former Middletown South pitcher Brian Dudzinski is also 2-0 with a 2.89 ERA for the Pirates.
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