Rivals not happy to see each other ... again

BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Staff Writer

Playing a team three times in a season is tough enough and many coaches feel beating them all three times is the toughest thing in high school sports.

Brick Memorial faced that challenge on Monday and it was made even tougher coming against cross-town rival Brick Township - in the fourth meeting between the two teams in the NJSIAA Tournament at Brick Memorial.

Brick Memorial was riding an eight-game win streak going into the game as the No. 8 seed against No. 9 Brick Township.

"Oh no, that's ridiculous," said Brick Memorial pitcher Chris James emphatically when the Brick Bulletin broke the information to him that the Mustangs, ironically, would play their state tournament opener against the same team they played in their Shore Conference opener, when they pulled out a 3-2 victory.

But he later said he was looking forward to it.

"I personally love it," said James. "It gets us up for them and to really play our best. And the last few games, we've hit the ball well."

Brick Township coach Jason Groschel said that he had expected to play Old Bridge and Brick Memorial coach Jeff Pierce anticipated a game against Lawrence based on preliminary information on seedings.

"I was gathering information on that team (Old Bridge) the last couple of days until I saw this on the NJSIAA Web site," said Groschel midway through last week. But Groschel was not happy that his team would be playing a neighborhood rival at the start of the state tournament like they did in the Shore Conference. It was their third clash in 15 days.

But both coaches regretted taking the field against each other Monday.

"I'm just so disappointed," said Groschel, a first-year head coach who had been an assistant for four years prior. "To me, it (tournament) is the experience of playing new teams on new fields and it's exciting to play an unknown team from somewhere else in the state.

"If we met them down the road, so be it," said Groschel. "When is the last time both qualified? Instead, they get in and get each other."

Jeff Pierce, Brick Memorial's second-year head coach after two years as an assistant, said, "It seems like deja vu because we played Jackson four times last year, including the opening round of both tournaments. This time, it's a lot tougher playing them. I don't want to face them in the first round."

Groschel also found another change in plans. He had expected his team to face Brick Memorial ace Brian Streilein, who has a 5-3 record and had gotten the victories over Brick Township, 3-2, last week in the Shore Conference Tournament opener and 9-1, after Brick Township won the first meeting, 3-1.

But when Brick Memorial held on to a 10-9 victory Wall in the Shore Conference Tournament last Saturday, setting up a Wednesday showdown at Freehold Township, Streilein said he was told he will start that game. Chris James got the start Monday against Brick Township, which went with Mike Murano after ace pitcher F.J. Lucchetti was on the mound the three previous times, getting only six runs in support.

"He's our fiercest competitor," said Pierce of James.

Lucchetti's consolation last week was being selected for the Jersey Shore team in the Carpenter Cup, which Groschel said "is a pretty good honor for a junior."

But it was Brick Township that got its erratic hitting in full gear in the late innings, as it rallied on Monday for a dramatic 9-8 state tournament victory.

Brick Memorial broke out to an 8-1 lead before Chris James and two relievers struggled in the last two innings, giving up five of the 10 walks issued to Brick Township batters in the game. The Green Dragons rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh off a two-run single by Craig McNellis and an error on the play. They pulled to 8-6 in the previous inning when they scored five runs, highlighted by a two-run single from Albert Fayad and an RBI-single from Bill Winters, who collected three hits and drove in another run earlier.

Lucchetti did not start but went to the mound eventually and got the win, relieving Mike Murano early in the game, to raise his record to 7-2 as both coaches agreed that walks to Brick Township batters set the scene for their timely hits.

Chris James drove in three runs and Dan Romanowski homered and knocked in three more for Brick Memorial, which slipped to 15-9. Mark Cerracchio smacked two hits.

And there are no breaks after that for Brick Township, which raised its record to 12-9 and now heads to No. 1 seed and perennial state power Hamilton East on Friday afternoon.

But the season also continued for Brick Memorial yesterday with its Shore Conference Tournament third-round game at Freehold Township.

Along with pitching on Wednesday, Streilein has done his part with the bat, moving up from No. 5 to the cleanup spot around midseason. Streilein got the big hit against Wall, a three-run homer in the first inning, his second of the season, as Brick Memorial rolled to a 10-1 lead after four innings. Kyle Heilbraun continued his hot hitting of late with three hits and two RBI. Cerracchio clubbed a run-scoring hit. Joe Piezzo relieved Jason Gordon in the last inning, getting a game-ending strikeout with runners at first and second.

"We're not making a lot of errors and we're hitting the ball well and taking advantage of mistakes teams make," said Chris James after the Shore Conference victory last week. "The ball's bouncing our way this time."

His team got some bad breaks Monday after capitalizing on some good breaks last week in its Shore Conference tourney victory over Brick Township. After Brick Township scored a run in the first inning on back-to-back doubles by Dan Rafanelli and Lucchetti, who eventually took the loss to slip to 6-2, Brick Memorial went ahead in the second inning.

Streilein led off the second inning with a single and Chris James followed with a swinging bunt base hit, in which he beat the throw to first on a headfirst slide. Dan Romanowski walked to load the bases. Streilein scored on a wild pitch and both runners advanced. Tom Clarke then hit a dribbler down the line and first baseman

Mike Murano picked up the ball and missed on a swipe tag as James scored the second run. Jason Gordon padded the lead in the fifth inning with a single to drive in Kyle Heilbraun, who doubled.

Brick Township's John Vitale cut into the lead in the seventh inning when he smashed a single that drove in Mike Moschella, who doubled.

An inning earlier, Brick Township loaded the bases with one out when Streilein got one of his nine strikeouts and coaxed Chris Hine into an inning-ending groundout.

"That was a turning point," said Groschel.

Streilein finished with an eight-hitter, walking only two. Lucchetti allowed seven hits with 10 strikeouts and two walks.

"He pitched well enough to win," said Groschel.

It was far different on Monday when pitching took a back seat. Brick Township needs to swing the bats when it plays Steinert on Friday like it did on Monday and in an 8-2 victory over Point Pleasant Borough early last week when Lucchetti hit a grand slam and Dan Gallagher belted a solo shot.

Brick Memorial has been hitting solidly throughout its streak and again on Monday.

"We're getting timely hits right now and a lot of our good innings come with two out," said Pierce. "The thing is, we have to keep getting baserunners."

"We've been hitting so good lately," said Streilein. "And we're not satisfied getting runs in just the first and second innings. We're trying to score in every inning, not like in the past."

Unfortunately, it came up empty in the last two innings when Brick Township's bats came alive.