National wins battle, but American moves on
BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Staff Writer

BRICK - Brick American's 12-year-old Little Leaguers smoothly glided through their first three opponents before staggering out of pool play with the top seed after losing their final game to Brick National, 5-2, at the Nats' field Friday night.

Brick National's crafty right-hander Vic Wilenta mixed his 91 pitches over the distance well to dominate the American batters at times in his masterful four-hitter, while keeping them swinging ahead of his deliveries and quickly falling behind on the count. He struck out 11, including six in a row after giving up a single to the first batter of the game.

It is believed to be Brick National's first triumph over their crosstown rivals, and the question from there was whether the Americans could heal their wounds in time for Sunday afternoon's District 18 tournament opener at Holbrook.

"No," said American's manager Gene Carafa when asked if he was concerned about losing the final game of pool play after the Brick National loss. "We need to pick our bats up. I know what we have to do, to pick up our bat speed."

Brick American got the No. 1 spot in pool play for the first time since 2001 when it won the district title and won the district title again in 2002. True to Carafa's words, it showed on Sunday it can bounce back with an 8-2 victory over Holbrook in its tournament opener, behind the all-around heroics of Mike Nebesne. Cranking out 11 hits, Brick American scored the most runs in the five games it has played.

Nebesne belted a three-run homer to left-center field in the fifth inning, his ninth this summer, when Brick American broke open a 4-2 lead with four runs. Nebesne made it stand up by pitching a four-hitter over the distance. Nebesne struck out 11 and walked two.

With four teams advancing in the tournament, the next game for Brick American was last night at Manchester.

"I thought we played pretty well on Sunday," said Carafa. "Our bats came alive and we got timely hits. We're a good defensive team but when your pitcher throws 11 strikeouts, you have to make only seven plays in the field, which makes life easier."

Unfortunately, Brick National would not have another day to play. It finished 2-2 in pool play and finished in a tie for the fourth and final spot to advance into tournament play with Toms River East National, which beat Brick National head to head, 8-4.

But Brick National fans eagerly were standing by for yet another possibility of making the tournament proper.

A loss by Jackson in a game against Toms River North and a Brick National victory last Friday would create a three-way tie for the final two spots. If that were to happen, Brick National would need to score five more runs than its opponents, or Jackson would have to give up five more runs, or any combination of the two.

And for a while, that looked possible when Brick National fans saw their team ahead, 5-0, early and heard that Jackson was losing, 3-2, in the third. Jackson rallied back to win, 9-4, to finish in third place in its bracket in pool play.

"That's the beast of pool play," said Brick National manager Jeff O'Neill. "It can do that to you. In the last 16 innings, we gave up seven runs, but we had a couple of bad innings early when we lost to Toms River National (8-4), and we had a 5-0 lead on Toms River East when we took Victor Wilenta out because he was tiring and wound up losing that game, 6-5."

After giving up only six runs in their first three games of pool play, the Americans' defense struggled early in the game, with an error and a rare passed ball by the catcher letting in two runs in the second inning as Brick National took a 5-0 lead. Both runs scored with two out and two strikes on the batter.

That came an inning after Wilenta belted an 0-2 pitch over the left center field fence with a runner aboard for a 3-0 lead.

Bill Berg led it off with a double and rode home on a single by Scott Hurley, before Wilenta unloaded his blast. Kevin Voorhees then lined a double before Brick American starter Mike Salerno retired the next three batters - two strikeouts sandwiched around a pop-out to the mound.

Brick National would get only one more hit in the game off Salerno - a ground single through short by Rob Schmidt in the third inning - before Nebesne struck out the side coming on in relief in the sixth inning. Salerno himself had six strikeouts and one walk.

But Wilenta kept things under control on his end and O'Neill said "that's how he has pitched all year. He pitched magnificent in the tournament. Our pitching staff was as good as anyone's in the district."

Carafa agreed with O'Neill's assessment of his pitcher Wilenta.

"I knew we would see their No. 1 pitcher and he was very good," said Carafa. "He was very fast and he threw our timing off. We gave up two runs on defensive mistakes, and if that didn't happen, it would've been a 3-2 game and anything could happen."

Pinch hitter Derek Koch lashed a run-scoring single up the middle in the fourth inning to pull Brick American to 5-1 after Vince Lombardi's sharp grounder was bobbled and he moved up on a wild pitch and a stolen base.

After eluding a bases-loaded threat in the fifth inning on a walk and two hit batsmen by getting the next batter to routinely ground out to second, Wilenta was touched up for a run in the sixth inning. Kevin Nilsen beat out a bouncer for a hit, but was forced by Koch, who stole second, got to third on a wild pitch and scored on an errant throw in a rundown. Ray Triano, who walked, was stranded at third base when Wilenta retired the next two batters on a groundout and a strikeout.

In Sunday's 8-2 tournament victory, Brick American scored in only two innings. It struck right away for four runs in the first inning, as Andrew LaMura cracked a run-scoring single and Nilsen lined a two-run double to left. Mike Martone followed with a sacrifice fly to cap the inning.

Kevin Case started the rally when he walked and Lombardi followed with his first of three hits. Lombardi also launched the four-run rally in the fifth with a single. LaMura followed with a single and Nilsen slugged a run-scoring single. It set the scene for Nebesne's three-run blast to left center field. Nilsen and LaMura each chipped in two hits.

Earlier last week in pool play after a 5-4 opening-round victory over Toms River East National, Brick American had beaten Toms River East American, 6-2, and Jackson, 5-0. Nilsen held Toms River East American to five hits with five strikeouts and no walks, and lined a double, while LaMura and Nebesne smashed singles that drove in runs in a five-run first inning. Spencer Cohen ripped a run-scoring double in the fourth inning. Brick American turned two double plays, one that ended the game.

Nebesne checked Jackson on four hits with five strikeouts and a walk. Koch and Cohen each slugged a run-scoring single as Brick American gradually eased away by capitalizing on walks and errors.

Brick National dropped an 8-4 game to Toms River East National that proved the difference in advancing out of pool play, although Wilenta belted two homers and Kevin Voorhees unloaded another. Hurley, who went the distance, let in five unearned runs in the early going and then yielded a three-run homer in the fifth.

Brick National also beat Berkeley, 10-2, as Berg and Brian Mayer connected for home runs. Hurley collected three hits, including two bunt singles, and Wilenta logged two hits.