Potential abounds for local baseball

Sunday's warm weather served as the perfect prelude to another exciting high school baseball season, one that has several local teams feeling good about their chances to capture some hardware.

No local team enters the spring with higher aspirations than the Monmouth Regional High School Falcons, who return a host of players from last year's 14-10 team.

In fact, head coach Ted Jarmusz, now in his 27th season, returns 10 seniors and seemingly has all of the ingredients for a championshipcaliber ball club. It is for that reason that most people are calling the Golden Falcons the team to beat in the Shore Conference Class B North race.

It all starts with pitching, and Monmouth has plenty of it, led by senior right-hander Brian Schopka (8-2, 1.22 ERA last year). Schopka should be one of the Shore's more dominant pitchers once again, while seniors Dennis Reynolds, Dan Parra, Frank Martino, Gary Woloshin and Sal Patti, along with juniorAlec Schmidt, provide the depth.

Senior Joe Zoppi and sophomore Tom Den- Bleyker will have the task of managing the pitching staff from behind the dish.

Offensively, Monmouth is sparked by one of the top lead-off men in the Shore in senior center fielder C.J. Pratt (.410, 25 RBIs and 27 stolen bases last year). But the Golden Falcons will have plenty punch throughout the lineup: Reynolds, Parra, Patti, senior shortstop Andrew Pollina, senior first baseman Rick Luick and senior outfielder Joe Staba should push plenty of runs across the plate this spring.

Among the underclassmen expected to contribute are juniors Justin Houng, Matt Bowe and Mike Rott, while senior Antonio Davis and sophomore Max Schmardel may also see time at first base and on the mound.

With such a complete group of veteran players, it's easy to see why so many people are so high on Monmouth's potential this year. And with Jarmusz, a recent New Jersey Scholastic Coaches Hall of Fame inductee, at the helm, the Golden Falcons are certainly in the most capable of hands.

Another local team that expects to be in the B North hunt is the Red Bank Regional High School Bucs. After playing a number of young players the past few seasons, head coach Steve DePolo is hoping to reap the rewards of that experience this spring.

RBR has a number of impact players this season and should be another well-rounded team capable of beating teams in a variety of ways.

Last year's 9-13 team showed glimpses of a contender, and DePolo, now in his ninth year, can only hope that another year of maturity will put RBR in the B North title chase, after moving down from Class A Central.

Junior standout Jake Kalish leads the pitching staff, and also promises to be one of the Bucs' top bats. RBR will also rely on the arms of junior Matt Buccheri and senior Greg Pignataro to carry the workload on the mound this year. The Bucs' ability to discover additional pitching will likely determine just how successful they can be.

Among the other returners who should help RBR this year are senior shortstop Casey Young, junior right fielder Colin Lang, junior utility man Nick Katzman, and senior third baseman Rob Grover, while juniors Bobby West and Connor Grant and senior Eric Raybornwill also be looked at to lead the Bucs'offense.

Steve Rubin has the tough task of replacing Del Dal Pra as the head coach of the Ocean Township High School baseball factory (Dal Pra is now the athletic director at RBR), and inherits a fairly young team. The Spartans were a state power for years under Dal Pra, but now must face the challenge of maintaining their level of play with a new cast of characters.

Senior Sean Hauschildt is back at designated hitter and as the team's top pitcher, while senior Neal Yaffe also returns in the outfield. Other than that, this is a relatively new team.

The pitching staff will include Ed Mejias, who was 4-4 and year ago, as well as seniors Mike Pemberton and Garret Krzynowski and junior Charlie Weincofsky.

Sophomore George Sofield will be in charge of handling the staff from behind the dish in his first season of varsity ball.

Among the players that Rubin expects to make an immediate impact are junior infielders Vinny Ferrara, Tim Henry and Kevin Romano, as well as sophomore third baseman Nick Clary.

In the outfield, Ocean will feature R.J. D'Apolito and Chris Roskey, among others.

The Spartans certainly have some talent this year, but what they're lacking is experience. Dal Pra always seemed to have a knack for having his team playing its best ball of the season right around tournament time. We'll have to wait and see if Ruben can continue that tradition.

RBR and Ocean played an important earlyseason game on Saturday, with RBR getting a 7-4 win paced by Rayborn's two-run single in the bottom of the sixth inning that broke a 4-4 tie.

The Long Branch Green Wave will also be vying for some wins in the tough B North division, and like everyone else, will go as far as its pitching staff takes it.

Among the arms that head coach V.J. Muscillo will turn to will be senior Brian Gough, junior Mike McCauslin and sophomore Paul Tracey.

Muscillo has a good catcher at his disposal in junior Joe Wagner, but Long Branch will need to be vastly improved from last year's 4- 14 team if they hope to be competitive in this division this spring.

There are a trio of local teams playing in the Class A Central division that are also looking for some hardware, led by a Shore Regional High School team that is loaded throughout its lineup.

The Blue Devils moved up from Class B Central this year and will look to make their presence known from the start.

Senior second baseman Todd Juliano is one of the top offensive players in the state, coming off a year that saw him hit .578 while also stealing 20 bases. With Juliano sure to get on base more often than not in the lead-off spot once again, the Blue Devils will need to get offense from other sources to protect him in the lineup.

Head coach Jeff Karpell has several returning players at his disposal, including senior C.J. Mayer and juniors Jayme Hyndsman, Mark Britton, Zach Campi and Matt Marsh.

Marsh should be one of the top pitchers in the division, where he will serve as the perfect complement to Rob Corsi. Corsi, who is headed to Duquesne University in the fall, has a dominant curveball and was virtually unhittable as a junior, when he went 8-1 with a 1.51 ERA.

Among the other pitchers the deep Blue Devils will feature are seniors Drew Bott and Gavin Crawford, junior Pat Oakes and sophomoreAnthony Okupski.

On Saturday, Corsi was every bit as good as the Blue Devils are going to need him to be, as he struck out 17 batters in six innings of work in leading his team to a 2-0 win over Rumson-Fair Haven. Corsi's stellar curveball was in full effect despite the howling winds, and the Bulldogs simply couldn't figure it out (Corsi struck out all but one batter that he faced).

Meanwhile, Shore got two unearned runs in the first inning when Mark Britton's fly ball was misplayed.

Rumson-Fair Haven is the defending A Central division champs, but they have an almost entirely new roster this spring.

The Bulldogs lost 14 players to graduation and return just four seniors: first baseman Taylor Brown, outfielders Chris Lander and Dan Ryan, and pitcher Austin McAuliffe.

McAuliffe teams with Chris Hofer to lead a pitching staff that is short of varsity experience, with juniors Frank Aurrichio, Pat Moody and Sam Strasser as well as sophomore Matt Sinopoli rounding out the staff.

Offensively, RFH will be led by Brown, Ryan and junior second baseman Dave Robbins, while newcomers Sean Burke, T.J. Illmensee, T.K. Smight, Jake O'Donnell, Tommy Ladd, Ollie Langille and Brian Hapeman will also be counted on to contribute.

While RFH is young and inexperienced for the most part, anyone who overlooks them as a threat will likely be in for a surprise. Head coach Kevin James has built a strong program at RFH — one that routinely produces quality ball clubs. Don't be surprised if the Bulldogs are right in the middle of the hunt by season's end.

That leaves the Red Bank Catholic Caseys, another team that suffered some big losses to graduation, as well as to injuries.

First-year head coach Buddy Hausmann has a quality ace in senior Matt Marley, and some depth in the staff as well with junior Jared Graziano and P.J. Cannamella. Sophomore Brendan McGann will also log his share of time on the hill after looking impressive throughout the preseason.

Unfortunately, RBC will be without senior Mike Nicola, who is out for the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Offensively, RBC is led by seniors Rob Schmitt, Conor Pricoli, Jake Beim, Michael Frank, Brandon Ford and Kyle Tighe, and junior Steve Louie.

The Caseys are another team that may surprise people this spring. If they can fill the voids left by graduation and score some runs, RBC should have the pitching to keep them in the running for a postseason berth.