Brick baseball players to take over FirstEnergy Park All-Stars, along with both high school teams, to play on Sunday BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI Staff Writer Brick baseball players will look to put their best foot forward when they compete in the eighth annual Mayor's Trophy Game as part of Brick Day at the Lakewood Blue Claws FirstEnergy Park on Sunday. The 14-year-oldAll-Stars fromBrickNational and BrickAmerican will collide in the first game at 9 a.m., with that series tied at 3-3-1, before the Brick Memorial and Brick Township high school varsities collide at about 4 p.m. after the BlueClaws' regularly scheduled game. Brick American President Tom Nerney will manage those young allstars with help from Kevin Case and Moe Morris. Both leagues switched their charter for this season fromLittle League toCalRipken affiliation. "This is what I enjoy every season, to manage this one game," said Nerney who pointed out that both sides try to get every player selected for the teams into the game. "It's bragging rights for Brick for the winning team and it also gives them both an opportunity to play in a first-class facility." Thewinning teams of the youth and high school games receive a handsome trophy. For the high school teams, it's that and more. Although Brick Township is a long shot for getting into the postseason with a 3-10 record coming into the week ("It looks like we'll have to win every game up to the cutoff," said coach Jason Groschel), Brick Memorial looks to get back into the postseason after missing out on it last season with only five victories. The Mustangs come into the week with a 7-6 record after a great 3-0 start in Orlando, Fla. "They're always dangerous. They've been inconsistent, but we don't take them lightly at all," said Brick Memorial second year coach Rich Bishop emphatically about Brick Township. "We're still young with only two seniors." Oddly, both teams also played their other regular season game on Wednesday night this week at the BrickAmerican complex. "Every timewe play them, the games are tight, right down to the wire as one-run games," saidBrick Township coachGroschel. BrickMemorial pulled out last year's thriller on Brick Day on a walk-off hit in the last inning by TomMurray,who is back behind the plate this year. "They seem to be receiving some good pitching. I don't think they have a true ace. They have four or five guys who had headline-type performances. And they have good speed." As a result, Groschel said his team needs to keep Memorial hitters off the bases and to pick up its own hitting, which he said has been "struggling. Pitching's been the strongest part of our team." Groschel said the Green Dragons' defense "is improving but still has lapses." Both teams come off weekend losses in the Shore Challenge. Brick Memorial, still hurting from a 4- 1 13-inning loss to Shore Conference A South powerhouse Toms River North on Friday morning, dropped a 10-6 verdict to St. Joseph's of Metuchen on Sunday in Lakewood in the Shore Challenge. Mike Spinelli had three hits and Andrew Nelson smashed two, including a double, while Brendan Melody smacked a runscoring single and hiked his team-leading batting average to .385 last week. Evan Mancini follows at .350. The Mustangs pushed across three runs in the first inning, which might have bode well for Ryan Patrick, who came in with one of the lowest ERAs in the Shore Conference, before St. Joseph's roughed him up for six runs in the fourth inning. St. Joseph's connected for a grand slam off reliever Sean Breeden an inning later. John Roca gave an iron man performance against Toms River North that would have been good enough for a victory any other time, scattering seven hits over 9 1/3 innings. Tim Spaulding and Lou Racuggliu finished on the mound. With a scoreless standoff after seven innings, Toms River North pushed across a run in the top of the 10th inning before Brick Memorial tied it when Jose Ramos lined a triple that delivered Spinelli, who doubled. Early in the week, Jackson pounded out an 11-7 victory to go to 7-2 as Melody drilled a two-run homer and Spinelli collected three hits. Brick Memorial needs to pick up victories over some tough opponents, playing this week against a Southern team on Monday that it beat in extra innings earlier this season, Howell on Tuesday and at Toms River South on Friday along with the two games against Brick Township. Meanwhile, on Saturday, Brick Township dropped a 14-3 Shore Challenge game to St. Joseph's of Montvale, ranked No. 12 in the state. Jared Page slapped a run-scoring single and Ray Johnson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to stake the Green Dragons to an early lead before an error with two out in the second inning ushered in a three-run uprising for St. Joseph's off starter Chris Sorice, who drove in Brick Township's other run with one of his two singles. In what Groschel said has been an "upand down season," the Green Dragons went 1-3 on the week. Early in the week, the Green Dragons managed only three hits in a 4-1 loss to Lacey as Dan Boyle pitched five innings of five-hit relief off starter Sean Salsano as Lacey took a 3-1 lead after two innings. Pedro Serrano (2-2) went the distance in a 6-3 victory over Point Pleasant Borough with 10 strikeouts and four walks. Ryan Ross tallied three hits and Sorice had two while Page singled in a run. The hitting frustrations were magnified in a 2- 0 loss to Jackson Liberty, which Brick Township had beaten, 11-1, earlier in the season in a game shortened by the 10-run mercy rule. Kurt Loftus had two of the Green Dragons' four hits. "We ran ourselves out of a couple of innings and had numerous base-running mistakes," said Groschel, who got a good pitching effort in his first start from Karl Rex, who yielded six hits in 5 1/3 innings pitched. Brick Township is looking to sustain its tournament hopes this week with games against Jackson on Monday and Toms River North on Friday along with the two games against Brick Memorial.