Cal Ripken game ends in cliffhanger

When the Brick National and Brick American Cal Ripken programs made up schedules for their very first interdivisional games in the Major Division for 10-12-year-olds earlier this year, no one imagined one of those games would be a dramatic late-season match-up between the top two league teams.

But that's what happened last Friday night when the Mariners of Brick American held on to a thrilling 12-11 victory over the Brewers of Brick National at the Brick American complex.

The Mariners improved to 12-1 after their fourth straight victory, and the Brewers slipped to 8-3 after having a four-game win streak snapped.

"We did not know these two teams would be in first, and it lived up to what it was supposed to be — exciting and fun. That's what you want to coach," said John Brower, coach of the Brewers and the player agent for the Brick National Majors.

It wasn't always pretty, and it came down to a Brick National runner thrown out stealing third to end the game.

Brick American has a 14-4 edge in interdivisional games.

"We played a little better defense than them," Mariners manager Gene Carafa said. "It was not the kind of game I envisioned with the aces on the mound. In the first three innings, it was 1-1 and then I don't know if the pitchers lost the strike zone or the umpires changed it, with all the walks that followed."

Many runs also scored on passed balls and a few errors.

"We got about four runs that way [passed balls] and we didn't give up any off passed balls," Carafa said. "Fortunately, our catcher, Drew Zytko, was fabulous behind the plate in this game."

Brick National's Brewers made the dramatic ending by scoring six runs in the last inning, capped by a two-run home run to center field hit by Nick Zbranak, his 12th. Zbranak is believed to be one home run shy of tying the Brick National record.

It also didn't help the players when a fog settled in on the field during the late innings that made it tough for outfielders to track down balls that were hit deep.

Christian Marin went the distance for the victory, allowing six hits with a dozen strikeoutswhileNickMoglia got the loss in relief of Zbranak.

Although neither Christian nor brother Steve Marin hit any balls out as they have during the season, with seven and five home runs respectively, Steve Marin continued to hit well in the victory. Tim Cardosa tagged a home run for the Brewers and batted in four runs with four hits. Moglia batted in five runs and had three hits.

Both teams are homing in on first place in the closing games of the season.

The Mariners have a two-game lead over the league with five games left, and their two top challengers have interdivisional games against the Brewers on their schedule. The Brewers have a three-game lead with six games left, five against Brick American teams.

"The Brewers are a very, very good team," Carafa said emphatically. "They have more hitters through their lineup than we do. Zbranak is an excellent pitcher who throws very hard and is an awesome lefty hitter."

The Mariners were completing a tough stretch of playing five games in seven days, backed up by makeups of rained-out games. After losing their only game to one of the weakest teams in Brick National, 8-6, in an interdivisional game, the Mariners won the next four coming into this week's action.

Carafa said that although the Marins returned from last year's team that finished first in the regular season and lost in the Brick American playoff championship to the Indians, there were a lot of question marks up the middle defensively and with pitching. Seven players return from last year's team, including Christian Marin, who plays shortstop and pitches; Steve Marin, who plays third base and pitches; Zytko at catcher and first base; Cole Kachelhoffer at catcher and second base; Dave Pifko, who plays first base and pitches; Devin Magnusson in right field, and Anthony Trafficante in left field.

"If we hold our walks to a bare minimum, we're all right," Carafa said. "We've been really curious about how good we are up to this latest stretch, because with the rainouts, we were playing one game a week and were able to throw our best pitcher [Christian Marin] every time."

What has also helped the Mariners is the addition of drafted players Corey and Matt Cathey. Corey plays in center field and his brother Matt plays in the infield replacing whoever has to pitch.

"They're excellent, tremendous additions," Carafa said.

As for Brick National's Brewers, they also lost in the finals of their best-of-three championship last year to the Mets after finishing in third place in the regular season. Brower said he is not surprised that his team is unbeaten in its league. The team's two losses came courtesy of the second-place Braves of the Brick American League, which got pounded on Saturday by the Mariners.

"No, I'm not surprised," Brower said. "We should have a better record. Some games, we played down a level. When we drafted, we thought teams in our league would be evenly matched, until we started playing."

The Brewers as a team have pounded 19 home runs, 12 by Zbranak, who is 3-1 as a pitcher. Moglia is 4-1. Right-handed pitcher Ken Cushman, who missed a good part of the season with a broken left hand, has just returned to the lineup, while lefthander Antonio Garcia and Tom Costanza are solid relievers.

"We're just hitting the ball well," Brower said. "As a team, we're batting over .450. And we've got good pitching."

Chris Kimbiz is the catcher while Moglia is at first base when he isn't pitching. Costanza and Cardosa play second and third base, respectively. Pat Jones plays in center field, and either Rob Argento or Frank Giacolone is in left field, while a number of players platoon in right field.

Costanza leads off the power-packed lineup while Cardosa and Zbranak, who each bat in the mid-.600s, follow in the order. Moglia hits cleanup.